Chris Neill 🐧
@chrisneill.bsky.social
Associate Professor, Economics (education, labour, public econ, policy) at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, 🇨🇦.
Originally from 🇦🇺, I tend to prefer rivers that I can swim away in, rather than skate away on.
Originally from 🇦🇺, I tend to prefer rivers that I can swim away in, rather than skate away on.
Reposted by Chris Neill 🐧
(If you’re unaware of this, Superior is so cold and the depths so anoxic that bodies do not decompose. Everyone who’s gone down in it is still there, barring heroic recovery efforts. Many of them may have saponified and become “soap mummies,” which can effectively preserve them forever.
November 11, 2025 at 6:50 AM
(If you’re unaware of this, Superior is so cold and the depths so anoxic that bodies do not decompose. Everyone who’s gone down in it is still there, barring heroic recovery efforts. Many of them may have saponified and become “soap mummies,” which can effectively preserve them forever.
Reposted by Chris Neill 🐧
🆕Working Paper🚨
Training or Retiring? How Labor Markets Adjust to Trade and Technology Shocks📒
w/ A.Bertermann, @dauthecon.bsky.social & @suedekum.bsky.social
🤖 Robots ➡️ ⬆️training & ⬆️early retirement
🌏 Imports ➡️ ⬇️training & ⬆️early r.
🌎 Exports ➡️ ⬆️training & ⬇️e.r.
www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo...
🧵1/9
Training or Retiring? How Labor Markets Adjust to Trade and Technology Shocks📒
w/ A.Bertermann, @dauthecon.bsky.social & @suedekum.bsky.social
🤖 Robots ➡️ ⬆️training & ⬆️early retirement
🌏 Imports ➡️ ⬇️training & ⬆️early r.
🌎 Exports ➡️ ⬆️training & ⬇️e.r.
www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo...
🧵1/9
November 11, 2025 at 5:59 AM
🆕Working Paper🚨
Training or Retiring? How Labor Markets Adjust to Trade and Technology Shocks📒
w/ A.Bertermann, @dauthecon.bsky.social & @suedekum.bsky.social
🤖 Robots ➡️ ⬆️training & ⬆️early retirement
🌏 Imports ➡️ ⬇️training & ⬆️early r.
🌎 Exports ➡️ ⬆️training & ⬇️e.r.
www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo...
🧵1/9
Training or Retiring? How Labor Markets Adjust to Trade and Technology Shocks📒
w/ A.Bertermann, @dauthecon.bsky.social & @suedekum.bsky.social
🤖 Robots ➡️ ⬆️training & ⬆️early retirement
🌏 Imports ➡️ ⬇️training & ⬆️early r.
🌎 Exports ➡️ ⬆️training & ⬇️e.r.
www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo...
🧵1/9
Reposted by Chris Neill 🐧
Some tiktoker buries a dead cuttlefish in the sand. Pulls it out like it is some alien creature for views.
www.whyalla.com/cuttlefish
www.whyalla.com/cuttlefish
Giant Cuttlefish
A mecca for divers wishing to witness a mesmerising underwater spectacle of the courtship displays and the extent of the world’s largest aggregation of Giant Australian Cuttlefish - a privileged exper...
www.whyalla.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Some tiktoker buries a dead cuttlefish in the sand. Pulls it out like it is some alien creature for views.
www.whyalla.com/cuttlefish
www.whyalla.com/cuttlefish
Reposted by Chris Neill 🐧
46 years ago I woke up to massive explosions and a tower of fire 2 miles away. My Dad thought the Russians had attacked.
A train derailment and exploded tanker cars created a cloud of chlorine gas over the city, so we evacuated with 250,000 other Mississaugans.
canadaehx.com/2024/11/05/t...
A train derailment and exploded tanker cars created a cloud of chlorine gas over the city, so we evacuated with 250,000 other Mississaugans.
canadaehx.com/2024/11/05/t...
The Mississauga Train Derailment
It’s a quiet Saturday night in 1979. Residents in Mississauga, Ontario are asleep. The next day is expected to be quiet for the thousands that live there. Many would be looking forward to a nice br…
canadaehx.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:54 PM
46 years ago I woke up to massive explosions and a tower of fire 2 miles away. My Dad thought the Russians had attacked.
