Alexandra de Gendre
@adegendre.bsky.social
Economist @ University of Melbourne @unimelb.bsky.social 🇦🇺 / soon @cnrs.fr @crestumr.bsky.social 🇫🇷 • Interested in Ed, health, Social Security • excited about metascience (generalizability, replication, science policy)
https://adegendre.github.io
https://adegendre.github.io
Disgraceful.
COME ON
January 4, 2026 at 1:56 AM
Disgraceful.
Read this if you don’t see the legal issues with or wonder about the legality of US actions in Venezuela
January 3, 2026 at 11:43 PM
Read this if you don’t see the legal issues with or wonder about the legality of US actions in Venezuela
Can’t believe European leaders are discussing legality of US invasion of Venezuela.
A summary of US actions in Venezuela:
Kidnapping a citizen in their own country
Expropriating their natural resources
Seizing power until somebody deemed adequate is found.
Who is next: Canada, Greenland?
A summary of US actions in Venezuela:
Kidnapping a citizen in their own country
Expropriating their natural resources
Seizing power until somebody deemed adequate is found.
Who is next: Canada, Greenland?
January 3, 2026 at 10:33 PM
Can’t believe European leaders are discussing legality of US invasion of Venezuela.
A summary of US actions in Venezuela:
Kidnapping a citizen in their own country
Expropriating their natural resources
Seizing power until somebody deemed adequate is found.
Who is next: Canada, Greenland?
A summary of US actions in Venezuela:
Kidnapping a citizen in their own country
Expropriating their natural resources
Seizing power until somebody deemed adequate is found.
Who is next: Canada, Greenland?
Reposted by Alexandra de Gendre
Places Trump has said he wants to take over:
Gaza
Venezuela
Mexico
Canada
Panama Canal
Greenland
U.S. blue cities
& said he kept troops in Syria to "keep the oil."
www.politico.com/news/2019/11...
& said in 2016 that taking Iraq oil wouldn't be stealing. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016...
Gaza
Venezuela
Mexico
Canada
Panama Canal
Greenland
U.S. blue cities
& said he kept troops in Syria to "keep the oil."
www.politico.com/news/2019/11...
& said in 2016 that taking Iraq oil wouldn't be stealing. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016...
January 3, 2026 at 3:49 PM
Places Trump has said he wants to take over:
Gaza
Venezuela
Mexico
Canada
Panama Canal
Greenland
U.S. blue cities
& said he kept troops in Syria to "keep the oil."
www.politico.com/news/2019/11...
& said in 2016 that taking Iraq oil wouldn't be stealing. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016...
Gaza
Venezuela
Mexico
Canada
Panama Canal
Greenland
U.S. blue cities
& said he kept troops in Syria to "keep the oil."
www.politico.com/news/2019/11...
& said in 2016 that taking Iraq oil wouldn't be stealing. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016...
That is called corruption. Let’s call things what they are.
Corruption is a team activity. So is accountability.
Hundreds of Big Post-Election Donors Have Benefited From Trump’s Return to Office (Gift Article)
Well into his second term, the president and his allies have continued aggressively raising money. Many donors have interests before his administration, The Times found.
www.nytimes.com
December 23, 2025 at 3:11 AM
That is called corruption. Let’s call things what they are.
Good to know for people who use LLMs for their R code
New data from @sara-altman.bsky.social & @simonpcouch.com, using the vitals and ellmer packages, looks at LLM performance metrics for #RStats.
👀 Sneak peek: Claude Opus 4.5, Claude Sonnet 4.5, & OpenAI GPT-5 lead in generating correct R code.
Read the full breakdown: posit.co/blog/r-llm-e...
👀 Sneak peek: Claude Opus 4.5, Claude Sonnet 4.5, & OpenAI GPT-5 lead in generating correct R code.
Read the full breakdown: posit.co/blog/r-llm-e...
