Riley Acton
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riacton.bsky.social
Riley Acton
@riacton.bsky.social
5.3K followers 1.7K following 690 posts
education economist
ap at miami university (yes, the one in ohio)
https://www.rileyacton.com/
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riacton.bsky.social
Riley Acton @riacton.bsky.social · Sep 8
🚨 New working paper alert! 🚨 #econsky

Emily Cook, Paola Ugalde, and I are thrilled to share "Political Views and College Choices in a Polarized America" — now out with both @iza.org and @annenberginstitute.bsky.social EdWorkingPapers

www.iza.org/publications...

edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1280
Political Views and College Choices in a Polarized America Riley Acton Miami University & IZA Emily Cook Texas A&M University & CESifo Paola Ugalde A. Louisiana State University We examine the role of students’ political views in shaping college enrollment decisions in the United States. We hypothesize that students derive utility from attending institutions aligned with their political identities, which could reinforce demographic and regional disparities in educational attainment and reduce ideological diversity on campuses. Using four decades of survey data on college freshmen, we document increasing political polarization in colleges' student bodies, which is not fully explained by sorting along demographic, socioeconomic, or academic lines. To further explore these patterns, we conduct a series of survey-based choice experiments that quantify the value students place on political alignment relative to factors such as cost and proximity. We find that both liberal and conservative students prefer institutions with more like-minded peers and, especially, with fewer students from the opposite side of the political spectrum. The median student is willing to pay up to $2,617 (12.5%) more to attend a college where the share of students with opposing political views is 10 percentage points lower, suggesting that political identity plays a meaningful role in the college choice process.
riacton.bsky.social
You have cute 2016 pictures to re-share on your Instagram. I just have pictures of whiteboards with MWG problems on them from my first year of grad school. We are not the same. 🥲
January 17, 2026 at 4:38 PM
riacton.bsky.social
A great syllabus addition to your micro, education, or public policy course!
aefplivehandbook.bsky.social AEFP Live Handbook @aefplivehandbook.bsky.social · 1d
Learn more about the difference between posted and net tuition and how it impacts students in Emily Cook and Sarah Turner's chapter on College Pricing in the U.S.: lnkd.in/gn-Hciw6
January 16, 2026 at 5:33 PM
Reposted by Riley Acton
aefplivehandbook.bsky.social
Learn more about the difference between posted and net tuition and how it impacts students in Emily Cook and Sarah Turner's chapter on College Pricing in the U.S.: lnkd.in/gn-Hciw6
January 16, 2026 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by Riley Acton
miamiecon.bsky.social
MA in Eco? Try ours! Focused on innovation and real-world application, after completing the program, you'll be prepared to, frame and answer questions from unstructured situations, excel in eco or policy Ph.D. programs, and achieve success in quant tracks. miamioh.edu/fsb/graduate...
Master of Economics
Level up your career in analytics, government, or finance, or prepare for a PhD program in just 12 months with our Master of Economics degree.
miamioh.edu
January 16, 2026 at 3:32 PM
Reposted by Riley Acton
lollardfish.bsky.social
A lot of disabled kids who require 1:1 aides won’t get educated online, but may not be safe to go to school.
johnmoe.bsky.social John Moe @johnmoe.bsky.social · 2d
Saint Paul schools will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday to prepare for optional online learning.

I’ve seen schools close for snow, for pandemic, for natural disaster. I’ve never seen schools close because of threat from our own government.
January 15, 2026 at 1:18 AM
Reposted by Riley Acton
marisakabas.bsky.social
BREAKING — Mayor of Lewiston, Maine posts on FB that ICE is coming to the city imminently. This confirms my reporting the agency is planning a surge in the city and state generally.

Lewiston is home to a large Somali-American population, which made up 4.6% of the population as of the 2020 census.
January 14, 2026 at 9:17 PM
Reposted by Riley Acton
aeacswep.bsky.social
@aeacswep.bsky.social
enjoyed hosting the reception to honor the inaugural Janet L. Yellen Award for Excellence in Public Service at #ASSA2026! A full house toasted her achievements in economics in public service and many were able to meet Janet Yellen!
January 12, 2026 at 6:00 PM
riacton.bsky.social
To add to this: we know so little about how internal resource allocation decisions are made within and across higher education institutions and what their impacts are on students, faculty, etc.

A ripe area for an enterprising grad student to try to get their hands on some data!
lollardfish.bsky.social David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 5d
For my higher ed niche: WHY DO UNIVERSITIES STILL VARY FUNDING FOR DEPARTMENTS BASED ON "FIRST" or "SECOND" MAJOR?

Do you know why most students declare one major first or one major second? It ain't usually because of intellectual priorities, but whether an advisor is free on a given day.
January 12, 2026 at 4:56 PM
Reposted by Riley Acton
carajackson.bsky.social
Immigration policy is #EdPolicy 😞
eshockmanwrites.bsky.social Elizabeth Shockman @eshockmanwrites.bsky.social · 5d
Checking in with two different Twin Cities school districts over the weekend. They saw absenteeism close to 30 percent or more due to federal immigration enforcement agent activity fears last week.
January 12, 2026 at 12:23 PM
Reposted by Riley Acton
josephpolitano.bsky.social
93% of economists polled by IGM markets earlier this year agreed that "Giving the President more direct influence over monetary policy would lead to substantially worse monetary policy decisions", half of the people who disagreed were people who actually agreed but just pressed the wrong button
screenshot of a polling results saying that 93% of economists said giving the president more direct influence over montary policy would lead to substantially worse monetary policy decisions
January 12, 2026 at 1:34 AM
Reposted by Riley Acton
econreporter.bsky.social
This is a Powell-ful speech
January 12, 2026 at 12:54 AM
riacton.bsky.social
It’s my civic duty to alert you all to the fact that excellent NCAA gymnastics is happening LIVE on ABC right now!