A train derailment and exploded tanker cars created a cloud of chlorine gas over the city, so we evacuated with 250,000 other Mississaugans.
canadaehx.com/2024/11/05/t...
A train derailment and exploded tanker cars created a cloud of chlorine gas over the city, so we evacuated with 250,000 other Mississaugans.
canadaehx.com/2024/11/05/t...
Reposted by Chris Neill 🐧
Buried in the Doug Ford govt's fall budget are changes that would remove parts of Wasaga beach from provincial protection. As I reported in August, those parts are 60% of the world’s longest freshwater beach and the main nesting area for the endangered piping plover: thenarwhal.ca/wasaga-beach...
November 10, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Buried in the Doug Ford govt's fall budget are changes that would remove parts of Wasaga beach from provincial protection. As I reported in August, those parts are 60% of the world’s longest freshwater beach and the main nesting area for the endangered piping plover: thenarwhal.ca/wasaga-beach...
The feed today is just full of massive own goals that anyone with half a brain knew would be bad: brexit, tariffs, anti-vax, health insurance market destruction ... could we maybe just have governments that don't make dumb decisions/cave to idiots? Not even good, just not actively bad?
This paper does some work evaluating the macro forecasts from the time and they didnt perform that badly!
Very interesting paper. Confirms what we knew from cross-country studies - large, rapid effects. The really interesting part is the firm-level analysis, which shows similar, if somewhat lower, magnitudes.
www.nber.org/papers/w3445...
www.nber.org/papers/w3445...
November 10, 2025 at 3:29 PM
The feed today is just full of massive own goals that anyone with half a brain knew would be bad: brexit, tariffs, anti-vax, health insurance market destruction ... could we maybe just have governments that don't make dumb decisions/cave to idiots? Not even good, just not actively bad?
Reposted by Chris Neill 🐧
📣 New NBER Working Paper out today 📣
"The Consequences of Faculty Sexual Misconduct"
Sarah Cohodes & Katherine Leu
"The Consequences of Faculty Sexual Misconduct"
Sarah Cohodes & Katherine Leu
November 10, 2025 at 1:49 PM
📣 New NBER Working Paper out today 📣
"The Consequences of Faculty Sexual Misconduct"
Sarah Cohodes & Katherine Leu
"The Consequences of Faculty Sexual Misconduct"
Sarah Cohodes & Katherine Leu
Free question for any health econ exams!
Tell me you don’t understand risk pools without telling me you don’t understand risk pools
November 10, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Free question for any health econ exams!
Infuriating.
It's official: Canada has lost its measles elimination status because of an outbreak that has persisted for more than 12 months. Country can regain status only if on-going spread is of measles interrupted for more than a year. www.cbc.ca/news/health/... via @cbcnews.ca
November 10, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Infuriating.
Me right now.
People playing music without headphones on the train got me reflecting on Hobbes and Rousseau and the nature of Society and such things
November 10, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Me right now.
Local trunk bike path was pretty nicely cleared this morning after a big snowfall, ahead of my street - a pleasant surprise.
November 10, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Local trunk bike path was pretty nicely cleared this morning after a big snowfall, ahead of my street - a pleasant surprise.
Reposted by Chris Neill 🐧
The overarching problem remains that academia forces people to do things like project management or at least work within projects that have (often strict) deadlines and most of the people in it aren‘t remotely equipped to do this job.
November 10, 2025 at 11:37 AM
The overarching problem remains that academia forces people to do things like project management or at least work within projects that have (often strict) deadlines and most of the people in it aren‘t remotely equipped to do this job.
Reposted by Chris Neill 🐧
The protagonist wears only a tiny bikini, but as you will see, there is a significant story relevance to her sparse attire. Since the story takes place in a tropical climate, it makes sense that she will wear such clothing. The rest of the cast? The male characters? They wear full denim jumpsuits
November 9, 2025 at 8:26 PM
The protagonist wears only a tiny bikini, but as you will see, there is a significant story relevance to her sparse attire. Since the story takes place in a tropical climate, it makes sense that she will wear such clothing. The rest of the cast? The male characters? They wear full denim jumpsuits
Reposted by Chris Neill 🐧
So like, yes, they didn’t have to pay for PT for an injured rotator cuff.
