Jonah M. Rexer
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jonahrexer.bsky.social
Jonah M. Rexer
@jonahrexer.bsky.social
1.8K followers 310 following 58 posts
World Bank economist studying global poverty, cities, adaptation, and the political economy of development. Work on South Asia and Africa.

Just run OLS.

https://www.jonahrexer.com/
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Jonah M. Rexer
voxeu.org
Dismantling Mafia connections leads to more bank credit to legitimate businesses, raising local output and #productivity. Tighter #crime controls can strengthen the #banking system and wider economy.
B Buchetti, M Fabrizi, E Ipino, I Miquel Flores, A Parbonetti
cepr.org/voxeu/column...
#EconSky
The EU is determined to clamp down on organised crime’s infiltration of legitimate businesses and banking. This column shows that dismantling Mafia connections leads to more bank credit to legitimate businesses, raising local output and productivity. It also leads to a modest increase in borrowing costs, driven by foreign and non-local banks, as they update their risk models in light of new revelations. These findings suggest that tighter crime controls can strengthen the banking system and wider economy – a win-win for Europe’s security and prosperity.
July 17, 2025 at 8:29 AM
jonahrexer.bsky.social
The solution to AI cheating has been painfully obvious from the beginning. I have no idea why this is even remotely controversial. Just 15 years ago, basically all of my exams were written in blue books. I’m not sure when or why this changed but it’s time to RETVRN.
July 1, 2025 at 9:06 PM
jonahrexer.bsky.social
I spent two years of my life driving around LA and blasting Pet Sounds on repeat. They were great years.

RIP Brian Wilson. Simply one of the greatest to ever do it.
June 11, 2025 at 8:16 PM
jonahrexer.bsky.social
Looking forward to presenting work on extreme heat and industrial structure in India at the BSE Summer Forum this week. Drop me a line if you’re going to be there!
June 3, 2025 at 1:22 AM
jonahrexer.bsky.social
Very nice piece on using LLMs as simulated participants in social science research. Can we do away with pesky humans? Not yet…maybe not ever?
May 29, 2025 at 6:52 PM
jonahrexer.bsky.social
Shouldn’t this awareness among traders imply that stonks no longer react to tariff announcements? Yet that doesn’t seem to be happening.
jdcmedlock.bsky.social James Medlock @jdcmedlock.bsky.social · May 28
Trump is going to destroy the global economy again to prove he isn't a wuss
May 29, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Reposted by Jonah M. Rexer
crampell.bsky.social
On Sarah Milgrim, one of the victims in a heinous antisemitic murder this week in DC.

www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
May 24, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Reposted by Jonah M. Rexer
rollingstone.com
Happy 75th Birthday, Stevie Wonder. 🎉

To celebrate, here is a list of the soul visionary's best 50 songs
The 50 Best Stevie Wonder Songs
The 50 Best Stevie Wonder Songs
rollingstone.com
May 13, 2025 at 3:03 PM
jonahrexer.bsky.social
I have had this experience several times
adamjkucharski.bsky.social Adam Kucharski @adamjkucharski.bsky.social · May 10
Often notice LLM ‘reasoning’ models get in a doom spiral of convincing and reconvincing themselves of nonsense (e.g. erroneous coding approach).

Reminds me a lot of a ‘sticky’ fitting algorithm getting trapped in bad local maximum of parameter space (except without a likelihood to guide ‘truth’).
May 11, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Reposted by Jonah M. Rexer
nytimes.com
From @theathletic.bsky.social: Monday was a night of last-minute, come-from-behind upsets in the NBA conference semifinal round.
NBA playoffs takeaways: Nuggets top Thunder in final seconds, Knicks down Celtics in OT
The two road teams of Monday's conference semifinal games executed well in the fourth quarter and stole Game 1 victories.
nyti.ms
May 6, 2025 at 1:57 PM
jonahrexer.bsky.social
That’s my 🐐 #BrunsonBurner
theathletic.com The Athletic @theathletic.com · May 2
Jalen Brunson's game-winning three sends the New York Knicks into the second round 🔥
May 2, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Reposted by Jonah M. Rexer
theathletic.com
Jalen Brunson's game-winning three sends the New York Knicks into the second round 🔥
May 2, 2025 at 2:32 AM
jonahrexer.bsky.social
When you don’t understand pass through and substitution patterns.
carlquintanilla.bsky.social Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · May 1
This deserves some good coverage: tariffs giving “cover” for other price hikes that are unrelated to trade.
bederatliff.bsky.social Tyler Ratliff @bederatliff.bsky.social · May 1
The gas station I pass on my way to work has raised the price of breakfast sandwiches by like $1.50 in the last month. It's affecting things that aren't even imported
May 1, 2025 at 4:30 PM
jonahrexer.bsky.social
Had an interesting experience with ChatGPT today trying to write a model. It was at once incredibly good at taking my idea and turning it into a nice toy model. At the same time it couldn’t say no when I asked it to do mathematically impossible things because it can’t reason from first principles.
April 29, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Reposted by Jonah M. Rexer
voxeu.org
An increase in #AI job postings are linked to declines in municipal bond yields, particularly for riskier and longer-term bonds. Counties with higher AI labour investments experience improvements in local economic conditions & positive spillovers.
L Andreadis et al
cepr.org/voxeu/column...
#EconSky
The long-term effects of artificial intelligence are still unknown, as productivity benefits may be compromised by unintended costs. This column assesses the local effects of shocks to AI job postings on municipal capital markets. It finds that increases in postings are linked to declines in municipal bond yields, particularly for riskier and longer-term bonds. Furthermore, counties with higher AI labour investments experience improvements in local economic conditions and positive spillovers into local public finances. As AI adoption continues to grow, policymakers must consider how to ensure that its gains are widely shared.
April 18, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Reposted by Jonah M. Rexer
voxeu.org
US firms reduce #imports from countries that become ideologically distant from the US, & increase imports from countries that have become friendly. This effect is strongest for firms led by CEOs politically aligned with the US administration.
M Ayyagari, J Gao, P Ma
cepr.org/voxeu/column...
#EconSky
Against a backdrop of escalating geopolitical tensions and rapidly shifting global alliances, policymakers are advocating strategies such as ‘friendshoring’ to safeguard supply chain resilience. This column uses data on 700 US firms importing from 96 countries between 2007 and 2020 to show that US firms reduce imports from countries that become ideologically distant from the US, while increasing imports from countries that have become friendly. This effect is strongest for firms led by CEOs politically aligned with the US administration, prompting the question of whether firms are optimising for economic efficiency, or being guided by political loyalty.
April 14, 2025 at 8:34 AM
jonahrexer.bsky.social
Wonderful article about the charms of some lesser-known airports. I’ve loved some great ones over the years. There was a lovely book shop in the Port au Prince airport in Haiti

