Joshua Goodman
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joshua-goodman.com
Joshua Goodman
@joshua-goodman.com

Education economist @ BU Wheelock & Economics Dept | Wheelock Education Policy Center | Co-editor @ JHR | White House CEA 2022-23 | www.joshua-goodman.com

Education 57%
Economics 13%
Pinned
Here's my thread of this year's new scholars in Economics of Education and Education Policy.

These PhD students and postdocs are on the job market, so take a look (and spread the word to others who might benefit from exposure).

And now onto the scholars... 👇
The only true way is the Canadian way

(As much as I wish it was a joke, it is in fact not one and this is exactly how it works here)

If any of my PhD students writes a book like Katabasis, I will re-examine my life choices.

(Fun read, but not a great portrait of academia!)
Recently accepted by #QJE, “Marginal Returns to Public Universities,” by Jack Mountjoy: doi.org/10.1093/qje/...
Marginal Returns to Public Universities
Abstract. This paper studies the returns to enrolling in American public universities by comparing the long-term outcomes of barely admitted versus barely
doi.org

Reposted by Joshua Goodman

Love this course evaluation in which a student identifies my no-tech policy as one of the most valuable aspects of the course.

"Relying on paper, pencil, and my own brain forces me to focus on essential knowledge, helps me to retain understanding better, and gives me time to process what I write."

Reposted by Joshua Goodman

"Public meetings aren’t going anywhere, and citizen input will always have a place. But there have to be limits — and the views of nearby homeowners who show up for meetings can’t be the last word on whether Massachusetts gets the housing it needs."

True! (And minutes at the end of flights are the longest.)

Not sure the precise number would be identical, but there's a huge literature showing that people are willing to pay to save time. See:

sites.socsci.uci.edu/~ksmall/VOT%...
sites.socsci.uci.edu

Reposted by Stephen D. Murphy

Amazing example of how to infer people's valuation of their time.

Ryanair has determined customers are willing to pay $1.17 per extra two rows forward they can sit on an airplane, allowing them to disembark a bit sooner.

If that saves 1 minute, customers value their time at about $70/hour.

Copenhagen is gorgeous around Christmas time (as long as you don't care for sunlight).

Grateful to have spent a lovely couple of days at Copenhagen Business School, where I gave a keynote address titled:

"Something In The Air: Environmental Conditions, School Infrastructure, and Student Learning"

At a time when sound economic advice is sorely needed, the current administration is crippling the knowledge base of the federal government.
Within categories of nonacademic jobs; perhaps the bleakest sector is hiring by the federal govt. (Not surprising given DOGE cuts and then the government shutdown.) # of such jobs is down 71.1% from last year and is even 79.1% lower than during COVID (2020). There are only 24 listed this yr!
So Instacart showed different people different prices for eggs. Shocking?

Before the outrage, ignore the Twitter press release. Look at what they actually found.

Understand the facts and the economic theory to make sense of it

www.economicforces.xyz/p/instacarts...
Instacart's price discrimination isn't price discrimination
On the meaning of price discrimination
www.economicforces.xyz
We provide early evidence on the impact of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks on learning opportunities, and the schooling disruptions that the growing number of low-coverage communities could face if outbreaks continue to spread. See working paper: edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1358
The West Texas Measles Outbreak and Student Absences
Declining child-vaccination rates are driving a measles resurgence in the US, yet little evidence documents how these outbreaks may disrupt schooling. Using daily absence data from a school district a...
edworkingpapers.com

Reposted by Joshua Goodman

Within categories of nonacademic jobs; perhaps the bleakest sector is hiring by the federal govt. (Not surprising given DOGE cuts and then the government shutdown.) # of such jobs is down 71.1% from last year and is even 79.1% lower than during COVID (2020). There are only 24 listed this yr!
There is a growing problem of big name natural-science journals publishing social science that is "problematic".

This reflects a inability to accept the statistical standards and skills in social science are often much much higher than in many areas of the natural sciences.

(I'm a chemist btw).
You remember that Nature Aging paper about how multilingualism protects against accelerated aging? Well…

You can't start your sabbatical. You haven't submitted the grades for my students yet.
College costs are soaring! www.brookings.edu/articles/wha...

Amazing

I'm coming to Copenhagen and don't yet have dinner plans tomorrow (Tuesday) night.

Let me know if you want to meet up (I'll be in the Frederiskberg area).

Reposted by Joshua Goodman

Something I didn't expect that we can see in www.alldayta.com data: study effort is so correlated with exams. Across courses, if use on Finals week is "1", relative use on midterm week is .7, and on non-exam weeks .05-.1. For courses with no exam, use always sticks at the lower level.
‘I heard 40, 50 shots’: Witnesses fled Bondi Beach as gunmen targeted Jewish event
‘I heard 40, 50 shots’: Witnesses fled Bondi Beach as gunmen targeted Jewish event
Gunshots ripped through a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, killing at least 12 people
www.irishtimes.com
I have done this a few times... In our profession we got so much rejection and even R&Rs may focus on the negatives. Telling someone you like their paper is refreshing for the person and you too!
You can do this right now:

Think of a person who wrote a paper you love, whose work influenced or helped you, or has made your professional life better.

Search up their email address. Shoot them a quick email of thanks. It means so, so much. This is a rough time of year, share some joy.

Reposted by Joshua Goodman

It's been a super rewarding semester of teaching this fall!

I spoke with the Washington Post about administering oral exams for the first time in my Intro Data Science class - to combat AI use. Happy to chat with folks thinking about doing something similar:

www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...
Professors are turning to this old-school method to stop AI use on exams
A small but growing number of educators are experimenting with oral exams to circumvent the temptations presented by powerful AI platforms.
www.washingtonpost.com
You can do this right now:

Think of a person who wrote a paper you love, whose work influenced or helped you, or has made your professional life better.

Search up their email address. Shoot them a quick email of thanks. It means so, so much. This is a rough time of year, share some joy.
Myth busting in action ! @joshua-goodman.com & Joseph Winkelman wrote a great paper on trends in US college enrollments and debunk the narrative we’ve been seeing everywhere about students massively leaving higher education

— please journalists read this

🔗 docs.iza.org/dp18285.pdf

Oh yeah, the worldplay is strong in this one

My 7th grader just came up with

God Pave the Scene

Fight the Powder
Flaking Out
Tom Blade-y
Plower to the People