Ben Ho
@hoben.bsky.social
Vassar (oft Columbia) behavioral economist (formerly White House & Cornell) working on trust, inequality, climate change Author of http://whytrustmatters.com
Reposted by Ben Ho
Rising mistrust in economists and what to do.
Great story @amandaaronczyk.bsky.social @planetmoney.bsky.social, featuring interviews with @dianeswonk.bsky.social @nickbloom.bsky.social @hoben.bsky.social & me.
#EconSky #NumbersDay
www.npr.org/2025/08/01/1...
Great story @amandaaronczyk.bsky.social @planetmoney.bsky.social, featuring interviews with @dianeswonk.bsky.social @nickbloom.bsky.social @hoben.bsky.social & me.
#EconSky #NumbersDay
www.npr.org/2025/08/01/1...
August 2, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Rising mistrust in economists and what to do.
Great story @amandaaronczyk.bsky.social @planetmoney.bsky.social, featuring interviews with @dianeswonk.bsky.social @nickbloom.bsky.social @hoben.bsky.social & me.
#EconSky #NumbersDay
www.npr.org/2025/08/01/1...
Great story @amandaaronczyk.bsky.social @planetmoney.bsky.social, featuring interviews with @dianeswonk.bsky.social @nickbloom.bsky.social @hoben.bsky.social & me.
#EconSky #NumbersDay
www.npr.org/2025/08/01/1...
Reposted by Ben Ho
for those in my feed for the #mechanicalkeyboard content, my latest fave: split key corne that fits in my pockets.
ordered last two pcbs/cases from aliexpress the day the China tariff fell... cause who knows when Chinese imports will be cut off again.
ordered last two pcbs/cases from aliexpress the day the China tariff fell... cause who knows when Chinese imports will be cut off again.
June 8, 2025 at 10:17 PM
for those in my feed for the #mechanicalkeyboard content, my latest fave: split key corne that fits in my pockets.
ordered last two pcbs/cases from aliexpress the day the China tariff fell... cause who knows when Chinese imports will be cut off again.
ordered last two pcbs/cases from aliexpress the day the China tariff fell... cause who knows when Chinese imports will be cut off again.
Reposted by Ben Ho
When home heating is less affordable, more people die each winter. That's what our analysis found for a period when LIHEAP was in place. Without LIHEAP, the effect would presumably much larger.
Ungated copy of the study here: bit.ly/2JrJfxR
Ungated copy of the study here: bit.ly/2JrJfxR
April 1, 2025 at 9:26 PM
When home heating is less affordable, more people die each winter. That's what our analysis found for a period when LIHEAP was in place. Without LIHEAP, the effect would presumably much larger.
Ungated copy of the study here: bit.ly/2JrJfxR
Ungated copy of the study here: bit.ly/2JrJfxR
Reposted by Ben Ho
#TeachEcon
This semester, I thought I’d share a bit about what I do in my microeconomics lectures. I’m not particularly active on LinkedIn, but I started posting about my teaching because I’m quite frustrated with how economics is often perceived at business schools. (1/n)
This semester, I thought I’d share a bit about what I do in my microeconomics lectures. I’m not particularly active on LinkedIn, but I started posting about my teaching because I’m quite frustrated with how economics is often perceived at business schools. (1/n)
a woman sits at a desk using a laptop with ring the bell written on the bottom
ALT: a woman sits at a desk using a laptop with ring the bell written on the bottom
media.tenor.com
March 16, 2025 at 3:33 PM
#TeachEcon
This semester, I thought I’d share a bit about what I do in my microeconomics lectures. I’m not particularly active on LinkedIn, but I started posting about my teaching because I’m quite frustrated with how economics is often perceived at business schools. (1/n)
This semester, I thought I’d share a bit about what I do in my microeconomics lectures. I’m not particularly active on LinkedIn, but I started posting about my teaching because I’m quite frustrated with how economics is often perceived at business schools. (1/n)
Reposted by Ben Ho
Are you interested in U.S. legislative history? Newly-available complete dataset on all persons serving as legislators in the 50 state houses between 1900 and 2016: dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtm...
dataverse.harvard.edu
January 20, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Are you interested in U.S. legislative history? Newly-available complete dataset on all persons serving as legislators in the 50 state houses between 1900 and 2016: dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtm...
Reposted by Ben Ho
New UCLA rapid attribution study: “Climate change may be linked to roughly a quarter of the extreme fuel moisture deficit when the fires began.
The fires would still have been extreme without climate change, but probably somewhat smaller and less intense.”
sustainablela.ucla.edu/2025lawildfi...
The fires would still have been extreme without climate change, but probably somewhat smaller and less intense.”
sustainablela.ucla.edu/2025lawildfi...
Climate Change A Factor In Unprecedented LA Fires
sustainablela.ucla.edu
January 15, 2025 at 10:16 PM
New UCLA rapid attribution study: “Climate change may be linked to roughly a quarter of the extreme fuel moisture deficit when the fires began.
