Dave Vanness
@djvanness.bsky.social
Economist; professor; health policy and decision science. Advocate for high quality, affordable #HigherEd. Georgetown and UW-Madison alum. Personal views only. #EduSky #EconSky #Bayesian
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9790-2988
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9790-2988
The worst people are making the most money in this economy. They will use this money to make more money and to hold onto power. That's why the top priorities for reform (if we get the chance) must be to punish corruption and permanently sever the influence of big money in elections.
“They are packed in in a way that nobody would want to see any member of their family,” he said.
“Raskin then questioned where all the money was going when detainees were experiencing such meager accommodations.”
“Somebody’s making some serious money off of this operation,” he continued👇🏽
“Raskin then questioned where all the money was going when detainees were experiencing such meager accommodations.”
“Somebody’s making some serious money off of this operation,” he continued👇🏽
“Days after a judge ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to allow unannounced congressional oversight, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin toured an ‘overcrowded’ holding area in downtown Baltimore on Thursday — and said the conditions he saw were a ‘bad situation.’” www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...
February 13, 2026 at 4:43 PM
The worst people are making the most money in this economy. They will use this money to make more money and to hold onto power. That's why the top priorities for reform (if we get the chance) must be to punish corruption and permanently sever the influence of big money in elections.
If you see humans as unique, complex, irreplaceable beings, and if you think that the purpose of life is to flourish and enable others around you to flourish, then you should support making humanities education accessible to the public. This should be a Democratic party core value, but it's not.
I'd like at add a few things to this. (1) humanists have not been able to convince any political party that curiosity-driven humanities research is a public good that should be funded using tax dollars. Republicans don't believe this, but neither do Democrats.
It's possible to do a non-reactionary critique of the current landscape of humanities research funding: www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
February 13, 2026 at 4:31 PM
If you see humans as unique, complex, irreplaceable beings, and if you think that the purpose of life is to flourish and enable others around you to flourish, then you should support making humanities education accessible to the public. This should be a Democratic party core value, but it's not.
Reposted by Dave Vanness
This elitist view that only rich/Ivy/private school kids should study/have access the liberal arts is so deeply ingrained in so many highly educated Democrats’ views (including tons who majored in the lib arts themselves) that they don’t even realize they hold it, let alone how ugly & elitist it is
(3) But the Democrat view is also bad: while it's fine for people at Princeton and Harvard to study Latin and Sanskrit, public higher education is about job training and $ ROI. There is no room for the idea that curiosity-driven inquiry is a good that should be supported by the public.
February 13, 2026 at 3:54 PM
This elitist view that only rich/Ivy/private school kids should study/have access the liberal arts is so deeply ingrained in so many highly educated Democrats’ views (including tons who majored in the lib arts themselves) that they don’t even realize they hold it, let alone how ugly & elitist it is
Reposted by Dave Vanness
It doesn’t seem to me that “giving money away” is something you can have a monopoly on
February 13, 2026 at 1:48 AM
It doesn’t seem to me that “giving money away” is something you can have a monopoly on
Reposted by Dave Vanness
A.I. Companies Are Eating Higher Education 🎁 🔗
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/o...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/o...
Opinion | A.I. Companies Are Eating Higher Education
www.nytimes.com
February 13, 2026 at 1:15 AM
A.I. Companies Are Eating Higher Education 🎁 🔗
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/o...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/o...
This has to stop.
More than 400 people, including hundreds of citizens, were “sorted” at gun point into racial and ethnic groups by 200 ICE agents who fired flash-bang grenades into cars with people inside, pointed guns at children & demanded their zip tied parents not comfort them. apple.news/Ausdx6kWtT0e...
Idaho families sue over immigration raid that swept up hundreds, including U.S. citizens — NBC News
About 400 people, including children and U.S. citizens, were detained for four hours while they were denied food and water in the raid, according to the lawsuit.
apple.news
February 12, 2026 at 3:04 AM
This has to stop.
Reposted by Dave Vanness
From Stanford to Gallup, nearly every organization that produces good information about anything of importance is in one way or another beholden to federal contracts. They are also deeply connected to elite political and economic networks thorough interlocking directorates and affiliations.
February 11, 2026 at 9:16 PM
From Stanford to Gallup, nearly every organization that produces good information about anything of importance is in one way or another beholden to federal contracts. They are also deeply connected to elite political and economic networks thorough interlocking directorates and affiliations.
There are still professionals at CMS who are doing the right thing.
