Gábor Békés

@gaborbekes.bsky.social

6.5K followers 2.6K following 2.3K posts

Economics Associate Prof, CEU Vienna.
Trade, applied IO, organisations. sites.google.com/site/bekesg
Author, "Data Analysis for Business, Economics, and Policy" (Cambridge UP) https://gabors-data-analysis.com/
@arsenalfc fan. .. more

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Economics 56%

Business 25%

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Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · Jan 22

Cultural homophily is persistent, pervasive, and consequential, even in superstar multinational teams of high-skill people with common objectives, doing well defined, interactive, not particularly culture intensive tasks.
pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Oh, we use football data. #EconSky

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · 15h

I used to think like this.
Then I saw musk posts on destroying the eu and said I dont wanna be part of it.
Bc BlueSky is pretty weak and i no longer see a bold future as is, this means accepting that what used to be EconTwitter is gone.
Sad. But so it goes.

Reposted by Joe R. Feagin, Marc Goergen, Michael A. Clemens , and 2 more Joe R. Feagin, Marc Goergen, Michael A. Clemens, Olivier Mannoni, Gábor Békés

Laura Ballarín 🍒 @lauballarin.bsky.social · 2d

We condemn the scandalous US visa ban on former EU Commisioner Breton and digital activists. Protecting democracy isn’t censorship. ✋🏼

Disinformation isn’t free speech. Europe won’t take lessons from those undermining democracy and free speech.

Here in Europe we set our own laws. 🇪🇺✊🏼

Reposted by Gábor Békés

Economics LMU Munich @econmunich.bsky.social · 4d

🎁 ECONM Advent Calendar – Day 22! 🎁

Congratulations to the research team of @gaborbekes.bsky.social & 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗶𝗻𝘄𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 on their outstanding European research collaboration in the project “Globalization and Industrial Policy: Evidence from the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (IP-KuK)”!👏

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · 5d

I think the proactive way is to promote use cases that LLMs can scrape and learn

github.com/gabors-data-...

Release v. 0.9.0. "Frank Exchange of Views" · gabors-data-analysis/da_case_studies

Changelog: version 0.9.0. (2025-08-14) Evolution of code by language since v0.8.3 Changelog summary -- how the content of the repository evolved for each programming language (Python, R and Stata) ...

github.com

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · 5d

Pyfixest forever.

Alex @s3alfisc.bsky.social · 5d

As everyone is querying LLMs for research these days, sometimes I check PyFixest's SEO game by asking "How can I estimate fixed effects regression problems in Python?". GTP: a) linearmodels b) statsmodels c) hand rolled d) call Julia / R from Python. Pf not (yet) recommended for arcane reasons.

Reposted by Gábor Békés

Alex @s3alfisc.bsky.social · 5d

Reposted by Gábor Békés

CEU Economics @ceu-economics.bsky.social · 6d

2026 january. Vienna.
#AI #education @gaborbekes.bsky.social at @weareceu.bsky.social
events.ceu.edu/2026-01-19/g...

GenAI in the CEU Curriculum: A Faculty Roundtable

events.ceu.edu

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · 10d

AI policy, winter update (minor)
gabors-data-analysis.com/aipolicy/

Comments welcome

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · 10d

One idea for Christmas or Hanuka.
@leleka.care
givebutter.com/Leleka25YE
"This winter, your impact is doubled. Thanks to a generous matching commitment by the Fooksman Family Foundation, all gifts made by December 31, 2025 will be matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $100,000. Your Gift Saves Lives"

Ukrainian medics are saving lives every day. You can help them save more.

By Leleka Foundation

givebutter.com

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · 13d

While selection is indeed a major issue, maybe filtering on demographic observables could help. This would mean that maybe comparison over time only work for some sub populations where coverage is OK at every period.

super interesting problem, and I'm stunned by sharp decline.

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · 14d

Cost of free speech: evidence from social media review program for h1b visa (job market paper title from 2027)

travel.state.gov/content/trav...

