Sign in

Mark G. Sheppard

@markgsheppard.com
943 followers 275 following 927 posts

Inequality/Mobility/Design. Econ PhD Candidate, The Graduate Center. Researcher @NBER.org. 2nd Lt., U.S. National Guard. Former Congressional Staff.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Mark G. Sheppard
NBER @nber.org · 28/09/2026
An LLM workflow that reproduces, improves, and extends economics research has been applied to over 4,000 published replication packages, from Matthew Schwartz, Isaiah Andrews, and Jesse M. Shapiro www.nber.org/papers/w35782
0187
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 27/09/2026
This is incredibly clearsighted, in a way that is rare in economic commentary. Contrary to partisan rhetoric, economic discontent is not linked to any one administration. Roughly speaking, folks are upset that two generations ago one job could afford a home and a family. And now it can’t.
010
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 26/09/2026
Exactly. I don’t even think this is controversial view. Hearst is probably the canonical example of rich barons buying media conglomerates to ensure preferable press. Musk/X or Besos/Post are just the modern equivalents. Musk/X is the first social media endeavor, but makes sense given the times.
000
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 26/09/2026
Relative to Talarico in Texas, El-Sayed is a particularly weak candidate in a much easier-to-win state —who still might win. #EconSky
000
Reposted by Mark G. Sheppard
Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality @stone-lis.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Watch Stone Center Senior Scholar @pkrugman.bsky.social discuss geoeconomics at last week's ECB Annual Research Conference. "Once you start turning trade relations into a source of geopolitical power, you might find yourself starting to do other things in pursuit of geopolitical power."
stonecenter.gc.cuny.edu
Economic Size and Economic Power - Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality
Paul Krugman gave this talk on economic size and economic power during the second day of the European Central Bank's annual research conference.
14414
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 25/09/2026
My students turn in AI slop not realizing how nerdy I am, I wrote an entire program that extracts all of the metadata from these documents. I can tell when/who/how these documents were created, how long was spent editing, how many times you saved it. I can tell if they ran it through Grammarly.
static.klipy.com
Leonardo DiCaprio with Uno Reverse Card
ALT: Leonardo DiCaprio with Uno Reverse Card
020
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 23/09/2026
We need this data disaggregated by county. To unpack these state-level trends we’re seeing.
011
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 23/09/2026
Relative to 2018, the current modal estimate suggests, with roughly the same +7D general ballot spread, there is a measurable decrease in how efficient those projected votes will convert to Democratic representation. Beta model V2: markgsheppard.github.io/2026-House-P...
markgsheppard.github.io
2026 House Forecast
An interactive forecast of the 2026 U.S. House midterm elections — a district-level map.
000
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 23/09/2026
Using the latest data and 2026 redistricting files, I built an interactive model projecting all U.S. House races, with adjustments for polling bias, mail-in ballot restrictions, and more. #EconSky
161
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 22/09/2026
The % of students who need a screen reader, with any rounding, expressed as a whole number is: 0. And if they were doing honest work, they’d still be unaffected. Plus, it’s easy to make one-off exceptions to rules. Like a “no laptop in-class” policy, obvi has to flex for ADA accommodations.
010
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 22/09/2026
Student asked why they received a 0 on an AI-generated assignment. #EconSky
static.klipy.com
Confused Math Lady Meme
ALT: Confused Math Lady Meme
020
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 22/09/2026
Using the latest 2026 redistricting files, the data shows Republicans drew themselves ~9 new safe House seats. Democratic counter-maps in California and Utah claw back 6 — netting the GOP about +3. #EconSky
031
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 22/09/2026
Me cooking up a midterm that matches the level of expertise in the AI-generated assignments these students have been submitting. #EconSky
static.klipy.com
Horus Scrum Mixing a Potion
ALT: Horus Scrum Mixing a Potion
050
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 21/09/2026
TFW you catch students using LLMs by simply adding some white text into the homework prompt. #EconSky
static.klipy.com
Funny Cat Trapped in Laundry Basket
ALT: Funny Cat Trapped in Laundry Basket
190
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 21/09/2026
I wish there was a #GCWealthProject style project but for income inequality estimates. The Chartbook of Economic Inequality by @morellisal.bsky.social is probably the closest I can think of.
020
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 21/09/2026
Teaching my students how to code in R\Python in one programming file. This file grabs PSZ from @gabrielzucman.bsky.social, AS, Census and @wid.world data remotely. And visualizes it, and shows how TRA86 proceeds a structural break in the income data, regardless of the estimate.
