Claudia Persico
@claudiapersico.bsky.social
Associate Prof at American University SPA (formerly UW-Madison), NBER & IZA studying environmental, health & ed policy. PhD from Northwestern U. Thoughts are my own.
I’m excited to join @CEHN & @CEP_AmericanU on 2/19 for The Future We’re Building in Washington, DC! This symposium blends science, storytelling, & strategy, highlighting examples of communities getting it right & addressing emerging challenges. givebutter.com/FutureWereBu...
Registration is free 👇
Registration is free 👇
The Future We're Building Symposium
By Children's Environmental Health Network
givebutter.com
February 6, 2026 at 8:21 PM
I’m excited to join @CEHN & @CEP_AmericanU on 2/19 for The Future We’re Building in Washington, DC! This symposium blends science, storytelling, & strategy, highlighting examples of communities getting it right & addressing emerging challenges. givebutter.com/FutureWereBu...
Registration is free 👇
Registration is free 👇
My paper, "“Can Pollution Cause Poverty? The Effects of Pollution on Educational, Health and Economic Outcomes" was accepted at the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (JPAM)! I am so happy that the paper found a good home and will be published soon! NBER WP version: www.nber.org/papers/w30559
Can Pollution Cause Poverty? The Effects of Pollution on Educational, Health and Economic Outcomes
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
www.nber.org
January 26, 2026 at 9:09 PM
My paper, "“Can Pollution Cause Poverty? The Effects of Pollution on Educational, Health and Economic Outcomes" was accepted at the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (JPAM)! I am so happy that the paper found a good home and will be published soon! NBER WP version: www.nber.org/papers/w30559
Reposted by Claudia Persico
Reposted by Claudia Persico
New, from me: Defenders of police abuses will sometimes talk about “bad apples” spoiling the barrel.
This is the wrong metaphor for ICE and CBP. The barrel itself is rotten. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/past-the-b...
This is the wrong metaphor for ICE and CBP. The barrel itself is rotten. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/past-the-b...
Past the breaking point
The violent occupation of an American city is more than a warning
donmoynihan.substack.com
January 23, 2026 at 1:55 PM
New, from me: Defenders of police abuses will sometimes talk about “bad apples” spoiling the barrel.
This is the wrong metaphor for ICE and CBP. The barrel itself is rotten. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/past-the-b...
This is the wrong metaphor for ICE and CBP. The barrel itself is rotten. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/past-the-b...
Reposted by Claudia Persico
It is legal to claim asylum in the United States.
What is illegal is to forcibly remove a person before their asylum claim is adjudicated.
I wish those entrusted with vast power to devastate the lives of small children had more interest in governing, under law, and less in social media quips.
What is illegal is to forcibly remove a person before their asylum claim is adjudicated.
I wish those entrusted with vast power to devastate the lives of small children had more interest in governing, under law, and less in social media quips.
People are missing a big thing about the saga of the detained 5-year-old. When Vance calls the father an "illegal alien" it seems to reflect a little-known Trump admin move that attempts to nullify asylum claims before they are even heard.
This policy is a horror:
newrepublic.com/article/2056...
This policy is a horror:
newrepublic.com/article/2056...
January 23, 2026 at 6:30 PM
It is legal to claim asylum in the United States.
What is illegal is to forcibly remove a person before their asylum claim is adjudicated.
I wish those entrusted with vast power to devastate the lives of small children had more interest in governing, under law, and less in social media quips.
What is illegal is to forcibly remove a person before their asylum claim is adjudicated.
I wish those entrusted with vast power to devastate the lives of small children had more interest in governing, under law, and less in social media quips.
Got a note today from a student from a few years ago, who is now a state representative, saying how much she learned in my education policy course and how she now applies it in the real world. Friends, there is no greater happiness for me than this. My students @au-spa.bsky.social are awesome.
January 21, 2026 at 7:03 PM
Got a note today from a student from a few years ago, who is now a state representative, saying how much she learned in my education policy course and how she now applies it in the real world. Friends, there is no greater happiness for me than this. My students @au-spa.bsky.social are awesome.
Reposted by Claudia Persico
Trump plans to drop calculating the monetary value of public health benefits from air pollution rules and focus instead on industry costs. @claudiapersico.bsky.social (@au-spa.bsky.social) says this will cause deaths of vulnerable Americans.
