Evan Starr
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evanpstarr.bsky.social
Evan Starr
@evanpstarr.bsky.social

Professor at University of Maryland studying employee mobility, monopsony, contracts, entrepreneurship, and innovation. See www.evanpstarr.com for more on my research.

Economics 38%
Business 18%

You may be surprised by the number of people who disagree with you! Check out the paper (freely available) for some of their arguments, which ultimately won the day in the judge's mind regarding FTC's rule.

Reposted by Evan Starr

This issue has an excellent symposium on competition in labor markets, with great pieces by Ellie Prager on antitrust in labor markets (lots of unsettled issues) and @evanpstarr.bsky.social on noncompetes, as well as others. www.aeaweb.org/issues/836
Journal of Economic Perspectives
Vol. 40 No. 1 Winter 2026
www.aeaweb.org
My manuscript "The Economics of Noncompete Clauses" is now out in the Journal of Economic Perspectives.

Few topics have garnered more debate and policy attention over the last few years. This article brings us up to speed on the debate and the current answers.

pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/...

Thank you for sharing @jschneebacher.bsky.social. Will look forward to reviewing.
ICYMI given today's focus on the budget: the UK government has today also published a working paper on options for reform of non-compete agreements.

Responses to the specific options set out therein (statutory limits, size cutoffs and an outright ban), can be submitted until 18 February.

1/2
Working paper on options for reform of non-compete clauses in employment contracts
www.gov.uk
With government statistics, it's pretty simple. If you liked the February, March, and April numbers, then you have to accept all the next ones, too. They are produced in the exact same way, it's what the computer spits out, based on the inputs provided. You do not get to cherry pick your stats.
The Friends of #BLS protest the firing of BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer.

The rationale for firing her is without merit and undermines the credibility of federal economic statistics that are a cornerstone of intelligent economic decision-making by businesses, families, and policymakers.
What to make of POTUS's attempt to fire the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)?

Let's run down what knowledgable people are saying...
Trump’s first BLS Commissioner, Bill Beach, calls today’s firing groundless and dangerous.
www.friendsofbls.org/updates/2025...

Reposted by Evan Starr

5/ 📅July 23
⏰2pm: "Are Hospital Acquisitions of Physician Practices Anticompetitive?" ft #EGgrantee(s) Zack Cooper @stuartcraig.bsky.social @proffionasm.bsky.social
📅July 24
⏰9am: "Clause and Effect: Theory & Field Experimental Evidence on Noncompete Clauses" ft Bo Cowgill & @evanpstarr.bsky.social

🤣 Thanks Mike!

It was great to see you @laurakgee.bsky.social! Thank you for reaching out and letting me jump on your schedule :)

Reposted by Evan Starr

Rest in peace, Ed Leamer

Reposted by Alex Imas, Evan Starr

🚀 Exciting Opportunity! 🚀
#AI keeps me up at night. What will happen to work & workers? 🤔
I'm partnering with Schmidt Sciences to offer up to $200,000 in funding for early-career researchers! 💡
🗓️ Apply by March 31 2025
🙏 spread the word!
🔗 Learn more & apply schmidtsciences.org/ai-at-work
#EconSky

Yes! Thanks for sharing my brief @aaronsojourner.org @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social About a dozen states have noncompetes bans since 2008 ranging from a complete ban to low wage, high wage, and high tech (see faircompetitionlaw.com/2025/02/13/u...).
Updated restrictive covenant “low-wage” threshold/criteria chart
Restrictive covenant wage thresholds and criteria exist in 11 states and D.C. Our updated chart for 2025 is now available.
faircompetitionlaw.com

Reposted by Evan Starr

Big news in labor #antitrust! The US Department of Justice antitrust division & the FTC release new guidelines on business practices affecting workers, like no-poach deals, non-competes, and info sharing—some of which may violate antitrust laws. www.justice.gov/atr/media/13... 🧵

Me too!

Reposted by Evan Starr

There is a widespread notion that men are more ambitious than women.

But this new paper finds no significant gender differences in goal setting or goal pursuit suggesting that gender disparities in educational or professional contexts stem from other factors.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

We just had baby #3 a few months and this just happened to me a few weeks ago! It was both sad (how could I forget a song I sang so many times) and amazing (I forgot!)

Congratulations Paul! A clear and important piece that I hope continues to reach many more ears and eyes.

Reposted by Evan Starr

"This paper identifies an important bias — termed dynamic bias — in fixed effects panel estimators that arises when dynamic feedback [past outcomes influencing current outcomes] is ignored in the estimating equation." klosins.github.io/Klosin_JMP.pdf #econsky
klosins.github.io

At some point, years from now, you will start singing it and forget the words...and that will be a great day

Some of the most important lottery anomalies from the behavioral risk literature (e.g., probability weighting and loss aversion) actually have nothing to do with risk.

They also arise in perfectly deterministic settings.

Lead article in the latest AER issue:
www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

Great news @annastansbury.bsky.social! Congratulations on a cool paper.
How can policy confront minimum wage non-compliance? Using the case of the US and the UK, @annastansbury.bsky.social @mitsloan.bsky.social @mitiwer.bsky.social argues that improved enforcement alone is insufficient & expected penalties must increase substantially.
doi.org/10.1177/0019...
Lots of new econ lovers here & lots of new resources. A🧵.

The #EconSky feed built by @paulgp.com is the central place for econ discussion here.

Displays posts with that tag. Click here, Pin it. Shows up as a tab on far right of ur Home screen ribbon

8 more resources...
bsky.app/profile/paul...

Reposted by Evan Starr

Just spent 48 hours in DC bouncing between academic conferences and the think tank world.

I learned a ton in both settings but came away depressed at how little the two worlds understand each other's value.

Well Deserved Jon! Congratulations!

Reposted by Evan Starr

When I started to supervise master theses, students had somehow heard of the PROCESS macro. Even some colleagues were working with it. When I looked into it, I couldn't believe what I saw. Then @dingdingpeng.the100.ci approached me to write a paper about its shortcomings. Now it reached 200 cites! 📈

I'm sure she was Soo appreciative!

Reposted by Evan Starr

Meanqhile, the FTC is holding its seventeenth annual conference, with presentations by @evanpstarr.bsky.social, Pinar Yildirim and Zach Cooper.

Programme here:
www.ftc.gov/news-events/...

3/5
Seventeenth Annual Microeconomics Conference
The Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Economics and the Tobin Center for Economic Policy at Yale University will host the 17th Annual FTC Microeconomics Conference on November 14 and 15, 2024 in
www.ftc.gov