Ariel Ortiz-Bobea
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arielob.bsky.social
Ariel Ortiz-Bobea
@arielob.bsky.social
Applied econ & policy prof at Cornell. Researching how people cope w/ environmental change. Posts about climate, agriculture, environment & academia.
https://arielortizbobea.github.io
Reposted by Ariel Ortiz-Bobea
Serious scholars have examined what happens when we change the number of H1-B visas issued.

Cities that get more H1-B immigrants subsequently see the wages of natives *rise* substantially.

Skilled immigrants bring new ideas, fill labor shortages and make us all more productive.
September 22, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Ariel Ortiz-Bobea
Hey, #EconSky! Got a policy-relevant paper that you want folks in DC to see? Present & publish it with NBER's Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy.

Submission deadline is Oct 20.

Conference is in DC on May 21, 2026.

More details below.

conference.nber.org/confsubmit/b...
Submission: 8th Annual NBER Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy Conference, Page 1 of 2 - MyNBER
conference.nber.org
September 11, 2025 at 7:15 PM
First time seeing people out protesting against the government and congress in Watkins Glen, NY
September 1, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Just added my signature to the letter.

This is a no brainer.

It’s wild we’re having a conversation about US central bank independence in 2025. But here we are.

Please read and consider adding your signature.
The letter is ready, thanks to all those who helped out! Starting to gather signature now, please consider signing (link at top of letter) & spread the word.

docs.google.com/document/d/1...
August 28, 2025 at 12:57 AM
Are there lawyers out there who have written about the most effective way to submit comments to government reports like the recent DOE one?
August 1, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Reposted by Ariel Ortiz-Bobea
I have written about this before, when it was suggested as a possibility shortly after the inauguration. A quick summary here--in short, there's little clever or thoughtful about it, though there is some legal strategy at work, however cynical.

1/n

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/c...
E.P.A. Is Said to Draft a Plan to End Its Ability to Fight Climate Change
www.nytimes.com
July 23, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Reposted by Ariel Ortiz-Bobea
Our paper is officially out 🎉

We argue that climate clubs show promise:

- A climate club with coordinated penalties could curb 68% of excess emissions from free-riding

-Unilateral carbon tariffs? Not nearly as effective
We study how trade policy can reduce global emissions. Unilateral carbon border taxes have limited efficacy at cutting foreign emissions. By contrast, coordinated trade penalties under a climate club prove highly effective. buff.ly/NEE3Uy8
July 9, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Reposted by Ariel Ortiz-Bobea
I'd love to fund studies of interventions that reduce real-time pollution exposure, in the US, on outcomes related to violence and criminal behavior.

(There is strong evidence that such exposure increases violence in real time; the next question is how much interventions can mitigate this effect.)
June 23, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Telling prospective PhD students that they should not worry about stating their research interests on their statement was not in my bingo card for 2025.
May 29, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Ariel Ortiz-Bobea
Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades
The lag in funding extends far beyond D.E.I. initiatives, affecting almost every area of science: chemistry, computing, engineering, materials and more.
www.nytimes.com
May 22, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Ariel Ortiz-Bobea
Who, us, delete #climate info?

USDA has agreed to restore climate change-related webpages to its websites after it was sued over their deletions by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of NY and others,
@melinawalling.bsky.social reports:
Facing lawsuit, USDA says it will restore climate change-related webpages
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has agreed to restore webpages related to climate change after it was sued earlier this year over the deletions.
apnews.com
May 14, 2025 at 3:35 PM
We received the dismissal emails yesterday.

This report is congressionally mandated and aims to inform the US people about the impacts of climate change on the nation and what to do about it.
April 29, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Reposted by Ariel Ortiz-Bobea
Federally funded R&D (not all of which is spent at universities) as a fraction of GDP is as low as it's been since we started tracking.

Which is a different way of looking at it than "line go up." 4/x ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf2332...
April 19, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Reposted by Ariel Ortiz-Bobea
There are so many ways one could provide context for this data.

For example, in the last five years universities have received 52-55% of their research funding from the federal government. That's the lowest percentage since the 1950s. 1/x ncses.nsf.gov/surveys/high...
How Universities Became So Dependent on the Federal Government
For decades, universities got billions in federal dollars for research. The relationship was mutually beneficial, until President Trump decided it wasn’t.
www.nytimes.com
April 19, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Reposted by Ariel Ortiz-Bobea
Opinions are not facts.