Read from @brettwilkins.bsky.social, @commondreams.org:
Read from @brettwilkins.bsky.social, @commondreams.org:
EPA to Stop Counting Public Health Benefits When Setting Air Pollution Standards | Common Dreams
"This policy will cause more deaths of vulnerable Americans, like infants and the elderly," said one critic. "Also, it appears to be a violation of the Clean Air Act."
www.commondreams.org
January 13, 2026 at 2:52 PM
Trump plans to drop calculating the monetary value of public health benefits from air pollution rules and focus instead on industry costs. @claudiapersico.bsky.social (@au-spa.bsky.social) says this will cause deaths of vulnerable Americans.
Read from @brettwilkins.bsky.social, @commondreams.org:
Read from @brettwilkins.bsky.social, @commondreams.org:
Reposted by Claudia Persico
This is crazy! This is the opposite of trying to find the social optimum.
This policy will cause more deaths of vulnerable Americans, like infants and the elderly. Also, it appears to be a violation of the Clean Air Act. This is incredibly foolish.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution
www.nytimes.com
January 12, 2026 at 11:23 PM
This is crazy! This is the opposite of trying to find the social optimum.
Reposted by Claudia Persico
Human health benefits are by far the largest benefit from most environmental regulations.
By not monetizing these benefits moving forward, the Trump EPA is essentially saying there are no human health benefits to reducing air/toxic/climate pollution, improving drinking water quality, etc. 1/
By not monetizing these benefits moving forward, the Trump EPA is essentially saying there are no human health benefits to reducing air/toxic/climate pollution, improving drinking water quality, etc. 1/
E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution
www.nytimes.com
January 12, 2026 at 6:39 PM
Human health benefits are by far the largest benefit from most environmental regulations.
By not monetizing these benefits moving forward, the Trump EPA is essentially saying there are no human health benefits to reducing air/toxic/climate pollution, improving drinking water quality, etc. 1/
By not monetizing these benefits moving forward, the Trump EPA is essentially saying there are no human health benefits to reducing air/toxic/climate pollution, improving drinking water quality, etc. 1/
Reposted by Claudia Persico
The administration is literally formally and practically saying:
- all it cares about is business owners' profits and
- the amount it cares about Americans' lives is ZERO.
- all it cares about is business owners' profits and
- the amount it cares about Americans' lives is ZERO.
This policy will cause more deaths of vulnerable Americans, like infants and the elderly. Also, it appears to be a violation of the Clean Air Act. This is incredibly foolish.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution
www.nytimes.com
January 12, 2026 at 7:44 PM
The administration is literally formally and practically saying:
- all it cares about is business owners' profits and
- the amount it cares about Americans' lives is ZERO.
- all it cares about is business owners' profits and
- the amount it cares about Americans' lives is ZERO.
Reposted by Claudia Persico
🚨 Call for Papers: 🚨
The 5th NBER Regulation Conference will be in Cambridge on April 24, 2026.
This is a great opportunity to talk to people in different fields about shared regulatory issues!
Submissions are due Feb 10.
conference.nber.org/confsubmit/b...
The 5th NBER Regulation Conference will be in Cambridge on April 24, 2026.
This is a great opportunity to talk to people in different fields about shared regulatory issues!
Submissions are due Feb 10.
conference.nber.org/confsubmit/b...
January 12, 2026 at 6:57 PM
🚨 Call for Papers: 🚨
The 5th NBER Regulation Conference will be in Cambridge on April 24, 2026.
This is a great opportunity to talk to people in different fields about shared regulatory issues!
Submissions are due Feb 10.
conference.nber.org/confsubmit/b...
The 5th NBER Regulation Conference will be in Cambridge on April 24, 2026.
This is a great opportunity to talk to people in different fields about shared regulatory issues!
Submissions are due Feb 10.
conference.nber.org/confsubmit/b...
This policy will cause more deaths of vulnerable Americans, like infants and the elderly. Also, it appears to be a violation of the Clean Air Act. This is incredibly foolish.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution
www.nytimes.com
January 12, 2026 at 7:00 PM
This policy will cause more deaths of vulnerable Americans, like infants and the elderly. Also, it appears to be a violation of the Clean Air Act. This is incredibly foolish.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
Reposted by Claudia Persico
January 8, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by Claudia Persico
NOW: Protest in DC tonight at 14 and U streets, shutting down traffic in both directions.