Which LLM writes the best R code? - Posit
The vitals package delivers a dedicated framework for measuring how well Large Language Models perform with code.
posit.co
December 12, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Good to know for people who use LLMs for their R code
Myth busting in action ! @joshua-goodman.com & Joseph Winkelman wrote a great paper on trends in US college enrollments and debunk the narrative we’ve been seeing everywhere about students massively leaving higher education
— please journalists read this
🔗 docs.iza.org/dp18285.pdf
— please journalists read this
🔗 docs.iza.org/dp18285.pdf
December 11, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Myth busting in action ! @joshua-goodman.com & Joseph Winkelman wrote a great paper on trends in US college enrollments and debunk the narrative we’ve been seeing everywhere about students massively leaving higher education
— please journalists read this
🔗 docs.iza.org/dp18285.pdf
— please journalists read this
🔗 docs.iza.org/dp18285.pdf
DENSHA OTOKO 😍😍😍😍 Instant throwback to my high school years 😍😍😍😍
Preparation is almost finished for RJL’s upcoming episode on the Japanese cell phone novel.
Expect a story about novels told in screen-sized chunks, a loving homage to early 00s internet culture, and a true* tale of an otaku who needed a little courage.
(*It’s probably not true.)
Expect a story about novels told in screen-sized chunks, a loving homage to early 00s internet culture, and a true* tale of an otaku who needed a little courage.
(*It’s probably not true.)
Train Man: The Novel
Check out Train Man: The Novel - <b>An instant bestseller when it was first published in Japan, <i>Train Man</i> became a multimedia sensation, generating a smash-hit TV series, a blockbuster film, an...
bookshop.org
December 9, 2025 at 1:17 AM
DENSHA OTOKO 😍😍😍😍 Instant throwback to my high school years 😍😍😍😍
A chilling reminder of the state of the Econ profession for women and the long road ahead towards what the profession should be
This piece I wrote for @theconversation.com argues that the Summers/Epstein debacle reflects what the data show: systemic bias in the economics profession’s practices and culture. That bias influences who succeeds and who is sidelined. #EconSky theconversation.com/larry-summer...
Larry Summers’ sexism is jeopardizing his power and privilege, but the entire economics profession hinders progress for women
In 2024, only about 1 in 3 newly minted economics Ph.D.s were women.
theconversation.com
December 2, 2025 at 9:29 PM
A chilling reminder of the state of the Econ profession for women and the long road ahead towards what the profession should be
Entshittification — today we’ve had it with Netflix. Now we can’t even use Chromecast.
This blogpost sums it up. « Netflix - like Airbnb, Uber, and the rest of the share economy from the 2010s - just isn't what it used to be anymore. »
www.whistleout.com.au/PayTV/News/w...
This blogpost sums it up. « Netflix - like Airbnb, Uber, and the rest of the share economy from the 2010s - just isn't what it used to be anymore. »
www.whistleout.com.au/PayTV/News/w...
We’re all thinking it, Netflix sort of sucks now
Netflix won the streaming wars but we're still reeling from the fallout.
www.whistleout.com.au
November 30, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Entshittification — today we’ve had it with Netflix. Now we can’t even use Chromecast.
This blogpost sums it up. « Netflix - like Airbnb, Uber, and the rest of the share economy from the 2010s - just isn't what it used to be anymore. »
www.whistleout.com.au/PayTV/News/w...
This blogpost sums it up. « Netflix - like Airbnb, Uber, and the rest of the share economy from the 2010s - just isn't what it used to be anymore. »
www.whistleout.com.au/PayTV/News/w...
Keep an eye on this JMC, fascinating work in Econ of education.
November 29, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Keep an eye on this JMC, fascinating work in Econ of education.
