British politics has become fluid. Only 42% of voters have stayed loyal since 2019 (vs 70% a decade ago). Major changes are within ideological blocs rather than across them. Even Reform UK is not immune to churn: only 54% of early supporters have stayed with them.

More here: tinyurl.com/29y55d85

Are we living in an age of constant crisis or are we overusing the word? I track how often news outlets used the words crisis, issue, and challenge.

Maybe COVID-19 left a linguistic inertia, where even serious challenges are quickly labelled as crises?

More here: open.substack.com/pub/poleconn...

📊 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘃𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

1 year since 2024 election:
👉 Reform UK — 5 MPs, yet ~16× more coverage per MP than Labour.
👉 Lib Dems — 72 MPs, but least coverage per MP of all major leaders.

𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 punches far above its weight, while the 𝗟𝗶𝗯 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝘀 are overlooked despite their size.

Recently, it feels like every news story on UK migration is about small boats. Is our national conversation being shaped more by visibility than scale?

Since 2021, small boat arrivals made up less than 1.5% of UK net migration—yet accounted for ~20% of all migration-related media coverage.
#EconSky

📢 Google Scholar's 2025 Scholar Metrics are out!

h5-index is largest number h such that h articles published in 2020-2024 have at least h citations each.

See how Economics journals rank 👇
#EconSky
📊 Rankings: scholar.google.co.uk/citations?vi...
📢 Announcement: scholar.google.com/intl/en/scho...

We study small boat crossings across English Channel—highly visible and heavily politicised.
Linking daily arrival data with panel survey responses from the BES, we show migrant crossings reduce support for all migration—including legal routes.
Recent policy changes closely mirror these shifts.

Illegal migration tops the political agenda.
Trump vows mass deportations. Starmer wants to “Smash the Gangs”. Sunak pledged to “Stop the Boats”.
Yet its hidden nature makes it hard to track and harder to study its impact on public attitudes.
My new paper digs in. 🧵 #EconSky

India launched missile strikes into Pakistan, triggering a serious escalation following the #PahalgamTerrorAttack that killed 28 civilians. Our new paper in the @jpube.bsky.social offers a timely lens to understand the political consequences of such events. #econsky
🧵Here:

🚨New Working Paper!🚨
Does increase in ethnic minority MPs lead to better representation of minority interests? Using a RDD, we disentangle intrinsic motivations from electoral incentives. Draft here: osf.io/preprints/os... (with William Dinneen, @guygrossman.bsky.social and Stephanie Zonszein)

Looking forward to the RES panel discussion on how to prepare for the Econ job market.

🗓️13 November ⌛️14:30-15:30
RSVP: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/expert-wor...
#EconJobMarket #EconSky
@aeainformation.bsky.social
@joelistings.bsky.social

To help prepare for the Econ job market, RES will host a 1-hour webinar where you will hear from hiring academics and new recruits.

Panelist include: me (Birmingham), Tai-Wei Hu (Bristol), Martina Uccioli (Nottingham) and Mary S. Morgan (LSE):

🗓️13 November ⌛️14:30-15:30

RSVP: lnkd.in/eKzvnZrB

Little Dream Came True!
First time I saw my work cited in a live presentation.
Thank you, @ollefolke.bsky.social for the great keynote.
@valerueda.bsky.social #EconSky

Amazing progress on sex ratios in UP and Bihar. Would be very important to unpack this further!

Data by Lokniti CSDS

Two amazing days at the Immigration in OECD Countries Conference. @OCDE @CEPII_Paris @LISERinLUX
Keynote: George Borjas, Sandra Sequeira, and Romain Wacziarg

Department of Economics, Birmingham is hiring this year! Let me know if you have any questions!
Deadline to apply is 3rd December!
1) Associate Professor (econjobmarket.org/positions/10281)

2) Assistant Professor (econjobmarket.org/positions/10283)
#EconSky

POLECONUK Webinars: Our next event is on Monday, 30 Oct. @anthlittle.bsky.social will present "Communication and Coordination in the Shadow of Repression", with @thchau.bsky.social and Mai Hassan. Join us at 3 pm UK time!
#EconSky #PoliSky
Daylight Saving Time Alert! Please check the time zone.

POLECONUK Webinars:
Our next event is on Monday, 16 Oct 2023.
@bartonelee2.bsky.social will present "From Gridlock to Polarization", with @marcjacob.bsky.social and @grattonecon.bsky.social. Join us at 3 pm UK time!

Looking forward to presenting my paper at the "Migration and Politics: Current and Future Challenges" workshop.
13-14 Oct. 2023 in Caglio, Italy
Thanks to LISER and #EUFirstProject
www.liser.lu?type=news&id...
@yajnagovind.bsky.social