The fires would still have been extreme without climate change, but probably somewhat smaller and less intense.”
sustainablela.ucla.edu/2025lawildfi...
The fires would still have been extreme without climate change, but probably somewhat smaller and less intense.”
sustainablela.ucla.edu/2025lawildfi...
Reposted by Ben Ho
New randomized, controlled trial by the World Bank of students using GPT-4 as a tutor in Nigeria. Six weeks of after-school AI tutoring = 2 years of typical learning gains, outperforming 80% of other educational interventions.
And it helped all students, especially girls who were initially behind.
And it helped all students, especially girls who were initially behind.
January 15, 2025 at 8:58 PM
New randomized, controlled trial by the World Bank of students using GPT-4 as a tutor in Nigeria. Six weeks of after-school AI tutoring = 2 years of typical learning gains, outperforming 80% of other educational interventions.
And it helped all students, especially girls who were initially behind.
And it helped all students, especially girls who were initially behind.
Reposted by Ben Ho
I'm looking for nonfiction books to read.
Loved:
- (Auto)buographies of Kandel, Oliver Sacks, Oppenheimer, Miles Davis, Feynman, Philip Glass
- "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Rhoades
Don't say "The Power Broker":) I'm on my umpteenth attempt.
What are your favorites?
Loved:
- (Auto)buographies of Kandel, Oliver Sacks, Oppenheimer, Miles Davis, Feynman, Philip Glass
- "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Rhoades
Don't say "The Power Broker":) I'm on my umpteenth attempt.
What are your favorites?
January 14, 2025 at 3:07 AM
I'm looking for nonfiction books to read.
Loved:
- (Auto)buographies of Kandel, Oliver Sacks, Oppenheimer, Miles Davis, Feynman, Philip Glass
- "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Rhoades
Don't say "The Power Broker":) I'm on my umpteenth attempt.
What are your favorites?
Loved:
- (Auto)buographies of Kandel, Oliver Sacks, Oppenheimer, Miles Davis, Feynman, Philip Glass
- "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Rhoades
Don't say "The Power Broker":) I'm on my umpteenth attempt.
What are your favorites?
Reposted by Ben Ho
The world has passed “peak child”
January 13, 2025 at 6:18 PM
The world has passed “peak child”
Reposted by Ben Ho
Scientists developed the first climate models in the late 1960s (for which the Nobel Prize in physics was recently awarded!).
How have these models held up against what happened in the real world after they were published? Surprisingly well, it turns out:
How have these models held up against what happened in the real world after they were published? Surprisingly well, it turns out:
January 12, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Scientists developed the first climate models in the late 1960s (for which the Nobel Prize in physics was recently awarded!).
How have these models held up against what happened in the real world after they were published? Surprisingly well, it turns out:
How have these models held up against what happened in the real world after they were published? Surprisingly well, it turns out:
Reposted by Ben Ho
If you are an academic, it can be instructive to work on a paper with AI. Pretend you are working with a grad student & see what happens.
Generally o1 is best for well-defined heavy intellectual tasks, Gemini for synthesizing lots of text, and Claude for writing & theorizing. This varies by field.
Generally o1 is best for well-defined heavy intellectual tasks, Gemini for synthesizing lots of text, and Claude for writing & theorizing. This varies by field.
January 12, 2025 at 7:18 PM
If you are an academic, it can be instructive to work on a paper with AI. Pretend you are working with a grad student & see what happens.
Generally o1 is best for well-defined heavy intellectual tasks, Gemini for synthesizing lots of text, and Claude for writing & theorizing. This varies by field.
Generally o1 is best for well-defined heavy intellectual tasks, Gemini for synthesizing lots of text, and Claude for writing & theorizing. This varies by field.
Reposted by Ben Ho
Who would have won the 'Simon-Ehrlich bet' over different decades — and what do long-term prices tell us about resource scarcity?
The new Our World in Data article by my colleague Hannah Ritchie.
ourworldindata.org/simon-ehrlic...
The new Our World in Data article by my colleague Hannah Ritchie.
ourworldindata.org/simon-ehrlic...
January 8, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Who would have won the 'Simon-Ehrlich bet' over different decades — and what do long-term prices tell us about resource scarcity?
The new Our World in Data article by my colleague Hannah Ritchie.
ourworldindata.org/simon-ehrlic...
The new Our World in Data article by my colleague Hannah Ritchie.
ourworldindata.org/simon-ehrlic...
Reposted by Ben Ho
Why economists need to review the preregistration!* This is a hot mess; hard to believe it's in the QJE datacolada.org/122
* docs.google.com/document/d/1...
* docs.google.com/document/d/1...
January 8, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Why economists need to review the preregistration!* This is a hot mess; hard to believe it's in the QJE datacolada.org/122
* docs.google.com/document/d/1...
* docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Reposted by Ben Ho
We need more research on social media effects on elites, activists, and other subgroups per our recent Nature review www.nature.com/articles/s41...
January 7, 2025 at 1:26 AM
We need more research on social media effects on elites, activists, and other subgroups per our recent Nature review www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Ben Ho
Well this was intuitive...
