Reposted by William D. O'ConnellDani Rodrik @drodrik.bsky.social · 23/05/2025Three things made the US a rich and powerful nation: the rule of law, its science & innovation system, and openness to foreign talent. Remarkable how Trump has taken a sledgehammer to all three. No enemy of this country could do more. 296113453719
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellChris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · 22/05/2025We cannot speak with any sort of authority about the dangers of AI to democracy and the need for authentic communication if we're not willing to show through our actions that we value these things in our own work! 053
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellDr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · 22/05/2025"Do home prices need to come down?" has received a lot of love, and the question: What if wage growth goes up? A: It helps, but even if we could *double* real wage growth, Oakville will still need 19 years to hit 2005 affordability. Read here: www.missingmiddleini... 1184
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellErin Lockwood @erinkaylockwood.bsky.social · 21/05/2025Yes. Sometimes there will be lists of obviously fake books, but more often we won't notice it at all. AI detectors, zooming in to examine every image and video for "tells," counting on ChatGPT's quirk-of-the-week to out its use is a mug's game. The only solution is a political-epistemic one. 🧵 192
William D. O'Connell @williamoconnell.bsky.social · 20/05/2025Business leaders have been screaming this for several years, and yet Canadian provincial governments across the political spectrum continue to aggressively defund their universities' arts programs. 100
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellDr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · 19/05/2025Here's a cheat sheet, for those who claim that Canada's housing crisis is isolated to a few pockets of the country. There are substantial regional variations, but the pockets of unaffordability are very, very large. Raw data here: www.missingmiddleini... 2329
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellDr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · 17/05/2025Latest at MMI. The government had a bad week on housing. The problem isn't a lack of message discipline but something larger and more structural: It lacks clear goals and objectives for middle-class housing, which is leading to poor policy. Read here: www.missingmiddleini... 0245
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellAlex Usher @alexusherhesa.bsky.social · 16/05/2025Change in overall provincial government spending vs. total provincial government spending on post-secondary education, Canada, 2006-07 to 2025-26 (2006-07 = 100). It's not austerity, it's the choices. 27655
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellDr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · 16/05/2025The new federal Housing Minister's stated goal for middle-class housing affordability is to keep home prices flat and let wages catch up. We ran the numbers - that would take up to 50 years in some parts of Canada. Read more here: www.missingmiddleini... 94417
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellDr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · 16/05/2025If the federal government's position is that we don't need to lower the price of homes for the middle class, then I think they'll need to make some changes to the National Housing Strategy Act. 16519
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellDr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · 15/05/2025Question for the federal government: The platform contained a lot of (IMO very good) measures, like reducing DCs, to lower the cost of homebuilding. Is the end goal of reducing homebuilding costs to reduce prices, or to increase developer margins? 4389
William D. O'Connell @williamoconnell.bsky.social · 14/05/2025Not a good start.globalnews.caShould home prices go down? ’No,’ says Canada’s new housing minister - National | Globalnews.caGregor Robertson, the former Vancouver mayor, was sworn in as housing minister in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new cabinet on Tuesday. 010
William D. O'Connell @williamoconnell.bsky.social · 13/05/2025This disgraceful episode is brought to you by FanDuel, America's #1 sportsbook!apnews.comMLB reinstates Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson, making them Hall of Fame eligiblePete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson were reinstated by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday, making both eligible for the sport’s Hall of Fame after their careers were tarnished by sports gambl... 010
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellBlake E. Reid @chup.blakereid.org · 13/05/2025Well, this is a hell of a metaphor for generative AI 151120382
William D. O'Connell @williamoconnell.bsky.social · 11/05/2025In case you ever feel like your vote doesn't matter, know there is one person in suburban Montréal who did, literally, cast the deciding vote.cbc.caQuebec riding of Terrebonne flips to Liberals after recount shows candidate won by single vote | CBC NewsAfter a judicial recount, sources tell CBC News the Quebec riding of Terrebonne has flipped to the Liberals, who have beaten the Bloc Québécois by one vote. The result means the Liberals have 170 seat... 091
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellMike De Souza @mikedesouza.bsky.social · 10/05/2025More on Danielle Smith govt breaking access law in this report by @matthewblack.ca - Edmonton Journal: “McLeod’s investigation began in August of 2023 following reporting from the Narwhal and the refusal of all government departments to process a series of requests made by the Globe and Mail.”edmontonjournal.comAlberta government failed to follow access to information rulesA report from Information and Privacy Commissioner Diane McLeod found the province had improperly refused to process a number of requests. 16233
