Evan Peet
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evandpeet.bsky.social
Evan Peet
@evandpeet.bsky.social
Economist at Amazon, adjunct at RAND. Focus on health and labor issues. Opinions are my own. Retweets ≠ endorsements.

https://sites.google.com/view/evanpeet/home
Reposted by Evan Peet
DOJ has since killed this link. This is what was there:
January 30, 2026 at 6:28 PM
Reposted by Evan Peet
Absolutely reprehensible that AG Bondi is offering ICE stand down in exchange for access to voting rolls. Outrageous and disgusting. It shows ICE is in Minneapolis is not for law enforcement purposes. Instead it’s a way to stir up shit in blue states and extort them.
In the wake of another fatal shooting in Minneapolis.
AG Pam Bondi sends Gov. Walz a letter today making several asks including:
"Allow DOJ Civil Rights division access to state voter rolls"
January 25, 2026 at 2:21 AM
Reposted by Evan Peet
I said this last time but their real position is “if you disagree with us we can kill you.”
January 24, 2026 at 11:56 PM
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Shutting the government down because the president’s thug army keeps murdering American citizens for no reason seems pretty reasonable, IMO!
January 25, 2026 at 12:06 AM
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A video of Alex Pretti reading out the final salute of an unnamed veteran he cared for until the end of his life in the ICU, posted to Facebook by his son.
January 25, 2026 at 1:18 AM
We all knew what he was and what he would do. One year in and it still shocks/baffles/dismays/(all the words can’t convey) that any American voted for this.
January 24, 2026 at 6:51 PM
Reposted by Evan Peet
Recently accepted by #QJE, “Republican Support and Economic Hardship: The Enduring Effects of the Opioid Epidemic,” by Arteaga (@caroartc.bsky.social) and Barone (@vickybarone.bsky.social): doi.org/10.1093/qje/...
Republican Support and Economic Hardship: The Enduring Effects Of the Opioid Epidemic
Abstract. In this paper, we establish a causal connection between two of the most salient social developments in the United States over the past decades: t
doi.org
November 23, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Evan Peet
Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”
October 11, 2025 at 9:10 PM
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The "unitary executive" doctrine that Trump is using to hyper-empower himself has deep roots in the conservative legal movement that long predate MAGA and it's wild to me that these theorists convinced themselves the results would be normatively desirable.
September 26, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Reposted by Evan Peet
Statement from the largest economics association about the BLS firing

As context: AEA approximately never makes such public statements

This is a big deal
August 2, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Reposted by Evan Peet
Since May:

Federal district courts have ruled against Trump admin 94% of the time.

Supreme Court has sided with the Trump admin 94% of the time.

A judiciary at war with itself.
June 25, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Reposted by Evan Peet
The National Science Foundation is awarding new grants at the slowest pace in at least 35 years. The funding decreases touch virtually every area of science — extending far beyond the diversity programs that the Trump administration says it wants to cut.
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 7:37 PM
Reposted by Evan Peet
NEW: Two days before Trump announced dramatic plans for “reciprocal” tariffs on foreign imports, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sold stock in almost three dozen companies, according to records reviewed by ProPublica.

By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social and @bxroberts.org
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy Sold Stocks Two Days Before Trump Announced a Plan for Reciprocal Tariffs
Duffy is the second member of Trump’s cabinet who sold securities shortly before the president’s tariff announcements sent markets plunging. A spokesperson for Duffy said an account manager made the t...
www.propublica.org
May 19, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Reposted by Evan Peet
President Trump has proposed slashing federal scientific funding. Economists say the long-term consequences could be dire.
By @gbrumfiel.bsky.social
Economists warn Trump's research cuts could have dire consequences for GDP
President Trump has proposed slashing federal scientific funding. Economists say the long-term consequences could be dire.
www.npr.org
May 8, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Evan Peet
Let's talk Alcatraz economics.

It's not just a potential prison, it's also a tourist trap generating $60m per year. It has an "opportunity cost" other sites don't have.

👉 Housing 300 prisoners there comes with an additional opportunity cost of $200k per person per year
May 5, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Reposted by Evan Peet
"Instead of 30 suits, you will only have 2 suits, and they are a couple dollars more expensive."
If you, like me, got turned on to Spier and Mackay menswear by @dieworkwear.bsky.social, tariffs just got real!!!
April 30, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Reposted by Evan Peet
Absolutely. The reason this money is going to universities is because (a) it's research that needs to be done (b) the government and the private sector aren't doing it (c) the winner put in the best bid for it.

It's just like SpaceX, only actually useful and not grossly overpriced for profit.
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 1:09 PM
Reposted by Evan Peet
DON’T LOOK AWAY! The Trump administration is catapulting us into a data black hole and the consequences could be massive. Halting data collection on drug use, maternal mortality, climate change, more, by @alecmac.bsky.social
Trump’s War on Measurement Means Losing Data on Drug Use, Maternal Mortality, Climate Change and More
By slashing teams that gather critical data, the administration has left the federal government with no way of understanding if policies are working — and created a black hole of information whose con...
www.propublica.org
April 18, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Reposted by Evan Peet
Trump announces his tariffs, which are (somehow?) related to the trade barriers other countries are imposing on the U.S.

But...
THE NUMBERS HE'S PRESENTING BEAR NO RELATION TO REALITY.

It would be absurd to call these reciprocal tariffs. They're grievances.
April 2, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Evan Peet
There's no question that today's tariff announcement will give the United States the highest tariff rates of any industrialized country. And it's not even close.
April 2, 2025 at 9:23 PM
My inclination was that this was not possible with vaccines, amazing to be proven wrong with an incredible scientific breakthrough.

Also, extremely heartbreaking that this type of research is on the current admin's chopping block
Unbelievable news.

Pancreatic is one of the deadliest cancers.

New paper shows personalized mRNA vaccines can induce durable T cells that attack pancreatic cancer, with 75% of patients cancer free at three years—far, far better than standard of care.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
February 27, 2025 at 10:29 PM
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"California paid in a lot more [to the federal government] than it got back — $83 billion in total. So did Washington state and much of the Northeast. Most red states were in the reverse position, getting much more from DC than they paid in return."
In Praise of California
It has its flaws — what place doesn’t? — but it plays a big role in America’s greatness
paulkrugman.substack.com
January 13, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by Evan Peet
Back in 2020, we looked at data showing how the number of Fall "fire weather" (high winds, low humidity) days in California will double by the end of the century.. and the fires raging in LA right now started _outside_ the standard September-November high-FWI szn.
New Maps Show How Climate Change is Making California’s “Fire Weather” Worse
On California’s fall fire days — days with high temperatures and wind speeds, as well as low humidity — all it takes is a spark from a downed power line to start an inferno. New research indicates tha...
projects.propublica.org
January 13, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Evan Peet
Holy crap this is an astounding piece of historical research

Will post ungated link later today unless someone beats me to it

www.nber.org/system/files...
November 18, 2024 at 12:47 PM