Nancy Birdsall | Lightnews

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · 17h

My fellow Americans: Take heart. Resistance is everywhere, all the time. Thanks @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social www.meditationsinanemergency.com/in-2025-we-s...

In 2025 We Showed Up: Notes on Resistance to the Regime

A young white woman in yoga clothes berating masked ICE agents in a parking lot this spring. A pope speaking up again and again for immigrants. Furious judges dressing down the Trump administration an...

www.meditationsinanemergency.com

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · 1d

Mamdani's appeal to me (!) (via @davidwallace.bsky.social): "..in his real-life suit and smile, he looks the part of an eager-beaver student council president." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/o...

Opinion | This Is What Democrats Must Learn From Mamdani’s Victory

www.nytimes.com

Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 1d

I took inventory. It looked good.

In 2025 We Showed Up: Notes on Resistance to the Regime

Ayoung white woman in yoga clothes berating masked ICE agents in a parking lot this spring. A pope speaking up again and again for immigrants. Furious judges dressing down the Trump administration and...

www.meditationsinanemergency.com

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · 4d

Wonderful: "Mamdani on election night thanked Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas. Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses. Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties. Thanks @hcrichardson.bsky.social @mclem.org

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · 4d

Accessible to all! ...my paper in Journal of Econ Perspectives on World Bank's 1993 East Asian "Miracle" report ("Too Much A Product of Its TIme?") (www.aeaweb.org/full_issue.p...). @cgdev.org @mclem.org @arvind2011.bsky.social @justsand.bsky.social

www.aeaweb.org

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · 4d

On the long "pregnancy" and the imminent birth of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility: www.cgdev.org/blog/birth-a... @cgdev.org. I never lost hope....Thank you @lulaoficialbluesky.bsky.social

Birth Announcement: A Sovereign Wealth Fund to Protect Tropical Forests

Luckily, good ideas have long half-lives. An idea developed here at CGD in 2018 to protect tropical forests forever (literally forever) will be born officially at COP30 in Belém. At a side meeting dur...

www.cgdev.org

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · 5d

Photo tells a story: Women were the driving force behind Abigail Spanberger's win in Virginia www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/u...

The Backlash Has Arrived: 6 Takeaways From a Good Night for Democrats

www.nytimes.com

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · 12d

Long-run employment effects of Bush-era tariffs: When will they ever learn?

Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 12d

The large increase in steel tariffs under GW Bush did not cause an increase in steel-industry employment.

But it did hurt the US industries that use steel to make things, reducing employment there long after the tariffs were gone.

New in @aeajournals.bsky.social —> doi.org/10.1257/pol....

Local Labor Market Effects of the 2002 Bush Steel Tariffs†
By James Lake and Ding Liu*
President George W. Bush imposed safeguard tariffs on steel
in early 2002. Using US input-output tables and a generalized
difference-in-difference methodology, we analyze the local labor
market employment effects of these tariffs depending on the local
labor market’s reliance on steel as an input and as part of local production. The tariffs did not boost local steel employment but substantially depressed local employment in steel-consuming industries
for many years after Bush removed them. The tariffs also led to a
persistent exit of steel-intensive manufacturing establishments, suggesting a role for plant-level fixed entry costs in translating the temporary shock into persistent outcomes

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · 12d

Independent research at risk at the World Bank?!??!? Ouch/No! On why that's a bad idea: www.cgdev.org/blog/world-b... @eeshani.bsky.social @cgdev.org

The World Bank Group Reorganization: A Retreat from Research Quality?

A recent PowerPoint presentation presents the outline for the institutional structure of “The WBG Knowledge Bank.” But a knowledge bank owes it to its stakeholders impartial and transparent considerat...

www.cgdev.org

Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 12d

The large increase in steel tariffs under GW Bush did not cause an increase in steel-industry employment.

But it did hurt the US industries that use steel to make things, reducing employment there long after the tariffs were gone.

