iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Chris Bennett @chrisbennettedu.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

Heartbreaking to see announcements of major layoffs at most research organizations that have played a vital role in supporting federal statistics for education and developing high-quality evidence about what policies/practices actually work. Below are just a few examples from my LinkedIn feed.

Mathematica
65,991 followers
1d •
• • •
To our clients, partners, and peers:
We want to let you know that we are reducing our workforce to align with the needs of our clients and ensure the continued, exceptional support we've offered for decades to the public, private, and philanthropic sectors. The staff we are letting go are skilled, experienced, and passionate about their work. Any organization would be fortunate to have them. Please don't hesitate to reach out if we can be of assistance.

Dan Gaylin • 2nd
President and CEO, NORC
10h •
너
+ Follow
Like many of our peer organizations, this week NORC had to reduce our staff to ensure we are operating effectively and have the right mix of skills to align with client needs. The people departing NORC are highly talented and capable professionals, and they have made important contributions to our mission of delivering trustworthy and reliable data and analysis to inform society's most important decisions. They will be valuable employees and colleagues wherever their careers take them next.
To each of you who are leaving, and on behalf of everyone at NORC, I offer our deepest thanks and appreciation for your dedicated service and the lasting impact you've made on our organization.

marc
MDRC
15,135 followers
9h • 0
To our collaborators: Like many of our peer organizations, MDRC has had to reduce our staff in recent days, letting go of many talented and highly skilled professionals. Each of these colleagues would be an asset to another organization, and we encourage you to consider them for any career opportunities you may have.
MDRC remains committed to our mission of learning what works to improve policy, practice, and people's well-being.

// Westat
Westat
35,042 followers
22h •
In light of recent industry changes, Westat is making strategic reductions to our workforce to better align with our clients' needs. The talented professionals who are leaving Westat have made significant contributions to our mission and embody our values of uncompromising excellence, client commitment, and innovation. They are current and future leaders in their fields and will undoubtedly be an asset to any organization they join.
We remain committed to our mission to improve lives by delivering exceptional data-driven research and technical assistance, fostering insights and solutions to advance health, education, and social and economic opportunity.

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NPR @npr.org · 26/02/2025

He was hired in 2022 so the aid agency could get 'more bang for our buck' with its projects. He tried to reach out to help in the rebuilding of the agency. On Tuesday he tendered his resignation.

npr.org

Why Dean Karlan, chief economist of USAID, resigned on Tuesday

He was hired in 2022 so the aid agency could get 'more bang for our buck' with its projects. He tried to reach out to help in the rebuilding of the agency. On Tuesday he tendered his resignation.

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Jeff Mosenkis @mosenkis.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Why Dean Karlan, Chief Economist of USAID resigned yesterday: "I was ready to rebuild from wherever we ended up to identify the most effective programs, figure out how to get them back in place, and to recommend new awards. But I received no response. Zero engagement." www.npr.org/sections/goa...

npr.org

Why Dean Karlan, chief economist of USAID, resigned on Tuesday

He was hired in 2022 so the aid agency could get 'more bang for our buck' with its projects. He tried to reach out to help in the rebuilding of the agency. On Tuesday he tendered his resignation.

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Josh Busby @busbyj2.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

A tracker estimating deaths caused by the partial PEPFAR funding suspension: pepfar.impactcounter.com. Methodology here: pepfar.impactcounter.com/methodology.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

As Elon demands justifications from all federal workers (including many who are not Executive Branch employees), remember that if he paid his taxes, it'd pay for 677K federal jobs.

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

At least 12 universities now have hiring freezes and nearly 30 have cut PhD admissions this year If you hear of other places you can add them to this google doc:

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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 23/02/2025

Trump administration appointees running USAID have in recent days fired hundreds of employees who help manage responses to urgent humanitarian crises around the world, according to officials and recent employees.

nytimes.com

Trump Appointees Fire Hundreds at U.S.A.I.D. Working on Urgent Aid

The firings added to doubts about whether Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the agency’s acting head, supports lifesaving humanitarian assistance, as he has said he does.

