JW Mason
@jwmason.bsky.social
Associate professor of economics, John Jay College-CUNY, senior fellow at the Groundwork Collaborative. Blog and other writing: jwmason.org. Study economics with me: https://johnjayeconomics.org. Anti-war Keynesian, liberal socialist, Brooklyn dad.
November 19, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Had a great talk last night with Chris Hughes about his new book Marketcrafters.
November 18, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Had a great talk last night with Chris Hughes about his new book Marketcrafters.
I can't understand why anyone would make policy this way.
"Oh we're not raising income taxes rates, we're just making people more pay the higher rates." Why play these games to pretend to follow a rule that is just something you made up in the first place? www.ft.com/content/6cbb...
"Oh we're not raising income taxes rates, we're just making people more pay the higher rates." Why play these games to pretend to follow a rule that is just something you made up in the first place? www.ft.com/content/6cbb...
November 14, 2025 at 4:38 PM
I can't understand why anyone would make policy this way.
"Oh we're not raising income taxes rates, we're just making people more pay the higher rates." Why play these games to pretend to follow a rule that is just something you made up in the first place? www.ft.com/content/6cbb...
"Oh we're not raising income taxes rates, we're just making people more pay the higher rates." Why play these games to pretend to follow a rule that is just something you made up in the first place? www.ft.com/content/6cbb...
Just a perfect fall day here at Tompkins Square. That is all.
November 13, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Just a perfect fall day here at Tompkins Square. That is all.
As a fan of Graeber, Sahlins, Christopher Boehm and Rebecca Solnit, I'm very sympathetic to these ideas, and am now excited to read Goliath's Curse. www.noemamag.com/humanitys-en...
November 13, 2025 at 4:18 PM
As a fan of Graeber, Sahlins, Christopher Boehm and Rebecca Solnit, I'm very sympathetic to these ideas, and am now excited to read Goliath's Curse. www.noemamag.com/humanitys-en...
Happening 6pm this Monday, at John Jay: I will be talking with Chris Hughes about his new book, Marketcrafters.
November 13, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Happening 6pm this Monday, at John Jay: I will be talking with Chris Hughes about his new book, Marketcrafters.
To the extent there is such a thing as a New York Democratic establishment, I would say Dean Fuleihan is a better representative of it than Chuck Schumer is. www.thenation.com/article/poli...
November 12, 2025 at 8:08 PM
To the extent there is such a thing as a New York Democratic establishment, I would say Dean Fuleihan is a better representative of it than Chuck Schumer is. www.thenation.com/article/poli...
I just put up a new blog post with links to four interviews/panels I have done recently on Zohran Mamdani and New York City policy questions, plus a few additional thoughts. jwmason.org/slackwire/ta...
November 12, 2025 at 4:58 AM
I just put up a new blog post with links to four interviews/panels I have done recently on Zohran Mamdani and New York City policy questions, plus a few additional thoughts. jwmason.org/slackwire/ta...
Put that on your bumper sticker.
November 10, 2025 at 2:02 AM
Put that on your bumper sticker.
Another NYC housing map, this one a reminder that over the past 25 years much more of the city has been downzoned than upzoned. www.osc.ny.gov/files/report...
November 6, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Another NYC housing map, this one a reminder that over the past 25 years much more of the city has been downzoned than upzoned. www.osc.ny.gov/files/report...
Here’s a map of the vote on the housing proposals, districts voting Yes in green. (For proposal 2, but 3 and 4 are the same.) What’s noteworthy about it is this: It’s almost identical to a map of districts voting for Mamdani.
November 6, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Here’s a map of the vote on the housing proposals, districts voting Yes in green. (For proposal 2, but 3 and 4 are the same.) What’s noteworthy about it is this: It’s almost identical to a map of districts voting for Mamdani.
Brooklyn geography: My election district went 77% for Zohran, but you walk one block west, and it's 83% Cuomo.
November 5, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Brooklyn geography: My election district went 77% for Zohran, but you walk one block west, and it's 83% Cuomo.
As near as I can tell, there were two districts that went for Sliwa — one in Brooklyn, one in Maspeth, both made up of a single voter. Someone could find those two people and interview them.
November 5, 2025 at 2:03 PM
As near as I can tell, there were two districts that went for Sliwa — one in Brooklyn, one in Maspeth, both made up of a single voter. Someone could find those two people and interview them.