But they did have to deal with helping out their dad who had worked his ass off to provide for his family and then injured a rotator cuff and couldn’t anymore.
But they did have to deal with helping out their dad who had worked his ass off to provide for his family and then injured a rotator cuff and couldn’t anymore.
November 9, 2025 at 8:56 PM
So like, yes, they didn’t have to pay for PT for an injured rotator cuff.
But they did have to deal with helping out their dad who had worked his ass off to provide for his family and then injured a rotator cuff and couldn’t anymore.
But they did have to deal with helping out their dad who had worked his ass off to provide for his family and then injured a rotator cuff and couldn’t anymore.
Reposted by Chris Neill 🐧
You really don't want shingles. If you're eligible, get vaccinated.
🔹️Study was a records review of > million people, 2007-2023
🔹️400 variables were controlled for (impressive!)
🔹️Dementia risk 27-33%⬇️ over 3 yrs after vax
🔹️More shingles = more risk...
1/2
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
🔹️Study was a records review of > million people, 2007-2023
🔹️400 variables were controlled for (impressive!)
🔹️Dementia risk 27-33%⬇️ over 3 yrs after vax
🔹️More shingles = more risk...
1/2
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
How a childhood virus can contribute to dementia later and what you can do
A new study suggests that the shingles vaccine may help prevent dementia by reducing the risk of varicella-zoster virus reactivation
www.washingtonpost.com
November 9, 2025 at 5:44 PM
You really don't want shingles. If you're eligible, get vaccinated.
🔹️Study was a records review of > million people, 2007-2023
🔹️400 variables were controlled for (impressive!)
🔹️Dementia risk 27-33%⬇️ over 3 yrs after vax
🔹️More shingles = more risk...
1/2
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
🔹️Study was a records review of > million people, 2007-2023
🔹️400 variables were controlled for (impressive!)
🔹️Dementia risk 27-33%⬇️ over 3 yrs after vax
🔹️More shingles = more risk...
1/2
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
Just added passionfruit on top of scones with cream and honey.
Should have been doing this much earlier in life.
Should have been doing this much earlier in life.
November 9, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Just added passionfruit on top of scones with cream and honey.
Should have been doing this much earlier in life.
Should have been doing this much earlier in life.
Rules of origin - the complexity, bureaucracy needed to staff it and incentive to find/make loopholes or exemptions - are one of the reasons tariffs are a bad idea. Especially tariffs with different and randomly variable rates by product and country. Like SOMEONE seems to think are just AWESOME.
So this sort of rules of origin definition already exists in the context of eg EU rules of origin for fish, where the ownership of the vessel that caught them matters.
on.ft.com/3Lt93Kh Here’s what a new US-Mexico-Canada trade deal should look like
on.ft.com/3Lt93Kh Here’s what a new US-Mexico-Canada trade deal should look like
November 9, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Rules of origin - the complexity, bureaucracy needed to staff it and incentive to find/make loopholes or exemptions - are one of the reasons tariffs are a bad idea. Especially tariffs with different and randomly variable rates by product and country. Like SOMEONE seems to think are just AWESOME.
Reposted by Chris Neill 🐧
I am teaching again this spring! It's been almost two years!! We are doing a comparative analysis of how people in the industrial revolution wrote about a rapidly changing tech landscape and how we are grappling with the same today! It of course features Frankenstein! Probably with Frankissstein!!
November 8, 2025 at 2:55 PM
I am teaching again this spring! It's been almost two years!! We are doing a comparative analysis of how people in the industrial revolution wrote about a rapidly changing tech landscape and how we are grappling with the same today! It of course features Frankenstein! Probably with Frankissstein!!
Reposted by Chris Neill 🐧
Science Note
If you look closely at tide tables, the day-to-day variations are pretty strange.
If you look closely at tide tables, the day-to-day variations are pretty strange.
November 9, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Science Note
If you look closely at tide tables, the day-to-day variations are pretty strange.
