Joshua Mask
banner
joshuafmask.bsky.social
Joshua Mask
@joshuafmask.bsky.social
Labor Economist @ Temple University

I think a lot about how the economic conditions you face when you first enter the labor market affect long run outcomes.

RPCV (Uganda 2011), Gold Star family member, and Philly Sports fan.

http://www.joshmask.com
Whatever happens with this shutdown business, I’ll still be voting Dem up and down the ballot in 2026 because I believe our president has genuine intentions to end democracy. This isn’t a game.
November 9, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Reposted by Joshua Mask
For some comparison, 2021 NJ Gov race was 51/48, and 2024 NJ Prez was 52/46, and the final poll of polls showed Sherrill at about 50%, so 55% is a pretty massive polling miss
November 5, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Reposted by Joshua Mask
Dropping a beta version of this page while everyone is up and processing baseball!

This tool lets you search the full text of papers from the American Economic Review, American Economic Journal series, and over 30,000 NBER working papers.

paulgp.com/econlit-pipe...
Economics Literature Search
Full-text search across 15,000+ papers from top economics journals and NBER working papers. Track how empirical methods have evolved over time.
paulgp.com
November 2, 2025 at 4:43 AM
Reposted by Joshua Mask
When people learn with ChatGPT instead of following their own searches, they end up knowing less, caring less, and producing worse advice, even when the facts are the same.

Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow.

academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Experimental evidence of the effects of large language models versus web search on depth of learning
Abstract. The effects of using large language models (LLMs) versus traditional web search on depth of learning are explored. A theory is proposed that when
academic.oup.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Joshua Mask
existence of baseball implies existence of acidball
November 2, 2025 at 3:03 AM
Chegg slashes 45% of workforce, blames 'new realities of AI' www.cnbc.com/2025/10/27/c...
Chegg slashes 45% of workforce, blames 'new realities of AI'
The online education company said the combination of artificial intelligence and diminished traffic from search engines like Google has hurt the business.
www.cnbc.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Reposted by Joshua Mask
Some authors have contacted AEA editors about an unexpected loss of data access that affects their ability to respond to an R&R. If this affects you, please explain the circumstances in your cover letter. Or reach out to the coeditor if you need guidance before resubmitting. @aeajournals.bsky.social
October 24, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Interesting day. I couldn't get into any of my Canvas courses because Amazon Web Services (AWS) is down. But I also wasn't very successful running errands because many businesses use AWS to process transactions.
October 20, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Reposted by Joshua Mask
OpenAI researchers deleted tweets claiming GPT-5 had solved previously unsolved Erdős problems. It was pointed out by others that GPT-5 had simply found research papers which had solved these problems not solved them itself.

Google Deepmind CEO Demis Hassabis called the incident "embarrassing"
Leading OpenAI researcher announced a GPT-5 math breakthrough that never happened
OpenAI researchers recently claimed a major math breakthrough on X, but quickly walked it back after criticism from the community, including Deepmind CEO Demis Hassabis, who called out the sloppy comm...
the-decoder.com
October 19, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Reposted by Joshua Mask
Wentz’s best game for the Eagles since 2017.
October 19, 2025 at 5:50 PM
That’s awesome. Carson is still throwing passes to Eagles players after all these years.
October 19, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Reposted by Joshua Mask
Great piece on academic shero labor economist Claudua Goldin picking WNBA advising as a post-Nobel venture. She estimates players should earn 1/3 of what NBA men earn
(It’s currently 1/80)
Spent a bit of time at the WNBA All-Star Game chatting with a new basketball fan: Harvard economist Claudia Goldin, who has been advising the WNBA players in their labor negotiations, part of a more robust strategy this year from the union
In Search of Equity, WNBA Players Have a Nobel Laureate on Their Side
Harvard economist Claudia Goldin, who focuses on the role of women in the American economy, has been advising the WNBPA in its CBA negotiations.
www.si.com
October 18, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Reposted by Joshua Mask
New federal data has revealed a 19% year-on-year decline in international students entering the US in August 2025, including a 45% drop from India, America’s largest sending country. thepienews.com/internationa...
International student arrivals to the US fall by 19%
The US recorded a 20% drop in student visa arrivals this August, though the full picture remains unclear amid contradictory datasets.
thepienews.com
October 18, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Reposted by Joshua Mask
Be proud of your job. Show your face.

