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Nathan Wilmers

@natewilmers.bsky.social
1.8K followers 840 following 54 posts

Working on wage inequality, economic sociology, unions, and work. associate professor @MITSloan.

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Reposted by Nathan Wilmers
Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
New survey on tool use in quantitative social science: "AI-assisted research" now refers to radically different practices depending on whether you've crossed over to agents or are stuck with old chatbot interfaces.
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Nathan Wilmers @natewilmers.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
How are coding agents changing how we study the economy, society and politics? New results from a baseline survey with @tomlyttelton.bsky.social and Maxim Massenkoff, about who is using AI coding agents and what they're doing with them.
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Review of Economics and Statistics (REStat) @restatjournal.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
CVS's acquisition of Target's retail pharmacy business reduced pay, especially for low-wage workers. Just Accepted new paper by Enas Farag, Alaa Abdelfattah, Chris Compton, Anna Stansbury @annastansbury.bsky.social and Marshall Steinbaum @econmarshall.bsky.social zurl.co/NvgSz
zurl.co
A Retrospective Analysis of the Acquisition of Target’s Pharmacy Business by CVS Health: Labor Market Perspective
Abstract. We analyze the labor market impact of CVS Health’s acquisition of Target’s pharmacy business in December 2015 using Lightcast job postings data.
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Tahir Enes Gedik @tegedik.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
I adopted this workflow and created a simplified version using R, quarto, and only Claude (high effort sonnet 4.6). I kept the prompts with minimal changes, but executed them one after another, and checked the artifacts created (codes, reports, etc.).
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This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Some quick thought on what this means for the way we communicate science: time to kill the peer reviewed article? pardoguerra.org/2026/05/09/i...
pardoguerra.org
It’s time to get rid of the peer-reviewed paper
The peer-reviewed journal article, perhaps the single most important device behind the expansion of scientific knowledge in the last century, is an extraordinarily expensive way to share novelty: e…
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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 08/05/2026
Social science Gastown has arrived
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Joe Noonan @joenoonan.se · 08/05/2026
This is a very good and thoughtful paper. I recommend reading the papers that this workflow actually produces. They are quite strange to read: signals of competence such as rigorously explained empirics but much more underdeveloped positioning of the research. www.nathanwilmers.com/paper_factory/
nathanwilmers.com
Paper Factory
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Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
What can we learn from automating an entire quantitative social science paper, from prompt to finished product? Thread about ongoing work with @natewilmers.bsky.social 1/12 Paper: osf.io/preprints/so...
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MZES Uni Mannheim @mzesunimannheim.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
❗️ Tue, Apr 14, 13:45-15:15 CET 📍 A 231 and ZOOM MZES Speaker Series with @natewilmers.bsky.social "The Paper Factory" 👉 www.mzes.uni-mannheim.de/en/news/even... This talk is organised in cooperation with the Academy of Sociology. 1/2
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Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
JOB! I'm hiring a postdoc for 2 years on my ERC MaMo project. Looking for someone with strong quant methods, ongoing work close to the project's aims, and a desire to publish in sociology. Start flexible in the next 12 months. Formal call out shortly, but contact me first.
Markets and Mobility: How Employers Structure Economic OpportunityIntergenerational mobility, measuring the ability to achieve economic success regardless of family background, is a critical reflection of a society’s commitment to equality of opportunity. Rising income inequality has raised concerns about the potential erosion of upward mobility. While education has traditionally been viewed as the path to mobility, its transformative power is facing challenges in a rapidly evolving job market. This project reorients the focus of intergenerational mobility research by highlighting the labor market as an arena for the reproduction of advantage. It employs a comparative approach, using administrative data from four countries: Sweden, Austria, England, and the United States. It also incorporates evidence from a broader set of nations through cross-national surveys, longitudinal household surveys, labor force surveys, secondary data, and digital trace data. The project employs cutting-edge empirical methods, including quasi- experimental designs, event studies, within-family comparisons, decomposition analyses, counterfactual simulations, and diagnostic checks to rigorously assess the extent of inequalities in the labor market. The research investigates how family background influences the sorting of individuals to employers and workplaces, accounting for education and occupation, and explores variations in career progression within and between employers. It comprehensively catalogues and assesses mechanisms shaping workplace inequality, contributing to the development of social closure theory. Additionally, the project evaluates intervention strategies, encompassing both employer practices and government actions, to promote fair opportunity in the labor market.
