Esther Boler
@estherboler.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Economics @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social, also @cepr.org, @cep-lse.bsky.social and @cesifo.org. Research on innovation, productivity, trade, environment 🇳🇴🇬🇧🌍
Reposted by Esther Boler
1. In the wake on Mamdani’s win, we’ll see a lot more far right anti-urban sentiment. Here’s a thread on its roots and evolution.
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
November 5, 2025 at 7:58 AM
1. In the wake on Mamdani’s win, we’ll see a lot more far right anti-urban sentiment. Here’s a thread on its roots and evolution.
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
Reposted by Esther Boler
I’m beginning to think the passage of time has washed away that raw understanding of 1914-45 that protected us from lurching back to madness
Katie Lam tries to explain to the Sunday Times how her grandparents experience under Nazism informs her view that the postwar institutions forged after the horrors of war, dictatorship & the holicaust won't now work in our times - because "they assume everyone would want to be nice to each other"
October 19, 2025 at 8:19 AM
I’m beginning to think the passage of time has washed away that raw understanding of 1914-45 that protected us from lurching back to madness
Reposted by Esther Boler
Penn joins MIT and Brown in saying “no” to Trump extortion move.
Penn rejects White House proposal for special funding treatment
With the decision, Penn becomes the third university to decline the offer.
www.thedp.com
October 16, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Penn joins MIT and Brown in saying “no” to Trump extortion move.
Reposted by Esther Boler
Take a picture of yourself at the No Kings rally.
Print it.
Put it in a frame.
Your grandchildren will speak about you for generations to come. You took a stand against fascism. You stood up for democracy. 
Print it.
Put it in a frame.
Your grandchildren will speak about you for generations to come. You took a stand against fascism. You stood up for democracy. 
October 16, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Take a picture of yourself at the No Kings rally.
Print it.
Put it in a frame.
Your grandchildren will speak about you for generations to come. You took a stand against fascism. You stood up for democracy. 
Print it.
Put it in a frame.
Your grandchildren will speak about you for generations to come. You took a stand against fascism. You stood up for democracy. 
Reposted by Esther Boler
Attention IO job market candidates:
Sometimes speakers in the CMA's external economics seminar series have to cancel at relatively short notice. We would love for these slots to go to JMCs to present their job market paper.
Drop me a message if you are interested or share with those who might be.
Sometimes speakers in the CMA's external economics seminar series have to cancel at relatively short notice. We would love for these slots to go to JMCs to present their job market paper.
Drop me a message if you are interested or share with those who might be.
October 16, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Attention IO job market candidates:
Sometimes speakers in the CMA's external economics seminar series have to cancel at relatively short notice. We would love for these slots to go to JMCs to present their job market paper.
Drop me a message if you are interested or share with those who might be.
Sometimes speakers in the CMA's external economics seminar series have to cancel at relatively short notice. We would love for these slots to go to JMCs to present their job market paper.
Drop me a message if you are interested or share with those who might be.
Reposted by Esther Boler
🎖️ The Prize in Economic Sciences is awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt!
Over the last two centuries the world has seen sustained economic growth. This year’s laureates explain how innovation provides the impetus for further progress.
#PrizeinEconomicSciences #NobelPrize
Over the last two centuries the world has seen sustained economic growth. This year’s laureates explain how innovation provides the impetus for further progress.
#PrizeinEconomicSciences #NobelPrize
October 13, 2025 at 9:47 AM
🎖️ The Prize in Economic Sciences is awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt!
Over the last two centuries the world has seen sustained economic growth. This year’s laureates explain how innovation provides the impetus for further progress.
#PrizeinEconomicSciences #NobelPrize
Over the last two centuries the world has seen sustained economic growth. This year’s laureates explain how innovation provides the impetus for further progress.
#PrizeinEconomicSciences #NobelPrize
Reposted by Esther Boler
Dana Goodyear’s home burned in the L.A. fires. In a new essay, she writes about the disaster and its aftermath. nyer.cm/VNSpo99
September 23, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Dana Goodyear’s home burned in the L.A. fires. In a new essay, she writes about the disaster and its aftermath. nyer.cm/VNSpo99
Reposted by Esther Boler
📢 #CallForPapers To honour the memory of Ghazala Azmat, the Economics Department of SciencesPo is creating an award in her name. Junior researchers can submit a paper in economics of discrimination, gender, education & organizational #economics. Submit by 31 August.
cepr.org/events/ghaza...