www.economist.com/letters/2025...
Our readers’ favourite airports
A selection of letters on terminals from Saskatchewan to the Solomon Islands
www.economist.com
March 29, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by Jonah M. Rexer
voxdev.bsky.social
🆕 How will AI impact jobs in emerging and developing economies?

Today on VoxDev, Marina Tavares (IMF), Carlo Pizzinelli (IMF), Augustus Panton (IMF), Mauro Cazzaniga (MIT) & Longji Li (IMF) discuss the implications of AI on labour markets worldwide: voxdev.org/topic/labour...
How will AI impact jobs in emerging and developing economies?
Artificial Intelligence, particularly Generative AI, is rapidly transforming labour markets worldwide. While its adoption has sparked optimism about its potential to spur productivity gains, it also r...
voxdev.org
March 20, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Reposted by Jonah M. Rexer
nytimes.com
John Hemingway was a fighter pilot in a vastly outnumbered Royal Air Force, one of the “few” hailed by Churchill that saved Britain in the early stages of World War II, and was an Allied flight controller during the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944. He died at 105 on Monday. nyti.ms/3RnD51z
John Hemingway posed in front of a Hurricane fighter plane, the kind he flew in the Battle of Britain. The text reads: "John Hemingway, Last Survivor of the Battle of Britain, Dies at 105." Photo by R.A.F./U.K. MOD, via Associated Press.
March 18, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Jonah M. Rexer
repec-nep-dev.bsky.social
Household and Firm Exposure to Heat and Floods in South Asia: A. Patrick Behrer; Jonah Matthew Rexer; Siddharth Sharma; Margaret Triyana
NEP/RePEc link
to paper
d.repec.org
March 11, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Reposted by Jonah M. Rexer
kakape.bsky.social
NEW: The Minerva Research Initiative, established by the Pentagon to fund social science relevant to national security, is being gutted. Dozens of researchers studying threats from extremist groups, misinformation or climate change have received notices that their grants are being terminated.
🧪
Pentagon guts national security program that harnessed social science
Dozens of U.S. academics lose grants from Minerva program for studies related to terrorism, drug trafficking, and other threats
www.science.org
March 2, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Reposted by Jonah M. Rexer
gamblingondev.bsky.social
Centre for the Study of African Economies at University of Oxford will automatically consider all applicants from Africa for full funding for the MPhil in Economics - we have new scholarships for eligible students.

How? Just apply asap: deadline 4th March (extended deadline): see below
gamblingondev.bsky.social Stefan Dercon @gamblingondev.bsky.social · Feb 27
Aspiring economists from Africa:
Extended deadline 4 March

Oxford's CSAE offers full scholarships >3 year for African students

How?
Apply for grad studies in Econ = 2 yr Master's course w/ progress to PhD

We automatically consider all applicants

www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/g...
MPhil in Economics | University of Oxford
About the courseThe MPhil in Economics is designed to provide rigorous training in economic theory, applied economics, and econometric methods. It is comparable to the first two years of a PhD
www.ox.ac.uk
February 27, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Reposted by Jonah M. Rexer
aeajournals.bsky.social
The March 2025 issue of the AER (115, 3) is now available online at aeaweb.org/issues/795.
American Economic Review
Vol. 115 No. 3 March 2025
aeaweb.org
February 28, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Reposted by Jonah M. Rexer
voxdev.bsky.social
Issue 2 of our VoxDevLit on International Trade is out now! In this living literature review, Senior Editors David Atkin & Amit Khandelwal provide an update on the latest evidence on international trade. Here are 10 key takeaways for international trade policy🧵
February 28, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Reposted by Jonah M. Rexer
guygrossman.bsky.social
We (@pdri-devlab.bsky.social) are hosting a webinar on March 5th, noon EST.

"Our goal is to deepen public understanding of what foreign aid entails and highlight the stakes of its suspension from the perspectives of those directly engaged in the work."

Register at: upenn.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
February 28, 2025 at 1:13 PM