February 11, 2026 at 7:47 PM
There are still professionals at CMS who are doing the right thing.
SMDH
Gallup will no longer measure presidential approval after 88 years thehill.com/homenews/med...
February 11, 2026 at 7:46 PM
SMDH
Reposted by Dave Vanness
It also confirmed the eastern direction of the sunrise & the cohesive/adhesive properties of water.
February 11, 2026 at 7:39 PM
It also confirmed the eastern direction of the sunrise & the cohesive/adhesive properties of water.
Reposted by Dave Vanness
Today's #JobsReport highlights:
- payroll job growth 130k in January, but benchmark revisions show 2025 much weaker than originally reported
- unemployment rate at 4.3%, up from 4.0% last January
- federal government continues to lose jobs
#EconSky @epi.org #NumbersDay
- payroll job growth 130k in January, but benchmark revisions show 2025 much weaker than originally reported
- unemployment rate at 4.3%, up from 4.0% last January
- federal government continues to lose jobs
#EconSky @epi.org #NumbersDay
February 11, 2026 at 1:54 PM
Today's #JobsReport highlights:
- payroll job growth 130k in January, but benchmark revisions show 2025 much weaker than originally reported
- unemployment rate at 4.3%, up from 4.0% last January
- federal government continues to lose jobs
#EconSky @epi.org #NumbersDay
- payroll job growth 130k in January, but benchmark revisions show 2025 much weaker than originally reported
- unemployment rate at 4.3%, up from 4.0% last January
- federal government continues to lose jobs
#EconSky @epi.org #NumbersDay
Reposted by Dave Vanness
tipping my hat to @pwgtennant.bsky.social whose paper just stopped me doing something very stupid.
academic.oup.com/ije/article/...
academic.oup.com/ije/article/...
Analyses of ‘change scores’ do not estimate causal effects in observational data
AbstractBackground. In longitudinal data, it is common to create ‘change scores’ by subtracting measurements taken at baseline from those taken at follow-u
academic.oup.com
February 11, 2026 at 10:07 AM
tipping my hat to @pwgtennant.bsky.social whose paper just stopped me doing something very stupid.
academic.oup.com/ije/article/...
academic.oup.com/ije/article/...
This has to stop.
We have received numerous credible reports of torture, killing, and inhumane treatment of detained individuals at the Camp East Montana migrant detention facility, located within Fort Bliss. #txlege
February 11, 2026 at 12:59 PM
This has to stop.
Reposted by Dave Vanness
Reposted by Dave Vanness
Sure, WSJ. Shame on me for worrying about patient access to care and taxpayer spending over for profit companies. As long as the system works for the wealthy it must be fine with you. Enjoying the comments on the piece, though.
Trouble With MedPAC - WSJ share.google/M9VyVAt9V255...
Trouble With MedPAC - WSJ share.google/M9VyVAt9V255...
Opinion | The Trouble With MedPAC
A federal advisory board tries to undermine Medicare Advantage.
share.google
February 11, 2026 at 12:56 AM
Sure, WSJ. Shame on me for worrying about patient access to care and taxpayer spending over for profit companies. As long as the system works for the wealthy it must be fine with you. Enjoying the comments on the piece, though.
Trouble With MedPAC - WSJ share.google/M9VyVAt9V255...
Trouble With MedPAC - WSJ share.google/M9VyVAt9V255...
Reposted by Dave Vanness
THEY ARE BUYING UP WAREHOUSES TO HOLD HUMAN BEINGS IN DETENTION INDEFINITELY.
I feel crazy at how everyone is acting like this is normal. These are concentration camps being built right before our eyes. These buildings are not meant to house human beings. People will be caged like cattle and die.
I feel crazy at how everyone is acting like this is normal. These are concentration camps being built right before our eyes. These buildings are not meant to house human beings. People will be caged like cattle and die.
February 10, 2026 at 11:19 PM
THEY ARE BUYING UP WAREHOUSES TO HOLD HUMAN BEINGS IN DETENTION INDEFINITELY.
I feel crazy at how everyone is acting like this is normal. These are concentration camps being built right before our eyes. These buildings are not meant to house human beings. People will be caged like cattle and die.
I feel crazy at how everyone is acting like this is normal. These are concentration camps being built right before our eyes. These buildings are not meant to house human beings. People will be caged like cattle and die.
Reposted by Dave Vanness
So campus speech. Much viewpoint diversity. Very marketplace of ideas.