January 8, 2026 at 11:12 PM
NOW: Protest in DC tonight at 14 and U streets, shutting down traffic in both directions.
Reposted by Claudia Persico
Amazing study showing that deactivating social media improved mental health.
[It has so many coauthors that the sample size was sufficient to run the RCT on themselves.]
[It has so many coauthors that the sample size was sufficient to run the RCT on themselves.]
Forthcoming in AEJ: Economic Policy: "The Effect of Deactivating Facebook and Instagram on Users’ Emotional State" by Hunt Allcott, Matthew Gentzkow, Benjamin Wittenbrink, et al. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
The Effect of Deactivating Facebook and Instagram on Users’ Emotional State
(Forthcoming Article) - We estimate the effect of social media deactivation on users’ emotional state in
two large randomized experiments before the 2020 U.S. election. People who
deactivated Facebook...
www.aeaweb.org
November 20, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Amazing study showing that deactivating social media improved mental health.
[It has so many coauthors that the sample size was sufficient to run the RCT on themselves.]
[It has so many coauthors that the sample size was sufficient to run the RCT on themselves.]
Reposted by Claudia Persico
Dept. of Ed is reclassifying all the female dominated professions (nurse, therapist, speech pathologist, PA) as not having “professional” degrees, which makes it harder for them to get educational loans.
Another FUCKED UP thing this admin is doing to attack women’s power.
Take that shit to court!
Another FUCKED UP thing this admin is doing to attack women’s power.
Take that shit to court!
November 20, 2025 at 3:07 AM
Dept. of Ed is reclassifying all the female dominated professions (nurse, therapist, speech pathologist, PA) as not having “professional” degrees, which makes it harder for them to get educational loans.
Another FUCKED UP thing this admin is doing to attack women’s power.
Take that shit to court!
Another FUCKED UP thing this admin is doing to attack women’s power.
Take that shit to court!
Reposted by Claudia Persico
How awful. This is outright health disinformation, lying to the American people. Not only is there massive evidence showing no link between vaccines & autism, there’s not even a plausible mechanism based on what we’ve learned about the genetics of autism, some environmental exposures in pregnancy
HEADS UP: CDC website now officially asserts that vaccines may cause autism.“Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.” Also says the “vaccines do not cause autism” header remains b/c of an agreement with Cassidy.
November 20, 2025 at 3:18 AM
How awful. This is outright health disinformation, lying to the American people. Not only is there massive evidence showing no link between vaccines & autism, there’s not even a plausible mechanism based on what we’ve learned about the genetics of autism, some environmental exposures in pregnancy
Reposted by Claudia Persico
Every month for the last 77 years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated Americans' unemployment rate
This streak dies tomorrow
Govt staff could not survey Americans about whether they're working or looking for work in Oct, the 1st time in 934 months
This blind spot will remain forever
This streak dies tomorrow
Govt staff could not survey Americans about whether they're working or looking for work in Oct, the 1st time in 934 months
This blind spot will remain forever
Here's the planned BLS data release schedule for Nov 2025.
On Tues, it couldn't release Sept job openings, hires, layoffs and firings data.
This morning, it couldn't release 2025Q3 business Productivity and Costs data.
Tomorrow, it can't release Oct 2025 #JobsReport
www.bls.gov/schedule/202...
On Tues, it couldn't release Sept job openings, hires, layoffs and firings data.
This morning, it couldn't release 2025Q3 business Productivity and Costs data.
Tomorrow, it can't release Oct 2025 #JobsReport
www.bls.gov/schedule/202...
November 6, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Every month for the last 77 years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated Americans' unemployment rate
This streak dies tomorrow
Govt staff could not survey Americans about whether they're working or looking for work in Oct, the 1st time in 934 months
This blind spot will remain forever
This streak dies tomorrow
Govt staff could not survey Americans about whether they're working or looking for work in Oct, the 1st time in 934 months
This blind spot will remain forever
Reposted by Claudia Persico
From the team that brought you the "Too Big To Fail" financial institutions, it's the "Too Brilliant To Be Held Accountable" men
🤢
🤢
November 18, 2025 at 11:23 AM
From the team that brought you the "Too Big To Fail" financial institutions, it's the "Too Brilliant To Be Held Accountable" men
🤢
🤢
Reposted by Claudia Persico
This is a good companion piece to the NYT piece today on the attack on the DOJ, and a sign of what the lawyers who did not resign or get fired are willing to do.