And there’s still two more rotations to go! 🤸🏼‍♀️
January 10, 2026 at 10:03 PM
Reposted by Riley Acton
mpolikoff.bsky.social
Fabulous postdoc opportunity at Stanford to work on the politics of education with one of the best @bethschueler.bsky.social postdocs.stanford.edu/prospective/...
Open Postdoctoral position, faculty mentor Beth Schueler | Office of Postdoctoral Affairs
postdocs.stanford.edu
January 8, 2026 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Riley Acton
reuning.bsky.social
Semester ended.
edzitron.com Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 9d
ChatGPT's growth plateaued and appears to have started to collapse, this chart is kinda hard to read so it's hard to tell if it's down 22% week over week, or whether on a three month basis traffic is down. Either way, this is not good
www.similarweb.com/corp/wp-cont...
12wk Change 8/1 8/15 8/29 9/12 9/26 10/10 10/24 11/7 11/21 12/5 12/19 1/2 Openai 4% 5% 4% 3% 5% 5% 3% -2% 1% -4% -8% -22% Gemini 51% 39% 20% 32% 78% 64% 69% 71% 84% 82% 44% 49% Deepseek -27% -28% -22% -17% -8% -8% 12% 15% 12% 5% -2% -11% Grok 9% 7% 14% 16% 6% -13% 5% 13% 28% 43% 49% 52% Perplexity 26% 14% 17% 20% 37% 66% 39% 39% 32% 17% 7% -27% Claude 33% 46% 42% 34% 35% 47% 56% 49% 16% 12% 12% -14% Copilot 6% 0% 11% 12% 19% 15% 13% 12% 16% 7% 0% -19% Meta -22% -21% -21% -21% -15% 102% 82% 73% 79% 109% 98% -3% Huggingface 3% 12% 3% -6% -4% -14% -12% -18% -10% 4% -1% 8% Manus 25% 2% -11% -19% -14% -23% -17% -16% -2% -1% 1% 12%
January 8, 2026 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by Riley Acton
mclem.org
There is a threat to Minneapolis so extreme that *every child in the city* has been forced to stay home from school.

That threat does not come from immigrants.

There has only been one murder in Minneapolis in 2026. It was federal agents' killing of a 37 year-old US citizen/mother in her minivan.
January 8, 2026 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Riley Acton
waltecton.bsky.social
Do you (or does someone you know) research emerging & advanced technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence, virtual/augmented reality) in education? If so, apply to come work with us in Ann Arbor! careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
Associate Professor or Full Professor | U-M Careers
careers.umich.edu
January 7, 2026 at 7:27 PM
Reposted by Riley Acton
maggieastor.bsky.social
Copy Editing Matters, from HHS's release on the new childhood vaccine schedule: All the diseases will still be available to anyone who wants them
Ensures that all the diseases covered by the previous immunization schedule will still be available to anyone who wants them through Affordable Care Act insurance plans and federal insurance programs, including Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Vaccines for Children program. Families will not have to purchase them out of pocket. Among peer nations, the U.S. will continue to offer the most childhood vaccines for free to those who want them.
January 6, 2026 at 1:12 AM
Reposted by Riley Acton
joshua-goodman.com
We @wheelockpolicybu.bsky.social are hiring a director for our Policy-Aligned Research Agenda Buildling Lab (PARABL), to help education system leaders build research roadmaps to effect change in a particular area.

More info here:

wheelockpolicycenter.org/wp-content/u...
January 5, 2026 at 11:59 PM
Reposted by Riley Acton
trevondlogan.bsky.social
Congratulations Rene Crespin!
January 5, 2026 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by Riley Acton
emmarackstraw.bsky.social
Every time I tell a normal human that economists gather for work on the first weekend in January every year, and they are FLABBERGASTED, I am reminded that this is an odd choice we’ve made as a profession
January 5, 2026 at 2:50 AM
Reposted by Riley Acton
riacton.bsky.social
Organizing dinners has become one of my favorite conference activities. So good to catch up with some of my favorite economists in Philly! 🤩

@nataliemillar.bsky.social
@daniellecgw.bsky.social
@camilantmorales.bsky.social
@loismiller.bsky.social
& more not on BlueSky!
January 5, 2026 at 3:52 PM
Reposted by Riley Acton
ylepidemiologist.bsky.social
5/ Many of the loudest arguments for simplifying schedules come from people who are lucky enough to experience reliable care, stable insurance, and flexibility at work. But public health guidance has to work for everyone. Timing, access, and support systems are part of what makes vaccines effective.
January 5, 2026 at 8:52 PM
Reposted by Riley Acton
ylepidemiologist.bsky.social
1/ Well, he did it. He actually did it.

RFK Jr. just issued a unilateral directive to overhaul the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule. This isn’t based on new data or new evidence, and he bypassed every scientific and clinical process we have, including not taking public comment.
January 5, 2026 at 8:52 PM
riacton.bsky.social
Organizing dinners has become one of my favorite conference activities. So good to catch up with some of my favorite economists in Philly! 🤩

@nataliemillar.bsky.social
@daniellecgw.bsky.social
@camilantmorales.bsky.social
@loismiller.bsky.social
& more not on BlueSky!
January 5, 2026 at 3:52 PM
riacton.bsky.social
Packed house at #ASSA2026 to innaugurate the @aeacswep.bsky.social Janet L. Yellen Award for Excellence in Public Service 🤩

An icon & an inspiration!
January 4, 2026 at 12:05 AM