Appreciate state Democratic lawmakers calling out GOP/MAGA plans to shut down public-university majors as "Stalinist" and contrary to freedom. indianacapitalchronicle.com/briefs/colle...
More Indiana college degree programs in jeopardy • Indiana Capital Chronicle
Indiana lawmakers revisited a provision that would require state officials to potentially eliminate certain low-wage college degree programs
indianacapitalchronicle.com
February 10, 2026 at 9:50 PM
So campus speech. Much viewpoint diversity. Very marketplace of ideas.
Reposted by Dave Vanness
For anyone interested in demography methods, applications are now open for the @berkeleypopcenter.bsky.social workshop. populationsciences.berkeley.edu/population-c...
I attended as a student once upon a time. It is a fabulous experience!
@harvardpopcenter.bsky.social @popassocamerica.bsky.social
I attended as a student once upon a time. It is a fabulous experience!
@harvardpopcenter.bsky.social @popassocamerica.bsky.social
Annual Workshop on Formal Demography - Population Sciences
The 12th Annual Workshop on Formal Demography will be held in person at UC Berkeley from June 1 – 5, 2026, with funding from Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Develop...
populationsciences.berkeley.edu
February 10, 2026 at 1:31 PM
For anyone interested in demography methods, applications are now open for the @berkeleypopcenter.bsky.social workshop. populationsciences.berkeley.edu/population-c...
I attended as a student once upon a time. It is a fabulous experience!
@harvardpopcenter.bsky.social @popassocamerica.bsky.social
I attended as a student once upon a time. It is a fabulous experience!
@harvardpopcenter.bsky.social @popassocamerica.bsky.social
Reposted by Dave Vanness
"A modern-day concentration camp ... People have been killed by the staff here." Irish citizen Seamus Culleton has been in ICE detention since September, despite having a valid work permit and his own business in the US.
February 10, 2026 at 10:09 AM
"A modern-day concentration camp ... People have been killed by the staff here." Irish citizen Seamus Culleton has been in ICE detention since September, despite having a valid work permit and his own business in the US.
Reposted by Dave Vanness
Read @arneduncan.bsky.social @ambpressman.bsky.social "When institutional self-preservation replaces moral leadership, universities abandon their core mission. This is a striking abdication of responsibility..from leaders entrusted with educating the next generation of citizens." wapo.st/4qomlXe
Opinion | Universities are sending Trump a dangerous message
Higher education is under attack. Drop the appeasement.
wapo.st
February 10, 2026 at 12:58 PM
Read @arneduncan.bsky.social @ambpressman.bsky.social "When institutional self-preservation replaces moral leadership, universities abandon their core mission. This is a striking abdication of responsibility..from leaders entrusted with educating the next generation of citizens." wapo.st/4qomlXe
Reposted by Dave Vanness
ICE is currently holding around 80,000 detainees. Nazi Germany didn't reach this number in its formal camp system until 1942, nine years after seizing power and three years into the war.
February 10, 2026 at 3:42 AM
ICE is currently holding around 80,000 detainees. Nazi Germany didn't reach this number in its formal camp system until 1942, nine years after seizing power and three years into the war.
Reposted by Dave Vanness
That's pretty much the opposite of being able to clear his name
February 9, 2026 at 8:23 PM
That's pretty much the opposite of being able to clear his name
Reposted by Dave Vanness
📣 General registration is now open! #IOptimize26
Join us in the D.C. area May 18–20, 2026 for three days of plenaries, posters, and networking on the science and practice of intervention optimization. Learn more and register: bit.ly/4a0sZhL
Join us in the D.C. area May 18–20, 2026 for three days of plenaries, posters, and networking on the science and practice of intervention optimization. Learn more and register: bit.ly/4a0sZhL
November 18, 2025 at 7:30 PM
📣 General registration is now open! #IOptimize26
Join us in the D.C. area May 18–20, 2026 for three days of plenaries, posters, and networking on the science and practice of intervention optimization. Learn more and register: bit.ly/4a0sZhL
Join us in the D.C. area May 18–20, 2026 for three days of plenaries, posters, and networking on the science and practice of intervention optimization. Learn more and register: bit.ly/4a0sZhL
Reposted by Dave Vanness
Major news outlets: Please consider prominently reporting what this all-star team of researchers has found.
www.nber.org/papers/w34791
www.nber.org/papers/w34791
February 9, 2026 at 12:22 PM
Major news outlets: Please consider prominently reporting what this all-star team of researchers has found.
www.nber.org/papers/w34791
www.nber.org/papers/w34791