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Literary Pearls @literarypearls.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

“We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist” James Baldwin

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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 21/02/2025

If you could use some amazing good news, here it is

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Hank Green @hankgreen.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

History: “Eventually the incompetent fascists invariably lose power and then society recovers in a new and stronger way” Me: “Oh, cool, so what has to happen for the spell to be broken??” History: “mmmm…well, that part is less encouraging.”

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NPR @npr.org · 18/02/2025

Congress created several organizations in the 1980s to strengthen democratic institutions worldwide. Human rights activists say the freeze is a gift to authoritarians like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.

npr.org

Trump funding freeze halts decades of U.S. democracy work around the world

Congress created several organizations in 1980s to strengthen democratic institutions worldwide. Human rights activists say the freeze is a gift to authoritarians like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.

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Christopher Zorn @prisonrodeo.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

holy hell this is smart

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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

Christian groups like Catholic Relief Services, World Vision, & the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops are also laying off staff and shutting down aid programs due to the Trump-Musk dismantling of the federal gov: — www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02... — www.ncronline.org/news/exclusi...

ncronline.org

Exclusive: Catholic Relief Services lays off staff, cuts programs after USAID shakeup

An internal email says CRS is likely to be cut in half this year from Trump's freeze of U.S. foreign assistance. Cuts will "cost people's lives and livelihoods," a former bishops' conference official ...

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AEA Data Editor @aeadata.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

I've written up a step-by-step for depositing data at datalumos.org - see aeadataeditor.github.io/aea-de-guida.... Before depositing, check what's there - lot of new deposits in the last few days!

datalumos.org

DataLumos

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The Onion @theonion.com · 12/02/2025

‘You Can’t Let This Happen,’ Says Fundraising Email From Sitting U.S. Congressperson

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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 14/02/2025

Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s idea of efficiency is stopping research on curing cancer.

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David Evans @daveevansphd.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

The Inter-American Development Bank is forming a poverty group, with multiple staff positions. Lead Specialist jobs.iadb.org/job/Economic... Specialist jobs.iadb.org/job/Economic... Great opportunity to help shape the organization's operational & analytical work around poverty reduction.

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hilzoy @hilzoy.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Gift link. You should read this. It is wrong on so, SO many different levels. It violates basic principles of research ethics in so many different ways. Leaving devices IN PEOPLE'S BODIES. Stopping treatments halfway through, with no one to contact if they get sick. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/h...

nytimes.com

Dozens of Clinical Trials Have Been Frozen in Response to Trump’s USAID Order (Gift Article)

The stop-work order on U.S.A.I.D.-funded research has left thousands of people with experimental drugs and devices in their bodies, with no access to monitoring or care.

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Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · 04/02/2025

Under the banner of “government efficiency,” U.S.-grown food and lifesaving medicine meant to help the world’s most vulnerable is instead rotting on cargo ships and in warehouses across the globe. @suzykhimm.bsky.social has the details: www.nbcnews.com/news/politic...

nbcnews.com

USAID upheaval is paralyzing delivery of food and medicine around the globe

Though humanitarian aid was supposed to be exempt from the Trump-ordered disruption, shipments of lifesaving food and drugs are held up in ports and warehouses.

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Justin Sandefur @justsand.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Elon says 90% of US aid never reaches communities. He confuses USAID's 90% reliance on intermediaries -- US companies delivering HIV drugs, WFP delivering food aid -- with waste. Comical if not so dangerous. @rachelbonnifield.bsky.social & I break down where aid goes: www.cgdev.org/blog/no-90-p...

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 03/02/2025

Gerry Connolly: "It is a matter for Congress to deal with, not an unelected billionaire oligarchy named Elon Musk. And Elon, if you want to run USAID, get nominated by Trump and go to the Senate and good luck in getting confirmed."

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Chris Blattman @chrisblattman.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

I’m amazed: On the foreign assistance freeze, I’m astonished not to see major State Dept and USAID recipients challenge the disruption in court. An injunction? Where is World Vision, SAVE, Red Cross, etc on this? Or the Beltway bandits (Chemonics etc) Is there activity happening?