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Nathan Wilmers @natewilmers.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
I’m hiring a postdoc! Flexible in terms of details, but I’m looking for someone to collaborate with on research about labor market inequality. I’ll review applications as they come in and the posting just went up here: apply.interfolio.com/178873
apply.interfolio.com
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
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Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
Great work! In Scandinavian data that lets us look at a longer career span up to age 40 we find much higher referral rates. Direct = working at father’s workplace. Indirect = working with a former colleague of father. Forthcoming with @natewilmers.bsky.social at @amjsoc.bsky.social
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ILR Review @ilrreview.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
How does increased worker #voice benefit #wages? Dylan Nelson @uofillinois.bsky.social and @natewilmers.bsky.social @mitsloan.bsky.social show that worker voice pays earnings premium that is attributable to increased #productivity and greater worker bargaining #power. doi.org/10.1177/0019...
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MIT Institute for Work and Employment Research (IWER) @mitiwer.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
What happens when manufacturing companies regularly incorporate worker feedback and ideas into their production processes? Productivity is generally higher—and so is production worker pay. New findings from Dylan Nelson of UIUC & @natewilmers.bsky.social @mitiwer.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/4vhswpvr
tinyurl.com
The Effects of Worker Voice on Manufacturing Pay and Productivity | MIT Sloan
New research finds that when manufacturing companies regularly incorporate worker feedback and ideas, both productivity and worker pay are generally higher.
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MIT Institute for Work and Employment Research (IWER) @mitiwer.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
Nice new profile of MIT Professors @natewilmers.bsky.social @mitiwer.bsky.social @mitsloan.bsky.social & Rohit Karnik of MIT Mechanical Engineering, for their skill at mentoring graduate students: tinyurl.com/yajarpas
tinyurl.com
Cultivating confidence and craft across disciplines
Rohit Karnik and Nathan Wilmers were selected as “Committed to Caring.” These MIT professors encourage their students, advocate for meaningful, interesting research, and participate in their research ...
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Jonathan Horowitz @jonathanhorowi1.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
This paper from @tomlyttelton.bsky.social and @natewilmers.bsky.social is amazing. It shows that removing educational requirements can have big impacts for workers...except that employers don't really hire those workers below the normal education level anyway.
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Jake Rosenfeld @jakerosenfeld.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
Early results suggest Chavez-DeRemer's prior pro-labor stances weren't exactly deeply held. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
washingtonpost.com
Trump to cut protections for home health aides, migrant farmworkers
The Labor Department unveiled an “aggressive deregulatory” effort this week.
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Washington Center for Equitable Growth @equitablegrowth.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
"Cuts to social programs will have a major impact on local economic activity." Social programs are a key part of the regional economic base. @robertmanduca.bsky.social on how Medicaid and SNAP cuts in the #ReconciliationBill will negatively impact local economies: equitablegrowth.org/medicaid-and...
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Donald Tomaskovic-Devey @dont-d.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
My 40 year old book, Recapitalizing America was reissued. Here is my reflection today. www.wipsociology.org/2025/07/02/r...
wipsociology.org
Recapitalizing America Redux – Work in Progress
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Tom VanHeuvelen @tvanheuvelen.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
At the blog I wrote about a new paper by @natewilmers.bsky.social , @zparolin.bsky.social , and @lukaslehner.bsky.social . We're living in a novel era of inequality discordance. What's going on?! asocial.substack.com/p/inequality...
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Danny Schneider @dschneider.bsky.social · 17/11/2023
David Weil & I are hiring a full-time post-doc to work with us on new strategic enforcement research. Folks interested in computational methods, labor policy, industrial relations, labor economics, etc.. pls apply (+ don't hesitate to get in touch)! Apps due 1/8/24 shift.hks.harvard.edu/about/jobs/
shift.hks.harvard.edu
Jobs - The Shift Project
Shift is hiring!   Post-Doctoral Research Fellow Opportunity   About the Position Professors Daniel Schneider (Harvard Kennedy School) and David Weil (Brandeis University) are recruiting one full-ti...