Introduce yourself in 5 shows you’ve seen
Neil Frahm
Olafur Arnalds
Jacob Collier
Bohren & der Club of Gore
Beirut
Neil Frahm
Olafur Arnalds
Jacob Collier
Bohren & der Club of Gore
Beirut
Introduce yourself with five shows you've seen
Barenaked Ladies (St Paul ice palace)
REM & Modest Mouse & The National
Steve Vai
Neutral Milk Hotel
Ratatat
Barenaked Ladies (St Paul ice palace)
REM & Modest Mouse & The National
Steve Vai
Neutral Milk Hotel
Ratatat
Introduce yourself with five concerts you’ve seen
Pixies
Breeders & Nirvana
Bikini Kill
Sonic Youth
Shonen Knife
Pixies
Breeders & Nirvana
Bikini Kill
Sonic Youth
Shonen Knife
November 28, 2025 at 3:22 AM
Introduce yourself in 5 shows you’ve seen
Neil Frahm
Olafur Arnalds
Jacob Collier
Bohren & der Club of Gore
Beirut
Neil Frahm
Olafur Arnalds
Jacob Collier
Bohren & der Club of Gore
Beirut
Reposted by Alexandra de Gendre
Holy shit. So Elon decides it would be nice to know what region of the world people are posting from. So they add that little feature.
2 hours later they figure out that many Trump supporters with millions of followers are posting from other countries. Surprise!
That "feature" is now gone.
2 hours later they figure out that many Trump supporters with millions of followers are posting from other countries. Surprise!
That "feature" is now gone.
November 23, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Holy shit. So Elon decides it would be nice to know what region of the world people are posting from. So they add that little feature.
2 hours later they figure out that many Trump supporters with millions of followers are posting from other countries. Surprise!
That "feature" is now gone.
2 hours later they figure out that many Trump supporters with millions of followers are posting from other countries. Surprise!
That "feature" is now gone.
Too little too late
Why is Harvard still giving him power over students?
Larry Summers discusses his “statement of regret” for his disturbing messages to Jeffrey Epstein with Harvard students
November 19, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Too little too late
Reposted by Alexandra de Gendre
CSWEP strongly condemns Larry Summers’ behavior as revealed in the email correspondence with the late Jeffrey Epstein. While abuse of power in the economics profession is not new, rarely has the intent behind such abuse been so clearly stated.
November 19, 2025 at 7:25 PM
CSWEP strongly condemns Larry Summers’ behavior as revealed in the email correspondence with the late Jeffrey Epstein. While abuse of power in the economics profession is not new, rarely has the intent behind such abuse been so clearly stated.
Very exciting JMP on teacher value added — beyond test scores and into socio-emotional value added.
November 18, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Very exciting JMP on teacher value added — beyond test scores and into socio-emotional value added.
🤮 disgusting on so many levels
Summers conferred with Epstein frequently about how to extract sexual favors from a Harvard econ grad (AB '04, PhD '09)
The grad is from China
Epstein and Summers referred to her by the codename "Peril"
Racism and sexual exploitation in one efficient package
bit.ly/3LHpin8
The grad is from China
Epstein and Summers referred to her by the codename "Peril"
Racism and sexual exploitation in one efficient package
bit.ly/3LHpin8
As Summers Sought Clandestine Relationship With Woman He Called a Mentee, Epstein Was His ‘Wing Man’ | News | The Harvard Crimson
When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: convicted sex offender Jef...
bit.ly
November 18, 2025 at 9:49 AM
🤮 disgusting on so many levels
À really interesting short study — based on a survey in the US, the public supports Unis championing initiatives (environmental, DEI, free speech, …) beyond research & ed, but finds political engagement inappropriate. Women & liberals support DEI initiatives but men & conservatives do not.
The role of universities has recently come into question. In a paper published in Science Advances, we show that the general public expects universities to do more than education and research; with some disagreement on exactly what they should do. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The role of universities in society
Americans agree universities have a broader role beyond education and research but do not fully agree on what that role is.
www.science.org
November 8, 2025 at 11:02 AM
À really interesting short study — based on a survey in the US, the public supports Unis championing initiatives (environmental, DEI, free speech, …) beyond research & ed, but finds political engagement inappropriate. Women & liberals support DEI initiatives but men & conservatives do not.