New in @aeajournals.bsky.social —> doi.org/10.1257/pol....

fbschwing.bsky.social @fbschwing.bsky.social · 13d

Indeed. Jen, the Post misses your thoughtful and well-written commentaries dearly. Your departure was the tip of the 'democracy dies on darkness' iceberg.

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · 14d

"Tackiness and tyranny go hand in hand": open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

Trump’s Gilded Ballroom and the Fall of the American Republic

Tackiness and tyranny go hand in hand

open.substack.com

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · 25d

Bring a frog to No Kings protest and have some fun; (Trump hates being laughed at): wIsdom from Bill McKibben: mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?sh...

Gmail

Gmail is email that’s intuitive, efficient, and useful. 15 GB of storage, less spam, and mobile access.

mail.google.com

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · Oct 10

The charts are terrifying. I hope someone is showing them to Rubio.

Center for Global Development @cgdev.org · Oct 10

To provide real-world evidence of aid cuts, CGD experts are using data on reported cholera deaths and US spending responses.

They find elevated cholera mortality across Africa in 2025, but no corresponding aid response from the US:
https://bit.ly/4hmWV9L

Cholera in Africa: Rising Deaths, Shrinking US Aid

The United States—long the world’s largest provider of lifesaving assistance and the largest humanitarian donor to many countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa—saw a sharp reversal in early 2025. ...

www.cgdev.org

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · Oct 10

"No other country has true lifetime tenure for its justices, and for good reason". Too bad we do as the Roberts Court is "out of control". contrarian.substack.com/p/even-feder...

Even Federal Court Judges Know the MAGA Justices are Out of Control

The Roberts Court makes obvious the need for serious reform

contrarian.substack.com

Center for Global Development @cgdev.org · Oct 10

To provide real-world evidence of aid cuts, CGD experts are using data on reported cholera deaths and US spending responses.

They find elevated cholera mortality across Africa in 2025, but no corresponding aid response from the US:
https://bit.ly/4hmWV9L

Cholera in Africa: Rising Deaths, Shrinking US Aid

The United States—long the world’s largest provider of lifesaving assistance and the largest humanitarian donor to many countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa—saw a sharp reversal in early 2025. ...

www.cgdev.org

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · Oct 1

See what countries are most affected (negatively) by recent US policy changes. Impressive analysis with depressing result -- poorer countries lose out most. www.cgdev.org/blog/who-bea...

Who Bears the Burden? Tracking the Global Impact of Recent US Foreign Policy Shifts

Since January, the United States has adopted a range of foreign economic policies with negative impacts on the rest of the world, including higher tariffs on exports, taxes on remittances, and reducti...

www.cgdev.org

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · Sep 25

Better go see coral reefs soon. Take photos for your children Oceans are failing. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

World’s oceans fail key health check as acidity crosses critical threshold for marine life

Scientists call for renewed global effort to curb fossil fuels as seven of nine planetary boundaries now transgressed

www.theguardian.com

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · Sep 25

Please Pope Leo: speak to this foolish meanness. Sometimes it's embarrassing (and maddening) to be even a "fallen-away" Catholic: www.cgdev.org/blog/catholi...

Catholic Schools in the Congo Ban Pregnant Girls

Almost everywhere, girls who get pregnant in school are allowed to finish their education. Only five countries still have explicit bans or restrictions: Afghanistan, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Kuwait, a...

www.cgdev.org

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · Sep 24

Bill McKibben on Trump at the UN manages to be funny, sort of:https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/the-stupidest-speech-in-un-history?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=438146&post_id=174385635&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=jub32&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · Sep 24

I like this representation of headwinds!

Center for Global Development @cgdev.org · Aug 27

The Kuznets Curve assumed falling inequality once structural transformation has peaked. But today, unforeseen headwinds—populism, climate damage, and more—complicate that path, especially for developing economies.

