@elben profile picture
Ben Harrell 🌐 @elben

Asst Prof of Economics @Trinity_U | health insurance, health policy, & health disparities. Abundance bro. Past: @vanderbiltecon @LGBTPolicyLabVU and @aysps

Joined May 2008
  • Tweets 16,452
  • Following 2,946
  • Followers 4,917
1,246 Photos and videos
Two problems w/ this article from my old Twitter frenemy Unlearning Economics: 1) Price controls in imperfectly competitive markets (eg oligopolistic) can improve welfare. 2) That doesn’t mean rent control as it is currently proposed will do so. Depends on lots of things!
Nathan J Robinson
@NathanJRobinson
Apr 30
an economist explains how rent control is actually fine and good currentaffairs.org/news/rent…
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A few more spots to fill! If you're interested in being a discussant or chair of a session in health equity at ASHEcon 2026 pls shoot me a DM!
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Tyler Cowen is to Bryan Caplan as Naomi Klein is to Naomi Wolff. I will not be elaborating further.
𝔐𝔽𝓩
@mean_field_zane
Mar 8
You guys should go ask an actual academic economist what they think of Tyler Cowen, who is ostensibly supposed to be an economist. The answer might surprise you.
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Ben Harrell 🌐 retweeted
matt bernstein@mattxiv
Jan 29
you’re telling me all the same people who championed the anti trans panic now openly want to overturn gay marriage? you mean gay and trans struggles were inseparable this whole time?
Tyler O'Neil
@Tyler2ONeil
Jan 28
🚨EXCLUSIVE: A broad coalition of pro-family groups is organizing to overturn Obergefell. The campaign declares that children are "Greater Than" so-called "Equality." Marriage and family law should prioritize the needs of children, not the predilections of adults. Here's the powerful video with @albertmohler, @LilaGraceRose, @Advo_Katy, @conservmillen, @JBStonestreet, @michaeljknowles, @FocusFamily's Jim Daly, @DelanoSquires, @tperkins, & @josh_hammer. The coalition includes: @AmericanFamAssc, @ColsonCenter, @FRCdc, Focus on the Family, @ThemBeforeUs, @CatholicVote, @LiveAction, @AbbyJohnson, @SteveDeaceShow, @RuthInstitute, @RonColeman, @CBMWorg, @sgruber91, @CCVPolicy, @AKFamilyCouncil, @indianafamily, @theFAMiLYLEADER, @MarylandFamily, @MAFamilyInst, @ncfamilypolicy, @txvalues & more dailysignal.com/2026/01/28/e…
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John Cawley@cawley_john
17 Dec 2025
One last (sobering) update on the #EconJobMarket before the winter holidays; data as of 2025-12-14. In terms of # of job listings on JOE, this is the worst job mkt in recent yrs for PhD Economists. # jobs down 20% from last yr, even 18.9% lower than during COVID (2020).
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Jason Hart@jasonahart
9 Dec 2025
unusual_whales
@unusual_whales
8 Dec 2025
U.S. manufacturing activity has contracted for 9 straight months, per Reuters
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Thank Mr. Bernke
Dirk Ehnts
@DEhnts
21 Oct 2025
Mainstream economists have no clue what happened in the Great Depression. Most blame the Fed for letting the money supply contract sharply, following Friedman. There is a reason why some economists are called heterodox and others mainstream.
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Simple: the opportunity cost of crime increased.
Shivers
@thinkingshivers
21 Oct 2025
Replying to @Noahpinion
So what led to reduced crime then?
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Must not interfere. It’s a canon event.
Francisco Nunes
@FranNunesEcon
18 Oct 2025
In my experience, most β€œheterodox economists” who criticise Economics for being "too mathematical" don’t understand the mathematics that economists use or why we use it. Some had difficulties with Math and decided to criticise a methodology that they still didn’t understand.
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"On the level of individuals and civilizations, personality predates ideology, meaning before you were a fascist, you were a bully and an asshole." -Brennan Lee Mulligan
Christopher Webb
@cwebbonline
5 Oct 2025
Ah yes, an aspiring tyrant in the making… Stephen Miller was always a POS. Here he is in high school, already looking middle-aged, giving a student government campaign speech: β€œAm I the only one who is sick and tired of being told to pick up our trash when we have plenty of janitors who are paid to do it for us?”
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My grading buddy is distracted by the squirrels.
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Scott Kominers
@skominers
23 Sep 2025
Woah I just noticed this correlation 🀯. At some point, do we need to consider the possibility that RFK Jr. is causing autism? ...πŸ‘‡
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🚨New in @JAMANetworkOpen 🚨 w/ Nicole Jones and @_thegabemiller : the 2010s saw a reversal of an enduring disparity in insurance rates among πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆ ppl, particularly for same-sex couples. So how have these gains been realized? Let's get into it! A 🧡! 1/6 jamanetwork.com/journals/jam…

Health Insurance Coverage Among Same-Sex vs Different-Sex Couples

This cross-sectional study compares health insurance coverage rates between same-sex and different-sex couples in the US from 2008 to 2022 by marital status, type of insurer, state of residence, and...

jamanetwork.com
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Finally, Medicaid expansion plays a key role here. Gains in SSC insurance status are mostly concentrated in states that have expanded Medicaid, which @samueljamesmann @Cameron_Deal_ @GilbGonzales Kitt Carpenter, and I have written on about elsewhere: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/… 5/6
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What's the upshot? We have to find a way to spread gains in insurance coverage realized by rich, married gay men living in liberal states to the broader πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆ community. A big part of that is in expanding Medicaid, but also in addressing upstream problems like income inequality! 6/6
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Ezra Klein
@ezraklein
10 Sep 2025
It's ghoulish to mock or justify the shooting of Charlie Kirk. Rising political violence is a horror of our time. Unchecked it will lead to catastrophes none of us want to imagine. Deeply hoping he pulls through. We are all people, whatever we believe. That has to come first.
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The glee with which people celebrate murder is disgusting and pathetic.
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