« The era when American politics could make or break global climate co-operation is over. The world is no longer waiting for Washington. This time the global south is leading the way. » — a great piece by an architect of the Paris agreement @economist.com
economist.com/by-invitatio...
economist.com/by-invitatio...
The climate action that matters is in the global south, argues an architect of the Paris agreement
But, writes Christiana Figueres, innovation still has to outpace climate impacts
economist.com
November 5, 2025 at 11:18 PM
« The era when American politics could make or break global climate co-operation is over. The world is no longer waiting for Washington. This time the global south is leading the way. » — a great piece by an architect of the Paris agreement @economist.com
economist.com/by-invitatio...
economist.com/by-invitatio...
People are crazy.
Pet owners are refusing rabies vaccines because of ‘pawtism’ fears. Anti-vax conspiracies have gone so far off the rails they’re endangering dogs. Rabies is 100% fatal once symptoms start. Misinformation is spreading faster than the viruses these days.
(Gift Link)
(Gift Link)
Vaccine Skepticism Comes for Pet Owners, Too
www.nytimes.com
November 3, 2025 at 5:10 AM
People are crazy.
Researcher at OpenAI studied why LLMs hallucinate: it’s a fundamental feature of the approach, it’s not an engineering glitch that will be solved with more money or data.
Oxford is giving their students and staff technology that doesn’t work.
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
November 2, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Researcher at OpenAI studied why LLMs hallucinate: it’s a fundamental feature of the approach, it’s not an engineering glitch that will be solved with more money or data.
Open source baby
This doesn't look good for the AI boys here winbuzzer.com/2025/10/28/c...
China's New MiniMax M2 Model Challenges GPT-5 and Claude 4.5 with Ultra Efficiency, Top Performance, Low Cost - WinBuzzer
Chinese AI startup MiniMax releases MiniMax-M2, an open-source model that rivals top competitors on performance while costing just 8% as much to run.
winbuzzer.com
October 29, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Open source baby
Reposted by Alexandra de Gendre
Change one letter, ruin a candy:
Milky Wax
Milky Wax
Change one letter, ruin a candy:
Maim Bar
Maim Bar
Change one letter, ruin a candy:
Candy Porn
Candy Porn
October 29, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Change one letter, ruin a candy:
Milky Wax
Milky Wax
Very important developments on regulating digital platforms operating in the EU. Glad to see Europe abiding by its principles on this one.
"Access to data by researchers is a crucial element of ensuring transparency and democratic accountability,” @lewan.bsky.social says. “The public is entitled to know what platforms and their algorithms are doing to the information landscape.”
I wrote for @science.org about Meta, TikTok and the DSA 🧪
I wrote for @science.org about Meta, TikTok and the DSA 🧪
Meta and TikTok are obstructing researchers’ access to data, European Commission rules
Data are needed to study how social media spreads misinformation and influences elections, scientists say
www.science.org
October 29, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Very important developments on regulating digital platforms operating in the EU. Glad to see Europe abiding by its principles on this one.
Reposted by Alexandra de Gendre
NEW: Something remarkable happened recently and hardly anyone noticed – GB electricity demand was 100% covered by clean power
We took a look at the data and this has happened for a record 87 hours in 2025 to date, twice as often as ever before
🧵
www.carbonbrief.org/...
1/7
We took a look at the data and this has happened for a record 87 hours in 2025 to date, twice as often as ever before
🧵
www.carbonbrief.org/...
1/7
September 30, 2025 at 8:47 AM
NEW: Something remarkable happened recently and hardly anyone noticed – GB electricity demand was 100% covered by clean power
We took a look at the data and this has happened for a record 87 hours in 2025 to date, twice as often as ever before
🧵
www.carbonbrief.org/...
1/7
We took a look at the data and this has happened for a record 87 hours in 2025 to date, twice as often as ever before
🧵
www.carbonbrief.org/...
1/7