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellJared Wesley @jaredwesley.ca · 10/05/2025This is an appalling development with Bill 54. “McClure writes that some of the bill makes improvements, but other changes "will deteriorate the service provided to electors, compromise Albertans' trust in the democratic process, and remove elements of transparency and accountability."” 510966
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellAnna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 09/05/2025JUST NOW: A federal judge ordered the immediate release of Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts PhD student who was taken on the street in Massachusetts by masked immigration authorities. Ozturk has been detained in Louisiana for the past 6 weeks. But today, the judge ordered that she be allowed to go home. 9758175
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellDaniel McDowell @danielmcdowell.bsky.social · 09/05/2025Technology is melting our college students' brains. Link: www.msn.com/en-us/news/t... 271
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellErin Lockwood @erinkaylockwood.bsky.social · 07/05/2025I think it's worth working through the logic of how the AI cheating mess is symptomatic of a broader epistemic and economic crisis, in which the tenuous bargain higher ed struck with to society to credential job applicants in exchange for being allowed to exist has completely eroded. 🧵 122
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellErin Lockwood @erinkaylockwood.bsky.social · 07/05/2025Students are AI-cheating their way through college because they are rightly terrified of economic precarity and doing everything they can to avoid it, which means getting a college degree because they've been told that a degree is necessary for a reasonably well playing job. And they're not wrong! 162
William D. O'Connell @williamoconnell.bsky.social · 07/05/2025There is something particularly insidious and divisive about insisting you don't support secession while actively working to make it possible. 100
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellI Younan An @iyounanan.bsky.social · 06/05/2025Happy to announce that I accepted a Visiting Fellow position with the Centre for Development Economics and Trade at the Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI). CDRI is a leading policy research institute in Cambodia. I’m excited to support their research initiative and research network 🙂! 251
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellFrédéric Mérand @fredericmerand.bsky.social · 03/05/2025In this response to the 15 scholars who reacted to my original essay on Canada’s EU membership, I sketch out a roadmap for Canada’s pivot to Europe. www.ecsa-c.ca/post/canada-...ecsa-c.caCanada’s Pivot to EuropeFrédéric Mérand, Université de Montréalfrederic.merand@umontreal.ca May 1, 2025 Although not everyone thinks it possible or even desirable to turn Canada into the 28th member of the European Union, al... 0124
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellErin Lockwood @erinkaylockwood.bsky.social · 30/04/2025Look, I fundamentally refuse to buy into the near-consensus in higher ed that we must train our students to be good users of AI (as if we even know what that means) so that they can do shit like this in their future jobs. I want no part of it. 1104
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellStephanie Carvin @stephaniecarvin.bsky.social · 30/04/2025This is really excellent analysis by @jrobson.bsky.social - electoral ridings most exposed to Trump tariffs tended to vote CPC/BQ, not Liberal - which leads to some interesting policy and political implications for the Carney government. #elxn45 #cdnpoli 1918544
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellJacob Winter @jacobawinter.bsky.social · 25/04/2025It's out! My favourite unexpected finding: the best month to make a deal with the World Bank is June. 052
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellErin Lockwood @erinkaylockwood.bsky.social · 25/04/2025Some much damage has already been done and this doesn't touch on the unlawful detentions of students for pro-Palestinian advocacy, but this is still very good news. Challenge everything. They're not invincible. 131
William D. O'Connell @williamoconnell.bsky.social · 24/04/2025A big win for Quebec's anglo universities.cbc.caQuebec judge invalidates tuition hike, French requirements for out-of-province university students | CBC NewsThe judge struck down the tuition increases and French requirements that affected out-of-province Canadian students, saying that the Higher Education Ministry lacked data to support its claims that ou... 110
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellErin Lockwood @erinkaylockwood.bsky.social · 24/04/2025Just got my copy of Ineffective Policies, a new book in which I have a chapter on the Volcker Rule, the part of Dodd-Frank which bans proprietary trading by commercial banks -- a noble goal but one continually undercut by the Rule's attempt to preserve US banks' access to capital markets. 292
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellMolly White @molly.wiki · 24/04/2025Someone just spent $8 million on $TRUMP memecoins after the president announced that the top holders would be invited to join him at a private dinner at his DC golf club. The purchases were funded by a Binance account, suggesting the wallet owner is not based in the US. 961444614