Wear your ICE hat when shopping for groceries, at the mechanic when you need a car repair, and at church. Swap stories about your job with other parents at PTA night & at child care pick up. Engage with your neighbors.

Scared to do it? Reconsider your choices.
June 19, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Reposted by Joshua Mask
Recently accepted by #QJE, “Digital Distractions with Peer Influence: The Impact of Mobile App Usage on Academic and Labor Market Outcomes,” by Barwick, Chen, Fu, and Li: doi.org/10.1093/qje/...
Digital Distractions with Peer Influence: The Impact of Mobile App Usage on Academic and Labor Market Outcomes*
Abstract. Concerns about excessive mobile phone use among youth are mounting. We present estimates of both behavioral and contextual peer effects, along wi
doi.org
October 17, 2025 at 3:19 PM
If you're not aware of the capabilities of agentic browsers, you should spend some time learning about them. Anything done within a browser can now be automated—including homework and quizzes. It's not copy and paste; the bot points, clicks, and types as the user. www.perplexity.ai/comet
Comet Browser: a Personal AI Assistant
Comet browser by Perplexity is the AI browser that acts as a personal assistant. Automate tasks, research the web, organize your email, and more with Comet.
www.perplexity.ai
October 15, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Reposted by Joshua Mask
New Substack post: the Nobel Prize goes to an economic historian and two economists of growth trying to answer the question, where do new technologies come from?

someunpleasant.substack.com/p/growing-th...
Growing the Field
What is the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics about?
someunpleasant.substack.com
October 13, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Reposted by Joshua Mask
A new NBER working paper by @jscottclayton.bsky.social and colleagues shows that about two-thirds of the unexplained gap in post-college earnings by family income may be due to challenges in finding that first job. Family connections and resources matter.
Who Rides Out the Storm? The Immediate Post-College Transition and its Role in Socioeconomic Earnings Gaps
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
www.nber.org
October 13, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Touchdown Temple!!!
October 11, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Reposted by Joshua Mask
It turns out that once you correct for this error, unemployment is actually rising faster for NON-degree workers - meaning that explanations in terms of AI replacing the college-educated workforce don't make much sense, and this looks a lot more like an across-the-board labor market slowdown.
October 10, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Just saw on Elsevier that they are rolling out ScienceDirect AI? I guess every publisher is going to attempt to capitalize on a model that is trained on their own papers.
October 11, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Joshua Mask
my wife is a Cal fan and apparently this week they’re putting a “59” on their football helmets to honor the 59 Nobel laureates tied to Cal in order to flex on Duke

this is maybe my favorite dunk anyone has ever done on Duke
October 4, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by Joshua Mask
Research shows:
More H-1Bs → more patents
Fewer H-1Bs → more offshoring

Your choice, America.
October 4, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Reposted by Joshua Mask
Wrote this for the New York Times today (hope this link works!)

W.N.B.A. is doing immensely well! Time to pay the players!!

Thanks to Sara Chodosh for asking me to write this (helping with the writing) and making the cool graphics!!

urldefense.com/v3/__https:/...
Opinion | The W.N.B.A. Is Making More Money Than Ever. Why Aren’t the Players? (Gift Article)
Other professional sports leagues give their players roughly 50 percent of the revenue, but the W.N.B.A. players get less than 10 percent.
urldefense.com
October 3, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Sora, make an Econ 1101 hype video.
October 2, 2025 at 5:03 AM