Trump's illegal murders in the Caribbean just got worse. An internal DOJ memo on the bombings says the victims are waging war on the US, but per NYT, it extensively cites the WH's *own claims* to this effect as evidence!
It gets even darker than that. 1/
(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2032...
It gets even darker than that. 1/
(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2032...
Trump Boat Bombings Take Dark, Unnerving Turn with Leaked Memo Stunner
A new Trump administration memo argues that those carrying out the boat attacks can’t be prosecuted. Why? Because the administration says so!
newrepublic.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:33 PM
This is a good companion piece to the NYT piece today on the attack on the DOJ, and a sign of what the lawyers who did not resign or get fired are willing to do.
This is a huge threat to research and likely to greatly harm our Chinese colleagues and friends.
This has gotten surprisingly little attention — it's not even on the front page of @science.org right now — but it's really hard to describe what the SAFE Research Act would do to US science and scientists without sounding insane
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
November 14, 2025 at 7:45 PM
This is a huge threat to research and likely to greatly harm our Chinese colleagues and friends.
Reposted by Claudia Persico
I know that the job market is rough this year for Econ PhDs. @utoronto.ca has expanded its postdoc funding. If you are on the market and work on school finance or early childhood education and are interested in a PostDoc, let me know! #econsky #educsky postdoc.sgs.utoronto.ca/current-post...
Postdoctoral Talent Initiative – School of Graduate Studies Postdoctoral Fellows
postdoc.sgs.utoronto.ca
November 13, 2025 at 11:53 PM
I know that the job market is rough this year for Econ PhDs. @utoronto.ca has expanded its postdoc funding. If you are on the market and work on school finance or early childhood education and are interested in a PostDoc, let me know! #econsky #educsky postdoc.sgs.utoronto.ca/current-post...
Reposted by Claudia Persico
What will AI actually mean for schools over the next several years? Here are my theories:
–The student cheating problem won't go away.
–AI will increasingly become a ubiquitous teaching assistant.
–AI will *not* be a super-tutor.
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/3-ways-ai-...
–The student cheating problem won't go away.
–AI will increasingly become a ubiquitous teaching assistant.
–AI will *not* be a super-tutor.
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/3-ways-ai-...
3 ways AI will (and won’t) change schools
The cheating problem isn’t going away. More teachers will use AI as an assistant. But AI won't be a supertutor.
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org
November 4, 2025 at 4:41 PM
What will AI actually mean for schools over the next several years? Here are my theories:
–The student cheating problem won't go away.
–AI will increasingly become a ubiquitous teaching assistant.
–AI will *not* be a super-tutor.
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/3-ways-ai-...
–The student cheating problem won't go away.
–AI will increasingly become a ubiquitous teaching assistant.
–AI will *not* be a super-tutor.
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/3-ways-ai-...
Reposted by Claudia Persico
📢 Announcing the 25-26 SustainableED Virtual Seminar Series!
We're hosting 4 public seminars synthesizing research at the intersection of ed & climate change:
12/1 @jorgecuartas.bsky.social
2/9 Jaimie Davis
3/11 Hunter Gehlbach
4/15 @claudiapersico.bsky.social
Register: linktr.ee/edsustainable
We're hosting 4 public seminars synthesizing research at the intersection of ed & climate change:
12/1 @jorgecuartas.bsky.social
2/9 Jaimie Davis
3/11 Hunter Gehlbach
4/15 @claudiapersico.bsky.social
Register: linktr.ee/edsustainable
November 4, 2025 at 6:20 PM
📢 Announcing the 25-26 SustainableED Virtual Seminar Series!
We're hosting 4 public seminars synthesizing research at the intersection of ed & climate change:
12/1 @jorgecuartas.bsky.social
2/9 Jaimie Davis
3/11 Hunter Gehlbach
4/15 @claudiapersico.bsky.social
Register: linktr.ee/edsustainable
We're hosting 4 public seminars synthesizing research at the intersection of ed & climate change:
12/1 @jorgecuartas.bsky.social
2/9 Jaimie Davis
3/11 Hunter Gehlbach
4/15 @claudiapersico.bsky.social
Register: linktr.ee/edsustainable