Do national leaders matter? Using inbreeding among European monarchs as an instrument shows that rulers with lower cognitive ability led to worse state performance and territorial losses from 10-18C. Rising parliamentary constraints limited rulers' impact. https://buff.ly/3W8NlxI
January 7, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Well this was intuitive...
Reposted by Ben Ho
Kenneth Arrow’s Last Theorem: Why do the most patient individuals dictate environmental policy in the long run? Let’s explore this fascinating result about efficiency and time preferences. 🧵 www.mechanism-design.org/arch/v009-1/...
www.mechanism-design.org
December 21, 2024 at 9:18 PM
Kenneth Arrow’s Last Theorem: Why do the most patient individuals dictate environmental policy in the long run? Let’s explore this fascinating result about efficiency and time preferences. 🧵 www.mechanism-design.org/arch/v009-1/...
Reposted by Ben Ho
Reposted by Ben Ho
Ran Spiegler has a new book out that I found very entertaining.
It's a collection of essays offering accessible introductions to modern classics of economic theory: global games, Bayesian persuasion, hold-up problem, competitive screening, ...
And it's FREE!
direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...
It's a collection of essays offering accessible introductions to modern classics of economic theory: global games, Bayesian persuasion, hold-up problem, competitive screening, ...
And it's FREE!
direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...
The Curious Culture of Economic Theory
An essay collection that insightfully explores the professional culture of contemporary economic theory, highlighting key features of successful economic t
direct.mit.edu
January 3, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Ran Spiegler has a new book out that I found very entertaining.
It's a collection of essays offering accessible introductions to modern classics of economic theory: global games, Bayesian persuasion, hold-up problem, competitive screening, ...
And it's FREE!
direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...
It's a collection of essays offering accessible introductions to modern classics of economic theory: global games, Bayesian persuasion, hold-up problem, competitive screening, ...
And it's FREE!
direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...
Reposted by Ben Ho
I've recently been talking a bit about how difficult it is to carefully check even well-written mathematics. I want to try to explain something about this by telling the story of some errors in the literature that (in part) led to the two papers below. 1/n
January 1, 2025 at 10:28 PM
I've recently been talking a bit about how difficult it is to carefully check even well-written mathematics. I want to try to explain something about this by telling the story of some errors in the literature that (in part) led to the two papers below. 1/n
I enjoyed this sophomoric ramble though. Probability is weird and I appreciate scientific American trying to make that weirdness accessible to a broad audience.
Scientific American strikes again with a sophomoric ramble about probability. www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-...
Why Probability Probably Doesn’t Exist (but It’s Useful to Act like It Does)
All of statistics and much of science depends on probability—an astonishing achievement, considering no one’s really sure what it is
www.scientificamerican.com
January 1, 2025 at 11:55 PM
I enjoyed this sophomoric ramble though. Probability is weird and I appreciate scientific American trying to make that weirdness accessible to a broad audience.
Reposted by Ben Ho
We don't download PDFs just "to ignore them forever". It's an irreplaceable ritual. A process represents the imbalance between our desire to know and physical and psychological constraints.
It symbolizes constant inner battles & compromises for a future in which we read the papers that never comes.
It symbolizes constant inner battles & compromises for a future in which we read the papers that never comes.
You’ve downloaded hundreds of PDFs for research and now it’s finally time to ignore them forever
December 28, 2024 at 10:25 AM
We don't download PDFs just "to ignore them forever". It's an irreplaceable ritual. A process represents the imbalance between our desire to know and physical and psychological constraints.
It symbolizes constant inner battles & compromises for a future in which we read the papers that never comes.
It symbolizes constant inner battles & compromises for a future in which we read the papers that never comes.
Reposted by Ben Ho
You’ve downloaded hundreds of PDFs for research and now it’s finally time to ignore them forever
December 27, 2024 at 5:46 PM
You’ve downloaded hundreds of PDFs for research and now it’s finally time to ignore them forever
Reposted by Ben Ho
How do unions and collective bargaining work around the world? And how do they affect the wage structure?
A new paper with Suresh Naidu and Benjamin Schoefer
@schoefer.bsky.social out NBER WP today and prepared for the Handbook of Labor Economics.
Thread below. 👇
A new paper with Suresh Naidu and Benjamin Schoefer
@schoefer.bsky.social out NBER WP today and prepared for the Handbook of Labor Economics.
Thread below. 👇
December 24, 2024 at 8:14 AM
How do unions and collective bargaining work around the world? And how do they affect the wage structure?
A new paper with Suresh Naidu and Benjamin Schoefer
@schoefer.bsky.social out NBER WP today and prepared for the Handbook of Labor Economics.
Thread below. 👇
A new paper with Suresh Naidu and Benjamin Schoefer
@schoefer.bsky.social out NBER WP today and prepared for the Handbook of Labor Economics.
Thread below. 👇
Reposted by Ben Ho
It still boggles my mind that only 66 years separate these photos.
December 22, 2024 at 8:28 AM
It still boggles my mind that only 66 years separate these photos.