121
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 25/08/2026
I'm not one for celebrity news, but this seemed sad, not because of the loss of a superstar of a certain vintage, but because it seems we lost a kind person. Rest in peace Dolly Parton.
010
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 25/08/2026
Dolly Parton also tried to withdraw from being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame because she didn’t think she qualified as a rock artist. In a celebrity world often characterized by a selfish culture, either performative activism, Parton affected people because she seemed genuine.
100
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 25/08/2026
Dolly Parton made a huge amount from Whitney Houston’s 1992 cover of “I Will Always Love You.” She later intentionally invested some of that money in a predominantly poor, Black Nashville neighborhoods and, separately, built one of the world’s largest children’s book-gifting programs.
100
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 25/08/2026
Dolly Parton passed. In undergrad, @rbreich.bsky.social would play "9 to 5" at the beginning of lecture when discussing gender inequality. Interestingly, I also remember @janetgornick.bsky.social making a passing comment in lecture that "...at least we still have Dolly" following a sad news day.
110
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 24/08/2026
Lecturing and making lecture slides is so much fun. The cover art for my pop quiz is a baby lizard desperately running from endless traps and snakes in search of safety. Which feels emotionally appropriate.
010
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 24/08/2026
Appreciate you
010
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 23/08/2026
Finished my two week annual training deployment last week, and finished my PhD Field exams in inequality and econometrics. #EconSky
3233
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 23/08/2026
The Gulf bases largely serve as support stations for broader operations. There’s reasonable arguments to pull back U.S. investment/involvement, but to maintain the current level of regional stability would require an ally stepping up —which is unlikely.
010
Reposted by Mark G. Sheppard
Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Your regular reminder that if not for the Trump and Bush tax cuts, federal revenues would keep pace with federal spending indefinitely. Instead, these tax cuts have added at least $10 trillion to the debt. The so called "party of fiscal responsibility" is full of it.
12353161990
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 22/08/2026
The visuals at @ourworldindata.org are getting much better.
010
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 21/08/2026
*Top-heavy tax cuts
030
Reposted by Mark G. Sheppard
Janet Gornick @janetgornick.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
All the Ginis (ATG) have been updated. Branko Milanovic - in a new interview - explains that ATG "is a compilation of income and consumption Ginis collected, harmonized, and made available from various databases or platforms, or calculated by [him] from existing data sources." 🌍 Read all about it!
062
Reposted by Mark G. Sheppard
Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
The fundraising texts you delete are working on someone. It’s infuriating and heartbreaking. An 85yo in Ohio gave more than double the value of his home. A 91yo in an Indianapolis senior facility gave 25K times. The DCCC/DSCC don’t just tolerate the spammers who exploit seniors. They take part.
data4democracy.substack.com
Hook and Squeeze
How Democratic consultants, committees, and party leaders built a fundraising spam pipeline that funnels money from a captive pool of elderly donors into their own operations.
17745331583
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 09/08/2026
Data shows ~15% of young adults, mostly women, consider using OnlyFans as an additional source of income. Economists need to do a much better job of holistically assessing the economy.
newsroom.gendigital.com
MoneyLion Survey Finds Summer Financial Pressure Hits Gen Z The Hardest
More than half of Americans say they need more money this summer than last year, with Gen Z more than twice as likely as boomers to say the gap is significant NEW YORK, June 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/...
020
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 07/08/2026
The site is built to auto-refresh every Friday. So it pulls the data frequently. So it’s generally correct.
000
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 07/08/2026
The mobile interface of the product needs to be improved, to ensure fidelity across devices but it’s nice to be able to check the high level contours of the economy at a glance.
110
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 07/08/2026
I’m currently away on a two-week deployment with the National Guard, very little cell reception, but I was able to get the latest from the Modified @claudia-sahm.bsky.social rule from the #JobsReport.