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Julie Zebrak @juliezebrak.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

If U.S.A.I.D.’s operations are scaled back indefinitely, it will enable China, Russia, Iran and other U.S. adversaries to gain strategic footholds overseas that would damage U.S. security in the long term. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/u...

nytimes.com

End Appears Near for U.S. Aid Agency, Democratic Lawmakers Say

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Mishell Baker @mishellbaker.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Being a person with deadly, incurable cancer who is nonetheless still alive for an indefinite timeframe gives me an interesting metaphor that helps me deal with things like large-scale corruption in government or commerce. Bear with me for a second while I try to explain.

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

New: Trump officials have paused all external communications at health agencies like CDC, FDA, NIH. No health alerts and the famed MMWRs; no updates to key websites or social media posts. And no indication how long the pause will last. With @rachelroubein.bsky.social + Lena Sun.

washingtonpost.com

Trump officials pause health agencies’ communications, citing review

The agencies are charged with making decisions that touch the lives of every American and are the source of crucial information to health-care providers.

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Ten insights you might have missed from development economics research in 2024 In his recent blog post, Managing Editor @olihanney.bsky.social outlines ten standout takeaways from the broad range of research in low- and middle-income countries we have featured on VoxDev: voxdev.org/topic/ten-ke...

voxdev.org

Ten key insights from development economics research in 2024

Economic research that VoxDev has featured in 2024 has yielded interesting insights on false narratives in international migration discourse, fertility and family planning, attendance vs learning in e...

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Sylvan Herskowitz @sylvanrh.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Nice overview of opportunities and entry points for AI to be used to improve impacts of anti-poverty programs. Important to keep in mind, especially given all of the enormous hype around how transformational many expect AI to be. ssir.org/articles/ent...

ssir.org

AI for Social Good (SSIR)

We need rigorous impact evaluations of AI in the social sector to ensure that it promotes social welfare.

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Sylvan Herskowitz @sylvanrh.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

Looking to hire an ETC in DIME to help me work on a range of Digital topics including digital ID, connectivity, social protection systems, and financial inclusion. Please apply here and/or pass along to people you think would be interested! #econsky #econra worldbankgroup.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

worldbankgroup.csod.com

E T Consultant

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solv...

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Ben Golub @bengolub.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

In economics, editors, referees, and authors often behave as if a published paper should reflect some kind of authoritative consensus. As a result, valuable debate happens in secret, and the resulting paper is an opaque compromise with anonymous co-authors called referees. 1/

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Anton Hur @antonhur.com · 11/12/2024

5th person to be cured of HIV “Today, researchers announced the Dusseldorf patient still has no detectable virus in his body, even after stopping his HIV medication four years ago.”

abcnews.go.com

5th person confirmed to be cured of HIV

Researchers are announcing that a 53-year-old man in Germany has been cured of HIV.

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Sean Higgins @seankhiggins.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Do coordination failures constrain financial technology adoption? In my paper last month's @aeajournals.bsky.social American Economic Review, I explore this using the Mexican gov's rollout of debit cards to low-income households and look at effects on retailers and other consumers 🧵 1/N

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Charles Onyango-Obbo @cobbo3.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Expenditure On Education Per Student Per Year: Africa (Where Data Is Available) Vs Selected Other Parts Of The World •AFRICA South Africa: $1,700 per student per year Egypt: $300 Rwanda: $57 Zambia: $31 Nigeria: $28 Cameroon: $25.30 Senegal: $21.40 Ethiopia: $17 Tanzania: $16.60 1/3

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Brennan Center @brennancenter.org · 07/12/2024

Some politicians and pundits are pushing the idea that immigrants are more likely to commit crimes. Not only is that claim false, the opposite is true.

brennancenter.org

Debunking the Myth of the ‘Migrant Crime Wave’

Data does not support claims that the United States is experiencing a surge in crime caused by immigrants.

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International Food Policy Research Institute @ifpri.org · 05/12/2024

🦋IFPRI is excited to join @bsky.app! Colleagues, partners, friends @cgiar.org and beyond - who's there? 👋 Welcome to our cloud!

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