If you look closely at tide tables, the day-to-day variations are pretty strange.
Reposted by Chris Neill 🐧
Some much needed good news. “Jamaicans Have Been Turning to Solar Power. It Paid Off After the Storm.” Guft link: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/c...
Jamaicans Have Been Turning to Solar Power. It Paid Off After the Storm.
www.nytimes.com
November 8, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Some much needed good news. “Jamaicans Have Been Turning to Solar Power. It Paid Off After the Storm.” Guft link: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/c...
Reposted by Chris Neill 🐧
There is something really wrong with people who need workers to be not just competent, but slavishly fake-happy. "Slavishly" used on purpose, bc that's where this grotesquerie comes from.
"Store employees are now required to smile if they are within 10 feet of a shopper.
They also must make eye contact with and wave to or greet the customer.
If they’re within four feet, the employee should ask how the customer’s day is going or if they need help."
🙄 Won't stop the boycott, y'all.
They also must make eye contact with and wave to or greet the customer.
If they’re within four feet, the employee should ask how the customer’s day is going or if they need help."
🙄 Won't stop the boycott, y'all.
Target is now requiring its employees to smile more
As the holiday season fast approaches, Target is urging its employees to add a little more “jolly” to their work routine.
www.wilx.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:12 PM
There is something really wrong with people who need workers to be not just competent, but slavishly fake-happy. "Slavishly" used on purpose, bc that's where this grotesquerie comes from.
Reposted by Chris Neill 🐧
15 percent of American homes lacked indoor plumbing in 1960.
The idea that everyone in 1955 America lived in a split-level suburban home with two cars and three kids and one income is, quite simply, a fantasy borne of media consumption.
The idea that everyone in 1955 America lived in a split-level suburban home with two cars and three kids and one income is, quite simply, a fantasy borne of media consumption.
November 9, 2025 at 5:04 AM
15 percent of American homes lacked indoor plumbing in 1960.
The idea that everyone in 1955 America lived in a split-level suburban home with two cars and three kids and one income is, quite simply, a fantasy borne of media consumption.
The idea that everyone in 1955 America lived in a split-level suburban home with two cars and three kids and one income is, quite simply, a fantasy borne of media consumption.
Reposted by Chris Neill 🐧
I gave the closing keynote at posit::conf in September and it's available to watch. When you find yourself giving a talk with a little tiny microphone stuck to the side of your head you have to ask yourself some hard questions, but the talk was partly about that.
youtu.be/ZamPCbvBAgE
youtu.be/ZamPCbvBAgE
Trustworthy Data Visualization (Kieran Healy, Duke University) | posit::conf(2025)
YouTube video by Posit PBC
youtu.be
November 7, 2025 at 9:20 PM
I gave the closing keynote at posit::conf in September and it's available to watch. When you find yourself giving a talk with a little tiny microphone stuck to the side of your head you have to ask yourself some hard questions, but the talk was partly about that.
youtu.be/ZamPCbvBAgE
youtu.be/ZamPCbvBAgE
Reposted by Chris Neill 🐧
Free-tuition Finland has average debt levels similar to Canada, but higher levels of debt incidence
Two-thirds of Finnish graduates finish studies with student loan debt
Average student loan debt more than doubles to over €12k
Student loans typically stood at around 5,000 euros in 2010-11, according to the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, Kela.
Brightly lit r...
www.helsinkitimes.fi
November 8, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Free-tuition Finland has average debt levels similar to Canada, but higher levels of debt incidence
"his bad manners were tolerated because of the greatness of the discovery he had made"
Bad manners is obviously putting it mildly here. But we tolerate quite a lot more than bad manners for quite a lot less impressive scientific achievements every day.
Bad manners is obviously putting it mildly here. But we tolerate quite a lot more than bad manners for quite a lot less impressive scientific achievements every day.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:01 AM
"his bad manners were tolerated because of the greatness of the discovery he had made"
Bad manners is obviously putting it mildly here. But we tolerate quite a lot more than bad manners for quite a lot less impressive scientific achievements every day.
Bad manners is obviously putting it mildly here. But we tolerate quite a lot more than bad manners for quite a lot less impressive scientific achievements every day.