#EconSky
cepr.org/events/ghaza...
#EconSky
July 15, 2025 at 11:28 AM
📢 #CallForPapers To honour the memory of Ghazala Azmat, the Economics Department of SciencesPo is creating an award in her name. Junior researchers can submit a paper in economics of discrimination, gender, education & organizational #economics. Submit by 31 August.
cepr.org/events/ghaza...
#EconSky
cepr.org/events/ghaza...
#EconSky
Reposted by Esther Boler
A clever new study "confirms that the country’s tax code is regressive, not progressive, at the very top," @annielowrey.bsky.social reports. American billionaires "pay lower tax rates than many middle-class professionals":
How the Richest People in America Avoid Paying Taxes
A clever new paper puts concrete numbers to the taxes paid by members of the Forbes 400.
bit.ly
August 25, 2025 at 12:30 PM
A clever new study "confirms that the country’s tax code is regressive, not progressive, at the very top," @annielowrey.bsky.social reports. American billionaires "pay lower tax rates than many middle-class professionals":
Reposted by Esther Boler
When I got tenure, I decided to use it start a new research agenda, studying US science in the 20th century, how it became dominant, what held it back, and what we can do better. Here's the first pub (with Scott Kim).
Analyzing scientists' biographies during the baby boom, we find that mothers have a unique life cycle pattern of productivity. Children reduce the productivity of mothers but not fathers, with important implications for promotions and participation. buff.ly/39WbYRH
July 14, 2025 at 5:36 PM
When I got tenure, I decided to use it start a new research agenda, studying US science in the 20th century, how it became dominant, what held it back, and what we can do better. Here's the first pub (with Scott Kim).
Reposted by Esther Boler
This is a low point for our country.
Congress just passed a bill that shreds the safety net, fuels mass deportations, and gives $100K+ annual tax breaks to the ultra-rich—while adding nearly $4 trillion to the debt.
My full statement: www.epi.org/press/epi-pr...
Congress just passed a bill that shreds the safety net, fuels mass deportations, and gives $100K+ annual tax breaks to the ultra-rich—while adding nearly $4 trillion to the debt.
My full statement: www.epi.org/press/epi-pr...
EPI president Heidi Shierholz denounces passage of GOP budget bill
Congress just passed one of the most destructive economic bills in generations. The Republican budget will gut Medicaid, slash food aid for families, and shutter rural hospitals—just to give tax break...
www.epi.org
July 3, 2025 at 6:52 PM
This is a low point for our country.
Congress just passed a bill that shreds the safety net, fuels mass deportations, and gives $100K+ annual tax breaks to the ultra-rich—while adding nearly $4 trillion to the debt.
My full statement: www.epi.org/press/epi-pr...
Congress just passed a bill that shreds the safety net, fuels mass deportations, and gives $100K+ annual tax breaks to the ultra-rich—while adding nearly $4 trillion to the debt.
My full statement: www.epi.org/press/epi-pr...
Reposted by Esther Boler
Congress is poised to pass one of the most destructive economic bills in generations. It will gut Medicaid, slash food aid for families, shutter rural hospitals—just to give tax breaks that will go overwhelmingly to the wealthy. It is a staggering upward redistribution of income. 1/
July 3, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Congress is poised to pass one of the most destructive economic bills in generations. It will gut Medicaid, slash food aid for families, shutter rural hospitals—just to give tax breaks that will go overwhelmingly to the wealthy. It is a staggering upward redistribution of income. 1/
Reposted by Esther Boler
Reposted by Esther Boler
Fog nets turn Chile’s Atacama Desert into a salad bowl. In Chañaral, growers are using mesh 'fog catchers' to harvest up to 1,400 litres of water daily from coastal mist, enough to raise lettuce and lemon trees in the planet’s driest desert. buff.ly/gWc9srr
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
June 30, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Fog nets turn Chile’s Atacama Desert into a salad bowl. In Chañaral, growers are using mesh 'fog catchers' to harvest up to 1,400 litres of water daily from coastal mist, enough to raise lettuce and lemon trees in the planet’s driest desert. buff.ly/gWc9srr
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
I feel seen
Being a social scientist means holding two truths at once: 1. This is all deeply complicated 2. I have to submit something by Tuesday
June 28, 2025 at 12:40 PM
I feel seen
Reposted by Esther Boler
The New Global Economy: Trade Wars and De-dollarisation?