Announcement of Expanded Screening and Vetting for H-1B and Dependent H-4 Visa Applicants

travel.state.gov

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · 14d

Tried. Does not really work.

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · 14d

One reason I delay this is that where should I share stuff like this to reach out of echo chamber?
www.youtube.com/shorts/NvsDU...

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · 17d

Loved @andrew.heiss.phd post.
This was mine.
gabors-data-analysis.com/aipolicy/
Ideas for january review welcome

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · 17d

Yes it did.
But building a first can be organic.
Building up a competitor to a network is hard

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · 17d

I mean, anti X, anti Trump stuff not enough.
I can only speak re #EconSky. It started off but eventually most ppl, r still back at x or linkedin.

Imho it needs to be 10x /100x bigger, more diverse. Vast majority of ppl not political.
I think building a network is hard.

Reposted by Michael A. Clemens, Kathleen J. Mullen, Paolo Crosetto , and 8 more Michael A. Clemens, Kathleen J. Mullen, Paolo Crosetto, Aaron Sojourner, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, Juan Rocha, Winston T. Lin, Simon Munzert, Samuel Coavoux, Gábor Békés, Jesper Wulff

Andrew Heiss @andrew.heiss.phd · 17d

Some closing thoughts for my students this semester on LLMs and learning #rstats datavizf25.classes.andrewheiss.com/news/2025-12...

Will you incorporate LLMs and AI prompting into the course in the future?
No.

Why won’t you incorporate LLMs and AI prompting into the course?
These tools are useful for coding (see this for my personal take on this).

However, they’re only useful if you know what you’re doing first. If you skip the learning-the-process-of-writing-code step and just copy/paste output from ChatGPT, you will not learn. You cannot learn. You cannot improve. You will not understand the code.

In that post, it warns that you cannot use it as a beginner:

…to use Databot effectively and safely, you still need the skills of a data scientist: background and domain knowledge, data analysis expertise, and coding ability.

There is no LLM-based shortcut to those skills. You cannot LLM your way into domain knowledge, data analysis expertise, or coding ability.

The only way to gain domain knowledge, data analysis expertise, and coding ability is to struggle. To get errors. To google those errors. To look over the documentation. To copy/paste your own code and adapt it for different purposes. To explore messy datasets. To struggle to clean those datasets. To spend an hour looking for a missing comma.

This isn’t a form of programming hazing, like “I had to walk to school uphill both ways in the snow and now you must too.” It’s the actual process of learning and growing and developing and improving. You’ve gotta struggle.

This Tumblr post puts it well (it’s about art specifically, but it applies to coding and data analysis too):

Contrary to popular belief the biggest beginner’s roadblock to art isn’t even technical skill it’s frustration tolerance, especially in the age of social media. It hurts and the frustration is endless but you must build the frustration tolerance equivalent to a roach’s capacity to survive a nuclear explosion. That’s how you build on the technical skill. Throw that “won’t even start because I’m afraid it won’t be perfect” shit out the window. Just do it. Just start. Good luck. (The original post has disappeared, but here’s a reblog.)

It’s hard, but struggling is the only way to learn anything.

You might not enjoy code as much as Williams does (or I do), but there’s still value in maintaining codings skills as you improve and learn more. You don’t want your skills to atrophy.

As I discuss here, when I do use LLMs for coding-related tasks, I purposely throw as much friction into the process as possible:

To avoid falling into over-reliance on LLM-assisted code help, I add as much friction into my workflow as possible. I only use GitHub Copilot and Claude in the browser, not through the chat sidebar in Positron or Visual Studio Code. I treat the code it generates like random answers from StackOverflow or blog posts and generally rewrite it completely. I disable the inline LLM-based auto complete in text editors. For routine tasks like generating {roxygen2} documentation scaffolding for functions, I use the {chores} package, which requires a bunch of pointing and clicking to use.

Even though I use Positron, I purposely do not use either Positron Assistant or Databot. I have them disabled.

So in the end, for pedagogical reasons, I don’t foresee me incorporating LLMs into this class. I’m pedagogically opposed to it. I’m facing all sorts of external pressure to do it, but I’m resisting.