E.g. Someone claiming vaccines don’t work, does not make it true.

This distinction is more important than ever.
April 19, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Ariel Ortiz-Bobea
This framing is nuts, and the assumption is that public funding for a public good is somehow untoward and illicit. “The schools took the money” and became “warily beholden to the whims of politicians in Washington.”/1
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/u...
How Universities Became So Dependent on the Federal Government
For decades, universities got billions in federal dollars for research. The relationship was mutually beneficial, until President Trump decided it wasn’t.
www.nytimes.com
April 19, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Disappointing ragebaiting from @nytimes.com

E.g. “The relationship was mutually beneficial, until President Trump decided it wasn’t.”

Trump can CLAIM public research grants don’t benefit the public. He does not DECIDE this.

Where is the rigor?

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/u...
How Universities Became So Dependent on the Federal Government
For decades, universities got billions in federal dollars for research. The relationship was mutually beneficial, until President Trump decided it wasn’t.
www.nytimes.com
April 19, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by Ariel Ortiz-Bobea
Just posted updated version of our DID textbook! We now have drafts of all chapters, including the one on general designs! Now you can tell your friends still on X that they are DID-outdated :-) Happy easter for those of you that celebrate it. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Credible Answers to Hard Questions: Differences-in-Differences for Natural Experiments
This book introduces applied researchers to modern Differences-in-Differences (DID) methods, that they can use to obtain credible answers to hard causal inferen
papers.ssrn.com
April 18, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Reposted by Ariel Ortiz-Bobea
Ok so yeah, this has quickly become the #1 misunderstanding about the canceled grants

the grants are not “subsidies” or “entitlements” to Harvard or Princeton or whatever

they aren’t going into universities’ endowments

they are competitive contracts won by these universities to do research
There is a PR narrative quickly emerging about “entitlement” of elite universities, as if this $ is some sort of subsidy

Harvard & others must counter this quickly

The $ doesn’t flow into Harvard’s coffers - this is grant money, most of which goes to research the govt has agreed has social value
April 18, 2025 at 11:55 AM
I hope it doesn’t stop at redesigning websites & that other schools follow to defend their academic mission.

Academia cannot afford to have pundits and politicians define what they are to the general public.

Universities have to be proactive and tell their own story. No middle men.
Harvard redid its whole homepage to push back against the administration’s demands. I mean, this is just a website but I think it’s kind of a great PR move: www.harvard.edu
Harvard University
Harvard University is devoted to excellence in teaching, learning, and research, and to developing leaders who make a difference globally.
www.harvard.edu
April 16, 2025 at 2:12 AM
still time to join!
📣 Reminder: Join us for AERE@OSWEET, *TODAY*, April 11th at 2pm Eastern (11am Pacific) with 3 terrific talks on politics, media, and the environment!

Presenters:
✨ Prashant Garg (@prashantgarg.bsky.social
✨ Rosanne Logeart (@rosannelogeart.bsky.social
✨ Hannah Farkas

Register: buff.ly/8J0u18g
April 11, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Ariel Ortiz-Bobea
BREAKING from @science.org: The Trump admin is seeking to kill nearly all climate research at NOAA, its climate science agency.

Its near-final budget proposal would end all NOAA research labs, academic institutes, and regional climate centers. And it wants to fully end the NOAA Research division.
Trump seeks to end climate research at premier U.S. climate agency
White House aims to end NOAA’s research office; NASA also targeted
www.science.org
April 11, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Ariel Ortiz-Bobea
AERE@OSWEET returns *this Friday* April 11th at 2pm Eastern (11am Pacific) with 3 terrific talks on politics, media, & the environment!

Presenters:
✨ Prashant Garg (@prashantgarg.bsky.social
✨ Rosanne Logeart (@rosannelogeart.bsky.social
✨ Hannah Farkas

Register: buff.ly/JhWGo59

#EconSky 📉 📈
April 8, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Just drove by ~150 protesters holding signs under the cold rain,

at a rural intersection in the NY finger lakes… hours away from any city (including Ithaca).

Never seen this before.
April 5, 2025 at 9:56 PM