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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

I have added my name to this open letter from economists supporting Federal Reserve independence and Governor Lisa Cook. Thank you @tderyugina.bsky.social for facilitating this!

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Tatyana Deryugina @tderyugina.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

The letter is ready, thanks to all those who helped out! Starting to gather signature now, please consider signing (link at top of letter) & spread the word. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

docs.google.com

Open letter

Click here to add your signature. An Open Letter from Economists in Support of Governor Lisa Cook and Federal Reserve Independence To the President, Members of Congress, and the American public: We wr...

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Jay Shambaugh @jaycshambaugh.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Seems like if we want to increase a culture of work etc etc, this might be more promising than taking food benefits away from 60 year olds or parents of 9 year olds. Of course funding things like this wouldn’t open up budgetary space for tax cuts for rich people.

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Janice Fine @janicefinewjl.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

1/ Want to help US workers? Enforce labor law, not deportation orders. Undocumented immigrants are not the problem. The problem is the govt’s inadequate response to structural shifts in the economy that undermine worker power. NEW REPORT: smlr.rutgers.edu/sites/defaul...

smlr.rutgers.edu

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The Hamilton Project @hamiltonproject.org · 28/05/2025

Who do work requirements penalize? @lizananat.bsky.social‬, ‪@agpines.bsky.social‬, and Olivia Howard offer findings on low-income service sector workers whose unpredictable work hours are largely driven by their employers and not by choice. www.brookings.edu/articles/wor...

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

One of grants frozen at Cornell: $6.7M (4 yrs) to develop heart pumps for babies born w/ heart defects. It took decades of work to get to point of prepping device for in-human clinical trials. No private company could do this. The cruelty of the Trump administration is heartbreaking. So to speak.

news.cornell.edu

Research at risk: Life-saving heart pumps for babies | Cornell Chronicle

After receiving a stop-work order from the federal government, the future of a device to help children with heart defects is uncertain.

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

Ooh I haven't read most of these...time for a library trip with the kids!

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

I couldn't agree more! Reading to our kids is a highlight of my day.

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

This makes me so sad. My first thought is this is yet another casualty of the "smart phones ruined everything" hypothesis. But I wonder if it's also downstream effects of education policy last few decades treating reading as a skill for standardized tests rather than something fun

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

awesome, congrats on writing it and we will all be lucky to read it!

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Peter Sagal @petersagal.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

While you highlight it, please note is the product of local journalism, which has been carrying a lot of the burden in an environment where national outlets simply can't cover everything everywhere all at once. Support your local journalists!

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Alert--one heck of an opportunity to measure the tax incidence of tariffs! (That is, if Amazon measures/announces incidence correctly...)

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

"Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants,” winks Louis Brandies at us.

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Josh Kovensky @joshkovensky.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

For your enjoyment: here is Secretary of Education Linda McMahon talking about implementing AI in schools, but pronouncing it "A1," as in "A1 Steak Sauce" www.youtube.com/live/lxrg28z...

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Happy to have come across Michael's Vox piece through this exchange. A nice complement to Jeruselum Demsas' interview with Roge Karma w/ a dive on the literature on all the ways immigrants do NOT harm natives' wages. I wrote a problem set about it this semester www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc...

theatlantic.com

The Immigration-Wage Myth

Does the American worker have good reason to fear immigration?

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

I know you have a million things on your plate. Take 5 minutes to call your senators and your representative to demand that they speak out against this abhorrent and un-American action by the Trump administration. North Carolinians: a staffer picks up at Budd's office; you leave a message for Tillis

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Hakeem Jefferson @hakeemjefferson.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Here’s the reality: This government—despite what they’d have us believe—cannot simply do whatever it wants. The moment we accept that bullshit, we become complicit in this blatantly authoritarian move by the president and his administration. With a loud, collective voice, we must say: fuck this!

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alexandra @aliemalie.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

If you think empathy is weakness, you're revealing yourself as a psychopath.

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

It's still hopefully helpful for him to hear that his constituents are furious right now!

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Fellow North Carolinians: I just left a message for our Republican Senator Thom Tillis--with whom I rarely agree but who has spoken out in support of Ukraine. Let's rattle our elected representatives to not just sit back as this slide to authoritarianism continues.

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

The media should relentlessly be explaining three facts: 1. Payroll is a very small part of govt. spending 2. It is possible to cripple govt. and save little 2. In addition to being illegal/unconstitutional, DOGE cuts are a rounding error compared to numbers in budget resolution

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Kim Kelly @kimkelly.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

In 2024, the NLRB filed a complaint against Tesla for interfering in a union drive at their Buffalo, NY assembly plant. Today:

Post from NLRB Union: Yesterday, the NLRB’s Buffalo office (Region 3) received word from its landlord that GSA—acting on behalf of DOGE—had unilaterally cancelled the Region’s five-year lease, without any prior notice to the Agency. The Region has been given 90 days to vacate the building.

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Anyway, time to get off social media and get to that paper I need to write!!

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

But having kids is neither necessary nor sufficient for this unraveling! It remains a constant, almost daily task to recognize when I’m not present at dinner because I’m thinking of that paper I so desperately want to get back to. Meditation has helped (when I can stick to it).