You’ve got to learn first.

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · 17d

Yes. for a while I kept being on X bc many people are still there and bluesky did not really pick up. But I closed X account now.

IMHO
1 People should leave X for good. Not salvageable
2 Bluesky should be bought and scaled up to properly compete.
3 Now we still have LinkedIn
#EconSky #EconTwitter

Florian Oswald @floswald.bsky.social · 17d

from @gaborbekes.bsky.social 's linkedin page. a rare show of unity amongst world experts on good governance 🤷🏻‍♂️

Reposted by Gábor Békés

Florian Oswald @floswald.bsky.social · 17d

from @gaborbekes.bsky.social 's linkedin page. a rare show of unity amongst world experts on good governance 🤷🏻‍♂️

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · 20d

Not yet.
I might stick to/ add more with football...
gabors-data-analysis.com/images/slide...

gabors-data-analysis.com

Reposted by Gábor Békés

CEU Economics @ceu-economics.bsky.social · 22d

Massive day tomorrow
2nd Data Analytics Jamboree 5 december. Last session streamed.
events.ceu.edu/2025-12-05/2...

2nd CEU Vienna Data Analytics Jamboree

events.ceu.edu

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · Nov 11

Thanks!

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · Nov 10

Since we (mostly Matyas) collected tons of data from archives. Our hunch 14ys ago was right: there is plenty. Of course I vastly underestimated the workload...

The era is fascinating. Many policies.

More people to join. More data. More AI.
#IP-KuK, here we go.

9/N ENDS

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · Nov 10

The final push was the arrival of @mmatyas.bsky.social . Phd student who is interested in economics + history + speaks Hungarian and German.
cepr.org/multimedia/n...
So we had a gap in lit, personal interest, a small team and hope for data.
The first intro email goes back to 3 October 2023.

8/N

The next generation: Paris ‘24

Recorded at the CEPR Paris Symposium. Whenever economists gather, you will find many of tomorrow’s best economists too. They get a rare chance to present their research, and traditionally we like to ask three of them to talk to us about it too. In this episode, Tim Phillips talks to three more young researchers about their work – and about how economics can do better. Matyas Molnar of Central European University describes his paper “International exhibitions as trade promotion”. Laura Arnemann of the University of Mannheim investigated “Taxes and Pay without Performance: Evidence from Executives”. And Gustavo García Bernal of Sciences Po speaks about “From Parent to Child: Intergenerational Wealth Dynamics and Inequalities.”

cepr.org

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · Nov 10

Then a year after we met again. Her train stopped for hours and started to look for data.
This was the time she worked with @rjuhasz.bsky.social on historical industrial policy. They realized we know so little outside a few countries. So there is a gap.

7/N

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · Nov 10

A few years ago, i was at @cepr.org #ERWIT and heard @csteinwender.bsky.social present her work using Chinese patents data from about same time. I was amazed, and we started to chat a little.

Then nothing happened for a year ...

6/N

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · Nov 10

Nothing happened for a decade.

5/N

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · Nov 10

I always thought, this is a super interesting period. First wave of globalization. Starting in 1867 Hungarian Kingdom is becoming more independent. Fast growth, Budapest becoming the city it is now. National champions. + AT-HU is custom and currency union + small fiscal + multi ethnic. See?

4/N

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · Nov 10

It started 14 years ago. With my then Phd student, Peter Harasztosi (now at EIB) we were asked to use a historical IV (I'm not proud of it). In the process he found text on firm level exports in the Hungarian National Library from the 1880s-1890s.

3/N

Gábor Békés @gaborbekes.bsky.social · Nov 10

First some info. This a joint project with
@csteinwender.bsky.social of @lmumuenchen.bsky.social and our @ceu-economics.bsky.social student @mmatyas.bsky.social . (Pic is at LMU history books)
Money comes from @fwf-at.bsky.social and @dfg.de . Cheers!
We start in January. 3years.

2/N

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