Submissions deadline: 1 July 2025
Conference dates: 27-28 September 2025
Location: Cambridge UK
Submissions deadline: 1 July 2025
Conference dates: 27-28 September 2025
Location: Cambridge UK
#CallforPapers for the conference 'The New Global Economy: Trade Wars & De-dollarisation?'
Deadline: 1 July
Organisers: @meredith-crowley.bsky.social @uniofcam.bsky.social , Lu Han @bankofcanada.ca, Dmitry Mukhin , Ben Tomlin @bankofcanada.ca
More and submit your paper
cepr.org/events/new-g...
Deadline: 1 July
Organisers: @meredith-crowley.bsky.social @uniofcam.bsky.social , Lu Han @bankofcanada.ca, Dmitry Mukhin , Ben Tomlin @bankofcanada.ca
More and submit your paper
cepr.org/events/new-g...
June 19, 2025 at 1:50 PM
The New Global Economy: Trade Wars and De-dollarisation?
Submissions deadline: 1 July 2025
Conference dates: 27-28 September 2025
Location: Cambridge UK
Submissions deadline: 1 July 2025
Conference dates: 27-28 September 2025
Location: Cambridge UK
Reposted by Esther Boler
In a new @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social policy brief, @johnspringford.bsky.social finds that many foreign workers needed for net zero will not meet the UK's new higher salary and skills thresholds for visas.
Read here: buff.ly/E9eFpiH
Read here: buff.ly/E9eFpiH
June 18, 2025 at 8:01 AM
In a new @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social policy brief, @johnspringford.bsky.social finds that many foreign workers needed for net zero will not meet the UK's new higher salary and skills thresholds for visas.
Read here: buff.ly/E9eFpiH
Read here: buff.ly/E9eFpiH
Could not disagree more with this conclusion. One retailer’s transport emission is hardly a comprehensive measure of the climate effect of trade (or lack thereof).
[One beneficiary of trade war? Climate.]
(Reuters) - Shein's carbon emissions from transporting products climbed 13.7% in 2024, the online fast-fashion retailer's sustainability report showed on Friday, and its 2023 transport emissions were 18% higher than previously reported after a recalculation.
(Reuters) - Shein's carbon emissions from transporting products climbed 13.7% in 2024, the online fast-fashion retailer's sustainability report showed on Friday, and its 2023 transport emissions were 18% higher than previously reported after a recalculation.
June 13, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Could not disagree more with this conclusion. One retailer’s transport emission is hardly a comprehensive measure of the climate effect of trade (or lack thereof).
Reposted by Esther Boler
We're hiring a postdoc in labor economics at IAB Nuremberg! Join @ineshelmecon.bsky.social, @jnimczik.bsky.social & me on a project about gig work.
🗓️ Start: 1 Oct 25
💶 Salary ≥ €5200/month
🌱 Possibility to apply for tenure track program
Apply here until 17 June: econjobmarket.org/positions/11...
🗓️ Start: 1 Oct 25
💶 Salary ≥ €5200/month
🌱 Possibility to apply for tenure track program
Apply here until 17 June: econjobmarket.org/positions/11...
June 2, 2025 at 10:22 AM
We're hiring a postdoc in labor economics at IAB Nuremberg! Join @ineshelmecon.bsky.social, @jnimczik.bsky.social & me on a project about gig work.
🗓️ Start: 1 Oct 25
💶 Salary ≥ €5200/month
🌱 Possibility to apply for tenure track program
Apply here until 17 June: econjobmarket.org/positions/11...
🗓️ Start: 1 Oct 25
💶 Salary ≥ €5200/month
🌱 Possibility to apply for tenure track program
Apply here until 17 June: econjobmarket.org/positions/11...