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

One of the many gifts of having kids was how it relaxed work’s grip on me. Part of this was necessity—I simply had to stop working at 5 and on weekends—but mostly it was a preference realignment, a clarity (amidst the fog and sleep deprivation) of just how far this overreach had become.

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

One of my projects over the last few years has been acknowledging the extent of this overreach and unraveling myself from it. I love my work. I do not love who I am when it consumes me. I am less present as a partner and parent, a crappy friend. My sleep becomes terrible.

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

This scene with Uncle Boris, from Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, also hit too close to home for me: "Art will give you crowns in heaven and laurels on Earth, but also, it will tear your heart out and leave you lonely.” youtu.be/5WuMS6bkak0

youtu.be

The Fabelmans (2022) - Uncle Boris Scene | Movieclips

YouTube video by Movieclips

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

I am often reminded of this quote, the third sentence of Karl Ove Knaasgard’s My Struggle: Volume 2 “I have never understood the point of holidays, having never felt the need for them and have always just wanted to do more work.”

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

No doubt, most of this was a symptom of poor organization, taking on too many projects, etc. Many can relate. But part of it reflected a deep desire to always be writing. I wanted to know if that regression held up. I want to nail the introduction. I want R2 to see what a wonderful paper this is.

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

But I want to be open about the flipside of this joy. A few years after grad school, I realized that research had consumed me. Thoughts of it infiltrated every moment of free time, had wiggled into every nook and cranny of my mental bandwidth.

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

(This is not a license to my employer to reduce my salary in light of this compensating differential 😊. Also how much of my day I get to do research, rather than teaching and service, is another story, but I digress 😊.)

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

I am especially grateful for this JOB. It’s not hyperbole to say that I find doing research electrifying. Getting to probe questions that interest me, to run regressions! To craft introductions 38 times! To meticulously respond to Reviewer 2! All of it—electrifying. Getting paid for this is bananas.

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

to be a better researcher, writer, and human. I’m grateful to my wife @sarahegaither.bsky.social for flooding me with joy and nudging me to be clear on what is meaningful and unique about my work (and pointing out when my slides are atrociously word-heavy 😊)

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

It feels weird to celebrate anything right now. But—especially now—I’m so grateful for this moment! I am so grateful to be at a place like Duke Sanford, surrounded by colleagues who are taking visionary approaches to tackle today’s policy challenges. I’m grateful for mentors who steered me ...

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

I am ecstatic to share that I got tenure!!! The job security is great, but honestly the reaction from these two may have been the very best part. Please indulge me in a few musings / ramblings about the gratitude—and other feelings—radiating through me right now….

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Kim Kelly @kimkelly.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

if you work at OSHA or the Department of Labor and wanna share a tip about what’s happening with a friendly labor reporter, I will protect your privacy and am ALL ears I’m on Signal (kimkelly.666) and you can email me securely at kimkelly@protonmail.com‬

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Is there an analogous chart for investment in coal, oil and gas, fracking, etc? How much of this is diverting from fossil fuel investment, and how much just reflects growing energy demand?

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

super interesting paper that probably is relevant for interpreting results from **MANY** RCTs.

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Has there ever been a better description of the concept of opportunity cost? Thoreau--the transcendental economist!

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Anna Stansbury @annastansbury.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

Come to our ASSA LERA session on Compliance and Enforcement of Labor and Employment Law: - New survey data on labor standards compliance - Management practices & workplace injuries - Wage theft by demographic group - Compliance incentives Sunday, 1-3pm #ASSA2025 #LERA2025 #EconSky

Picture of conference program listing - all text is available on the link at the next tweet

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

agreed. I'm not aware of a study that's done this or how one would get data. Perhaps related is a paper finding that firms just barely making earnings expectations had relatively higher injury rates, presumably b/c the firm was pressuring workers to hustle www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

Earnings expectations and employee safety

We examine the relation between workplace safety and managers’ attempts to meet earnings expectations. Using establishment-level data on workplace saf…

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

It's pretty straightforward to use these OSHA injury data to compare Amazon's injury rates to industry peers--you can search for Amazon easily because the data include company names (!) and NAICS codes www.osha.gov/Establishmen...

osha.gov

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

I know of a report that was released in May by Strategic Organizing Center (probably not an unbiased entity) that analyzed the injury data that Amazon and many other firms submit to OSHA about their injury rates annually since 2017. I'm guessing Sanders used/cited it thesoc.org/resources/sa...

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Heidi L. Williams @heidiwilliams.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Attention: PhD students and early-career researchers interested in the fiscal and economic effects of productivity policies -- particularly R&D, immigration, and infrastructure permitting. Consider applying to this Sloan Foundation NBER fellowship: www.nber.org/graduate-fel...

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

My fantastic PhD advisee Nikita Kohli (on the market!) has a killer JMP: she finds that weakening union power in Brazil REDUCED formal employment. Key mechanism is unions aided scarce enforcement of labor regulations. Check out her summary on Development Impact 👇and her website www.nikitakohli.com

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Matt Johnson @mslaterjohnson.bsky.social · 11/11/2024

Anyone wanna write a problem set question on this with me?

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