William D. O'Connell @williamoconnell.bsky.social · 23/04/2025Government intervention in the minutiae of university teaching: not just an American problem! Defunding universities, and then using the resulting financial problems as a pretext to intervene in their governance is dishonest and harmful.cbc.caNew university funding deals include tuition freeze for Nova Scotia students | CBC NewsNew bilateral funding agreements between the provincial government and universities will freeze tuition at current levels for Nova Scotia undergraduate students, but they also appear to represent a ma... 110
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellDr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · 22/04/2025A significant portion of the costings in all the party platforms is sourced from the Parliamentary Budget Office. Some of these are reasonable, some of them are bananas, and in *none* of them do the PBO actually show their work. A problem. www.pbo-dpb.ca/enpbo-dpb.caHome - Parliamentary Budget OfficerThe PBO provides independent economic and financial analysis to Canada's Parliament. 1326
William D. O'Connell @williamoconnell.bsky.social · 22/04/2025Beyond the wild accounting there is also this bananas policy: 000
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellDr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · 22/04/2025The Conservative plan is out and, ooof, is this costing a disaster. There's a whole bunch of phantom revenues booked here, and the GST housing pledge is costed at under $2B. Given their proposed eligibility criteria, it should be more in the 4-6B range. 25249188
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellNihil Dev 🇩🇰🇬🇱🇺🇦🇨🇦🇵🇸 @nihildev.bsky.social · 21/04/2025Ever wonder how many lives have been saved by NIH-funded research - including your own? Enter any medical condition and instantly see how your tax dollars transformed science into survival. www.ourhealthroi.comourhealthroi.comOur Health ROIExplore how your tax dollars fund life‑saving medical research. 28420325
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellBenjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 21/04/2025Three months ago not a single one predicting a recession? Frankly, lmao. 1102
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellDaniela Gabor @danielagabor.bsky.social · 19/04/2025You know it's an American newspaper from the premise of education as a private funded enterprise and the language of 'dependency'. 1256
Reposted by William D. O'Connelljon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 19/04/2025Senators are fighting back this morning with an email blast alleging the University is conducting a power grab, and calling for an investigation of the Trustees and who they’re accountable to. 19417
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellDaniel McDowell @danielmcdowell.bsky.social · 19/04/2025If Trump pulls this off, it would be more bad news for Treasury markets, more bad news for the dollar. Central bank independence may be a bland topic, but it's sacrosanct from a market perspective. Global investors don't want the issuer of the world's "safe asset" to act like Turkey. 910930
William D. O'Connell @williamoconnell.bsky.social · 17/04/2025In case anyone thought tax arbitrage was unique to the modern era of offshore global finance.cbc.ca1,900-year-old Roman papyrus details elaborate tax evasion scheme, research suggests | CBC RadioHistorians have deciphered a 1,900-year-old papyrus discovered in the Judean desert that details an elaborate tax evasion scheme, forgery and fraudulent sale and manumission of slaves by two men. 110
William D. O'Connell @williamoconnell.bsky.social · 17/04/2025Big Finance sees Trump as a vehicle for deregulation and rent seeking. But they don't seem to recognize that the shoe can easily be on the other foot, where lawlessness means they could suddenly become targets based on politically undesirable investment decisions. 030
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellDaniel McDowell @danielmcdowell.bsky.social · 17/04/2025Trump's complaints abt Powell are concerning for the Fed's independence, of course. But they also misunderstand the institutional pressures that the Fed faces. If faced with uncertainty abt the right path forward, Powell will lean hawkish IMO for the same reputational reason I described below 091
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellMolly White @molly.wiki · 29/03/2025arguments for allowing higher overdraft fees tend to turn into "just don't be poor" once you realize banks engage in exploitative practices to maximize overdrafts even if you have the money www.tiktok.com/t/ZT2cVhPvW/ 341037245
William D. O'Connell @williamoconnell.bsky.social · 15/04/2025I don't want to defend the People's Party, but if the Commission allows the Greens to debate despite admitting they lied to meet the criteria, then I think they are right to be furious. This is so dishonest and so delegitimizing to a key electoral institution.cbc.caGreens held back some candidates despite giving full slate to debates commission | CBC NewsThe Green Party says it deliberately didn't run candidates in some ridings, even though the party submitted a full slate of potential candidates to the commission responsible for organizing the leader... 010
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellJim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 15/04/2025total clarity here from @edwardluce.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/4c4b... 18696453742
Reposted by William D. O'ConnellChris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 14/04/2025It's actually wild. There's literally no mention of why Jackie Robinson is important in the MLB press release. At all. Just that he "played his first Major League game on April 15, 1947." 21751285
Reposted by William D. O'Connellherman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 14/04/20251. For the 2 civilians and my mom who read this: why we have the FDIC: Banks do maturity transformation - turning short term deposits into long term loans - as their core business. We want them to do this - investment in new factories and homes. But it’s risky! 141