Great to see this write-up of my microeconomics textbook w/ Sam Bowles. It was published in July by @OxUniPress You can see details & free pdf at my website here: simondhalliday.com/microecon… or at OUP here: global.oup.com/academic/prod… Some Endorsements quoted below. 🧵 (1/8)

If you’re an undergrad or recent grad (or know one!), we invite you to Camp Abundance, a free conference in Washington D.C. from July 31-August 1, hosted by Students for Abundance. Join 100 young people from all across the country interested in making America work (1/4)

Just back from a great workshop co-hosted by @rootsofprogress and @SNFAgora. Thanks for organizing, @jasoncrawford. And thanks for moderating the discussions, @simondhalliday.

I'm not on the hiring committee for this, but I have worked closely with CORE (I'm on the CORE Editorial Board and working on a new CORE textbook). I'm happy to field questions related to it from credible candidates. @sndurlauf @sfiscience Please RT if you wouldn't mind :-)

One of the things we’re doing at @HopkinsCES and @SNFAgora is thinking through what education and pedagogy around progress, civics, and the C21st look like. Really happy to be a part of this collaboration.

I really think that the public's understanding of how data centers physically interact with their communities is bordering on a low level mass delusion. The actual numbers and impact just do not at all bear out how people feel about them.

In the original paper, this video comes to mind (post hoc ergo prophet hoc in the West Wing). youtu.be/HL_vHDjG5Wk?si=hGyE… See Kai Gehring’s piece as recognizing this concern.

What if the most important thing an economics research lab could produce was not a paper but a novel? Karen Jennings wrote First of December as a writer-in-residence at our lab, @LEAP_SU It follows three people in the final days before slave emancipation at the Cape in 1838. The aim was to carry research on Cape Slavery far beyond the academy. South Africa’s history of slavery remains locked up in archives that almost no one opens. What would it take to resurface it in everyday conversation? A novel might do the work that no academic paper could. First of December will be released in the UK on 26 March and in South Africa in August.

Che meraviglia!! Azzurri!!

I have to hand it to anti-medicine influencers. They are very, very, very clever about bullshitting their audience. Statins are a popular drug, with a low side-effect profile for most patients, which have been repeatedly shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, the most common cause of death in most developed countries. So, how the hell do you argue against statins? By creating a highly specific scenario and reporting the benefit in extremely tendentious terms. More than 90 percent of people who have a heart attack don't die of a heart attack within the next 5 years. So if you ask "how much extra life will a statin give you in those 5 years?" the answer will be small. You can make it seem like statins don't do anything by analyzing their life-saving effect within a population group that mostly isn't going to die, anyway! The below is like saying, "if you wear a bike helmet for a year after being in a bicycle accident, it only increases your life expectancy by 19 minutes." Well ... haha, yeah! You have framed the scenario in a perfect way to make bike helmets look worthless! Very clever!

File under “yet another reason my courses include oral exams” (yes I know I’m privileged to have classes small enough to manage this). Also that’s not the only thing I do but I do think they should be more widely adopted.

This summer program is where I met Kevin (and a bunch of fantastic people I’ve remained in touch with subsequently). It’s an excellent program. I still refer to papers and books I read during the program in 2011. Highly recommend it.

PS - Folks in CA or NY ought care that your states have net migration numbers similar to Bulgaria to EU? You have booming economies & because nothing gets built, it's all wasted. Rule of thumb: you're in charge in a state shedding population, you don't get to run for natl office.

For a half-century, America has critically under-built family-sized housing in our most dynamic cities and neighborhoods, rendering them childless and unaffordable. It's time to save the American Dream. Introducing The American Housing Corporation.

Some countries that have prosecuted or threatened to prosecute central bankers for the purpose of political intimidation or punishment for monetary policy decisions: Argentina, Russia, Turkey, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

My forthcoming book, CHASING FREEDOM, has been named by @ForeignPolicy as one of the 30 biggest releases in foreign affairs, history, and political science coming out in 2026! Available for pre-order here: lnkd.in/ekvvzJPA