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Jerry Davis @vanishingcorp.bsky.social · 08/11/2023
"Is this the end of corporate capitalism?" Probably not the end--but an opening for alternatives. lpeproject.org/blog/is-this...
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Anna Stansbury @annastansbury.bsky.social · 03/11/2023
"The Economics Profession's Socioeconomic Diversity Problem" w/ Robert Schultz is now out in the JEP Here's the paper: pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/... and the Twitter thread from Mar 2022 (aka before I was on Bsky - sorry!) twitter.com/annastansbur...
pubs.aeaweb.org
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Dirk Witteveen @dirkwitteveen.bsky.social · 25/10/2023
New paper in Socio-Economic Review! We examine the relationship between the density of college majors in occupations and occupation-level earnings. This "major specialization" of occupations boosts earnings, over and above closure mechanisms and skills. doi.org/10.1093/ser/...
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Matt Beane @mattbeane.bsky.social · 15/10/2023
When it's time to change... we change. Here's my Substack: www.wildworldofwork.org I'll publish every couple weeks on this wild world of work we now inhabit: how we're handling intelligent tech and how we could do better. I couldn't ask for better early readers than you folks: please subscribe!
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Arin Dube @arindube.bsky.social · 09/10/2023
Another strike! Strikes happen when 2 sides differ in view of power balance. Unionized employers in America are only slowly realizing workers have more leverage now than in decades past. A key reason: historically tight labor market over past 5 years.
washingtonpost.com
UAW workers reject Mack Trucks contract, go on strike
The union said 73 percent of its workers had voted against a tentative agreement the two parties hashed out a week ago.
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Anna Stansbury @annastansbury.bsky.social · 09/10/2023
Just the MOST incredible news! 🎉🎉🎉
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Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 04/10/2023
Some relevant lit abt workers dealing with imperfectly observed employer heterogeneity: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1... papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/28mbj... www.nber.org/papers/w29623 www.nber.org/papers/w30266 What else do you know in this area?
journals.uchicago.edu
What’s the Inside Scoop? Challenges in the Supply and Demand for Information on Employers | Journa...
Workers struggle to understand prospective employers. Through experienced workers’ volunteered reviews, Glassdoor is a platform seeking to provide information about prospective employers to job seek...
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Nathan Wilmers @natewilmers.bsky.social · 07/10/2023
For this new site audience: I’m hiring a postdoc! Very flexible in terms of details, but I’m looking for someone I can collaborate with on labor market inequality research. Apps due 11/1. It is based at MIT, but I’m open to remote work. apply.interfolio.com/130576
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Guy Berger @econberger.bsky.social · 06/10/2023
A quick reminder that the share of prime working age Americans with a job is at a 22 year high and, with luck, we’ll set a new post-2001 record tomorrow. Only 1 percentage point from the all time high!
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Carl Gershenson @cgershenson.bsky.social · 02/10/2023
"The Americans most at risk of eviction are babies and toddlers." I'm so excited to finally see this research in print. www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/u...
nytimes.com
The Americans Most Threatened by Eviction: Young Children
About a quarter of Black babies and toddlers in rental households face the threat of eviction in a typical year, a new study says, and all children are disproportionately at risk.
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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 02/10/2023
Newish paper with Haowen Zheng (1st author): gender differences in field of study account for about 36% of the segregation of male and female college graduates across occupations. Implies that 64% is unrelated to field, get-women-in-STEM programs not a panacea. read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...
read.dukeupress.edu
How Gender Segregation in Higher Education Contributes to Gender Segregation in the U.S. Labor Marke...
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Nathan Wilmers @natewilmers.bsky.social · 30/09/2023
Great new article on long-term inequality effects of RtW: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com
The Right to Work and American Inequality - Tom VanHeuvelen, 2023
Labor historians describe Right to Work (RTW) as among the most consequential pushbacks against the early twentieth-century ascent of labor unions. Yet research...
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