1152
Reposted by Mark G. Sheppard
Elise Gould @elisegould.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Weak #jobsreport all around -Nonfarm payrolls fell by 23,000 (mostly driven by state and local losses) -The unemployment rate ticked down for the "wrong" reasons as labor force participation and employment-to-population ratio softened -Nominal wage growth decelerated to 3.2% over the year #EconSky
13225
Reposted by Mark G. Sheppard
Ben Casselman @bencasselman.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Employers cut jobs in July, and job growth was revised down for May and June. Net result is that the pop in hiring that we saw earlier this year now seems to have largely evaporated. We've now averaged just +20,000 jobs/month over the past three months. #NumbersDay
411342
Reposted by Mark G. Sheppard
Ben Zipperer @benzipperer.org · 05/08/2026
You're paying $2,358 in federal taxes for Trump's mass deportations. @epi.org 's new calculator shows what your community could have instead www.epi.org/deportation-...
Instead of spending
$1,760,726,880
or $4,810 per taxpayer on mass deportations, Fulton County taxpayers could fund
6,267
School Teachers
OR
9,244
Firefighters
OR
123,855
People on Medicaid
OR
40,835
Veterans' Medical Care
OR
52,817
Head Start Slots
OR
5,007
Registered Nurses
12555287
Reposted by Mark G. Sheppard
Opportunity Insights @oppinsights.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
We're excited to launch our inaugural Opportunity Fellows cohort.
122
Reposted by Mark G. Sheppard
George Pearkes @peark.es · 01/08/2026
A 100% tax on all IRA income (capital gains or ordinary income) above $10mm (or some similar amount, indexed to inflation) balance with contributions also capped at that amount is trivially easy to write into law.
2836756
Reposted by Mark G. Sheppard
Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
e.g. @omzidar.bsky.social and Zwick's us.macmillan.com/books/978125...
us.macmillan.com
The Everywhere Millionaire
From two leading economists comes a groundbreaking new portrait of the hidden fortunes of Main Street business owners—ordinary Americans who built extraord...
053
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 01/08/2026
The bottom 10% of earners are near the legal minimum. Which is why the income is more stable through contraction, it’s policy-bound.
020
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 01/08/2026
To add to this point Professor Logan is making about how media narratives follow elite concern. I’d like to add: indexing forces this inflection point, and what the data shows is that the wealthy have done worse, not that the poor have done better.
120
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 30/07/2026
What national service has taught me about economic policy advocacy.
goodeconomics.substack.com
The Economic Policy Front
What The Military and an Unconventional Life has Taught me About the Importance of Tactics and Strategy in Policy Advocacy
010
Reposted by Mark G. Sheppard
Jason Fletcher @jasonmfletcher.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
How to Write a Top 5 Paper: A Case Study open.substack.com/pub/jasonmfl...
open.substack.com
How to Write a Top 5 Paper: A Case Study
Two teams, nearly the same question, nearly the same data—and a revealing difference in what the papers ask the evidence to do
2368
Reposted by Mark G. Sheppard
Anna Gifty @itsafronomics.blacksky.app · 10/06/2026
It's not every day your FIRST academic publication lands a @forbes.com FEATURE! Absolutely WILD. 🤯 Thank you to Dr. Gassam Asare for interviewing @emmarackstraw.bsky.social and I about our new study where we show why Black supervisors matter in the workplace and beyond. #blacksky #econsky #news
forbes.com
A New Harvard Study Makes A Powerful Case For Black Supervisors
New research reveals that when a Black supervisor is watching, it can shift workplace bias and change how Black workers are seen at work.
11449115
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 26/07/2026
This feels like a piece that @bencasselman.bsky.social would appreciate
010
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 26/07/2026
I would love to chat with @gbenga-ajilore.bsky.social about this stuff, I love the public facing work he’s been doing! Cuts to this kind of material investment in rural areas, like rural broadband, feels like a great wedge issue.
000
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 26/07/2026
My cold take is that voters probably won't get perfect answers on complex issues like if/how much to fund the War in Iran —but even with hyper-polarization, weirdly, rural broadband might still be possible.
110
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 26/07/2026
Politics is much more than policy, and polls can be a bit iffy, but when you look at the data the net-net is that for a lot of people just want a lot of very doable things, like improved roads and bridges.
100
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 26/07/2026
Public healthcare, like many of these more tangible goods/services proposals, also just cross-cuts across the aisle. Political punditry centers on divisive topics that get clicks, but Americans are weirdly in agreement on a lot of boring things like insulin caps and planting streetside trees.
120
Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · 26/07/2026
I was recently listening to a podcast by @brianbeutler.bsky.social and @mattyglesias.bsky.social, about how healthcare is the defining issue of intra-left division, but when you look at all of the polling data, the connecting thread is that Americans have a very broad demand for material policy.
110