Once more unto the breach.
(I’m the one with the big beard near the center, the 13-year old is with me.)
(I’m the one with the big beard near the center, the 13-year old is with me.)
November 4, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Once more unto the breach.
(I’m the one with the big beard near the center, the 13-year old is with me.)
(I’m the one with the big beard near the center, the 13-year old is with me.)
The way these Heritage Foundation staffers talk reminds me of the Ascians in Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun.
November 4, 2025 at 2:44 AM
The way these Heritage Foundation staffers talk reminds me of the Ascians in Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun.
One question is how much these mob-boss tactics are something new, and how much they’re just a cruder extension of the longstanding bipartisan willingness to use US economic centrality as a weapon against designated enemy states like Iran or Cuba or Venezuela.
November 3, 2025 at 2:24 PM
One question is how much these mob-boss tactics are something new, and how much they’re just a cruder extension of the longstanding bipartisan willingness to use US economic centrality as a weapon against designated enemy states like Iran or Cuba or Venezuela.
The military activity in the Caribbean hits a bit different in this context.
November 3, 2025 at 2:20 PM
The military activity in the Caribbean hits a bit different in this context.
The willingness to use every weapon to block an agreement to reduce emissions, is another point for the theory that part of the economic base of Trumpism is a group of capital-owners who’ve decided that a rational response to climate change would involve an unacceptable loss of prerogatives.
November 3, 2025 at 2:17 PM
The willingness to use every weapon to block an agreement to reduce emissions, is another point for the theory that part of the economic base of Trumpism is a group of capital-owners who’ve decided that a rational response to climate change would involve an unacceptable loss of prerogatives.
This is quite a story: the US employed every strongarm tactic available, including personal threats against delegates and their families, to derail an agreement on reducing shipping emissions that was almost finalized. on.ft.com/47lq3dZ
November 3, 2025 at 2:11 PM
This is quite a story: the US employed every strongarm tactic available, including personal threats against delegates and their families, to derail an agreement on reducing shipping emissions that was almost finalized. on.ft.com/47lq3dZ
November 1, but the backyard raspberry bush is still going.
November 1, 2025 at 3:09 PM
November 1, but the backyard raspberry bush is still going.
Pretty impressive - if you believe Wikipedia, that would put it in the top 20 largest quarterly losses of all time.
Still well short of AOL-Time Warner, tho - Sam has still got some work to do. www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/m...
Still well short of AOL-Time Warner, tho - Sam has still got some work to do. www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/m...
November 1, 2025 at 2:02 AM
Pretty impressive - if you believe Wikipedia, that would put it in the top 20 largest quarterly losses of all time.
Still well short of AOL-Time Warner, tho - Sam has still got some work to do. www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/m...
Still well short of AOL-Time Warner, tho - Sam has still got some work to do. www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/m...
The 13-year old in costume.
I used to try to make more elaborate whole-body costumes for the kids. But they tended to be hard to trick or treat in, and sometimes fell apart. I've come to believe that a nice mask of some iconic figure gets you more impact for less effort.
I used to try to make more elaborate whole-body costumes for the kids. But they tended to be hard to trick or treat in, and sometimes fell apart. I've come to believe that a nice mask of some iconic figure gets you more impact for less effort.
November 1, 2025 at 12:24 AM
The 13-year old in costume.
I used to try to make more elaborate whole-body costumes for the kids. But they tended to be hard to trick or treat in, and sometimes fell apart. I've come to believe that a nice mask of some iconic figure gets you more impact for less effort.
I used to try to make more elaborate whole-body costumes for the kids. But they tended to be hard to trick or treat in, and sometimes fell apart. I've come to believe that a nice mask of some iconic figure gets you more impact for less effort.
I am never in my life going to play Europa Universalis. But I like the idea that a game like this exists. acoup.blog/2025/10/31/m...
October 31, 2025 at 8:59 PM
I am never in my life going to play Europa Universalis. But I like the idea that a game like this exists. acoup.blog/2025/10/31/m...
Interesting to imagine the worldview that makes @jburnmurdoch.ft.com take it for granted that painters and tattoo artists should not be considered skilled workers. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
October 31, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Interesting to imagine the worldview that makes @jburnmurdoch.ft.com take it for granted that painters and tattoo artists should not be considered skilled workers. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...