More from <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:epahg7qaiww4hby5eu3pmm2p" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky-mention">@nbirdsall.bsky.social:
https://bit.ly/45DsCr4

Global Headwinds to Kuznets’ Low-Inequality Transformation: Plutocrats, Populism, and More

Kuznets’s prediction that inequality would fall after structural transformation faces major obstacles in today’s globalized economy, including tax evasion by elites, restrictions on labor migration, a...

www.cgdev.org

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · Sep 20

This Admin fears experts. I have think of colleagues/friends, now US citizens with US-born children, who are here thanks to those H1B visas.

Michael Clemens @mclem.org · Sep 20

The White House has chosen a truly extremist step that will kneecap American research and innovation.

It is an additional bomb dropped on the US higher education system, illegally and recklessly, that will end up harming every Conservative and Liberal American.

Nicholas Weaver @ncweaver.skerry-tech.com · Sep 20

Why is this horrible for Universities?

Just about everyone who isn't a citizen or green card holder already who's hired for a tenure track faculty position is hired through an H1B and then, after 3-5 years, applies for a green card.

This is literally "No more foreign professors can be hired"

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · Sep 20

Thank you to Bill Burns for his letter to US public servants in The Atlantic. Compelling on US best interests and full of the understanding and empathy the victims of Trump Admin/DOGE deserve. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

A Letter to America’s Discarded Public Servants

You all deserved better.

www.theatlantic.com

Michael Clemens @mclem.org · Sep 20

The White House has chosen a truly extremist step that will kneecap American research and innovation.

It is an additional bomb dropped on the US higher education system, illegally and recklessly, that will end up harming every Conservative and Liberal American.

Nicholas Weaver @ncweaver.skerry-tech.com · Sep 20

Why is this horrible for Universities?

Just about everyone who isn't a citizen or green card holder already who's hired for a tenure track faculty position is hired through an H1B and then, after 3-5 years, applies for a green card.

This is literally "No more foreign professors can be hired"

Gergely Orosz @gergely.pragmaticengineer.com · Sep 20

Those on an H1B cannot return to the US from tomorrow (Sunday) unless paying $100K. This is an out-of-the blue presidential action. We’ll see software engineers stranded abroad.

One easy to predict outcome: those on US visas will travel less… for work, for conferences etc.

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · Sep 20

WGA WRITERS protest abc & disney : “Writers against fascism — this isn’t just about Kimmel, it’s about our ability to say what we want and not be punished by the state… a chilling effect… you don’t capitulate to bullies…”

(from @moreperfectunion.bsky.social )

Center for Global Development @cgdev.org · Sep 18

Can developing countries expect inequality to fall post-structural transformation, as predicted by the Kuznets Curve?

@nbirdsall.bsky.social highlights unforeseen headwinds—populism, climate damage, and more—that pose new challenges ⬇️
https://bit.ly/45DsCr4

https://bit.ly/45DsCr4

t.co

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · Sep 15

below, so well said: the government's "pitiful response to its own mistakes, which vary from simple ineptitude to willful noncompliance". Thank you to the "handful of federal judges"

The New Republic @newrepublic.com · Sep 13

Awful as things are under Trump 2.0, they’d be far worse still without the courage of a handful of federal judges willing to rule against him.

Paula Xinis of Maryland has been a key leader in defending the law from the administration's abuses. trib.al/OAhL2CT

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · Sep 15

Yes you wouldn't know Kirk's extremist views. . . .

Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · Sep 15

Too many journalists seem to find it impossible to acknowledge that Kirks’s extremist views, conspiratorial rhetoric, overt racism, and election denial undermined democracy and that his assassination is abhorrent.
open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

We Cannot Excuse Political Violence

And we must not whitewash abhorrent views

open.substack.com

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · Sep 15

Good photo too @mclem.org

Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · Sep 15

Too many journalists seem to find it impossible to acknowledge that Kirks’s extremist views, conspiratorial rhetoric, overt racism, and election denial undermined democracy and that his assassination is abhorrent.
open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

We Cannot Excuse Political Violence

And we must not whitewash abhorrent views

open.substack.com

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