Reposted by Esther Boler
💥Research Assistant Positions💥
1. Ingvild Almås, Timo Boppart, Thor Berger, Hannes Malmberg, and I are looking for a research assistant to work on a project which investigates Sweden's spectacular economic growth during the late 19th century using establishment-level data.
1. Ingvild Almås, Timo Boppart, Thor Berger, Hannes Malmberg, and I are looking for a research assistant to work on a project which investigates Sweden's spectacular economic growth during the late 19th century using establishment-level data.
June 2, 2025 at 9:38 AM
💥Research Assistant Positions💥
1. Ingvild Almås, Timo Boppart, Thor Berger, Hannes Malmberg, and I are looking for a research assistant to work on a project which investigates Sweden's spectacular economic growth during the late 19th century using establishment-level data.
1. Ingvild Almås, Timo Boppart, Thor Berger, Hannes Malmberg, and I are looking for a research assistant to work on a project which investigates Sweden's spectacular economic growth during the late 19th century using establishment-level data.
Reposted by Esther Boler
Javier Flórez (@pseud0safari.bsky.social), Mario Larch, Sebastien Bradley, and I are very happy share the update of the most disaggregated dataset of consistently constructed international and domestic trade flows -- GRANTPA.
So, let’s estimate GRAVITY with GRANTPA.
ideas.repec.org/p/drx/wpaper...
So, let’s estimate GRAVITY with GRANTPA.
ideas.repec.org/p/drx/wpaper...
May 30, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Javier Flórez (@pseud0safari.bsky.social), Mario Larch, Sebastien Bradley, and I are very happy share the update of the most disaggregated dataset of consistently constructed international and domestic trade flows -- GRANTPA.
So, let’s estimate GRAVITY with GRANTPA.
ideas.repec.org/p/drx/wpaper...
So, let’s estimate GRAVITY with GRANTPA.
ideas.repec.org/p/drx/wpaper...
Reposted by Esther Boler
DOE cancels $3.7 billion in demonstration projects aimed at cutting emissions — a couple big carbon capture demos, but also cement, glass, iron, chemicals projects.
Calpine and Exxon Mobil were hit, as were startups like Sublime and Brimstone. (Full list in story.) www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/c...
Calpine and Exxon Mobil were hit, as were startups like Sublime and Brimstone. (Full list in story.) www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/c...
Energy Dept. Cancels $3.7 Billion for New Technologies to Lower Emissions
www.nytimes.com
May 30, 2025 at 4:57 PM
DOE cancels $3.7 billion in demonstration projects aimed at cutting emissions — a couple big carbon capture demos, but also cement, glass, iron, chemicals projects.
Calpine and Exxon Mobil were hit, as were startups like Sublime and Brimstone. (Full list in story.) www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/c...
Calpine and Exxon Mobil were hit, as were startups like Sublime and Brimstone. (Full list in story.) www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/c...
Imagine a world where governments believed universities, research and innovation were central, even vital, for growth?
'Universities will be lucky to avoid being “completely hit over the head” in the UK government’s upcoming spending review as ministers look set to prioritise plans for growth – which could eat into core research funding – and save higher education reform for a later date.' 1/3
Universities face ‘tough’ spending review after brutal few months
Potential reprioritisation of parts of research budget could heap pressure on institutions already counting cost of immigration and tax changes
www.timeshighereducation.com
May 30, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Imagine a world where governments believed universities, research and innovation were central, even vital, for growth?
Reposted by Esther Boler
I had to read this several times as “prioritise growth” and “hit universities over the head” are so mutually contradictory
'Universities will be lucky to avoid being “completely hit over the head” in the UK government’s upcoming spending review as ministers look set to prioritise plans for growth – which could eat into core research funding – and save higher education reform for a later date.' 1/3
Universities face ‘tough’ spending review after brutal few months
Potential reprioritisation of parts of research budget could heap pressure on institutions already counting cost of immigration and tax changes
www.timeshighereducation.com
May 30, 2025 at 7:01 AM
I had to read this several times as “prioritise growth” and “hit universities over the head” are so mutually contradictory