Taib Muffak
@muffaktaib.bsky.social
Moroccan Economics Graduate Student. Interested in public economics, development, and welfare policies.
Reposted by Taib Muffak
One sided cease fire…
Israel said it killed a top Hamas commander in Gaza, in what would be the highest-profile killing of a Hamas leader since the cease-fire began two months ago.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/w...
Israel Says It Killed Senior Hamas Commander, Despite Cease-Fire
www.nytimes.com
December 13, 2025 at 8:23 PM
One sided cease fire…
Reposted by Taib Muffak
Between 1979–2019, top pay (90th pct.) climbed 53%, middle only 23%, bottom (10th pct.) even lower 7%. (Productivity per hour climbed much more at 73%.)
But since 2019, fast gains at the bottom have already reversed about 1/3 of the rise in pay inequality.
A 🧵 about my book: The Wage Standard.
But since 2019, fast gains at the bottom have already reversed about 1/3 of the rise in pay inequality.
A 🧵 about my book: The Wage Standard.
December 11, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Between 1979–2019, top pay (90th pct.) climbed 53%, middle only 23%, bottom (10th pct.) even lower 7%. (Productivity per hour climbed much more at 73%.)
But since 2019, fast gains at the bottom have already reversed about 1/3 of the rise in pay inequality.
A 🧵 about my book: The Wage Standard.
But since 2019, fast gains at the bottom have already reversed about 1/3 of the rise in pay inequality.
A 🧵 about my book: The Wage Standard.
Reposted by Taib Muffak
Welcome to Britain, a country so short of dentists that an MP's 87-year-old mum pulled her teeth out with pliers. Also a country with thousands of foreign-qualified dentists who can’t work until they pass an exam so oversubscribed it’s like trying to book Glasto tickets. www.ft.com/content/f4e5...
December 9, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Welcome to Britain, a country so short of dentists that an MP's 87-year-old mum pulled her teeth out with pliers. Also a country with thousands of foreign-qualified dentists who can’t work until they pass an exam so oversubscribed it’s like trying to book Glasto tickets. www.ft.com/content/f4e5...
Reposted by Taib Muffak
Smart, nuanced piece by @nealemahoney.bsky.social and @bharatramamurti.bsky.social that centers the essential trade-offs of price controls in this affordability moment (rather than assumes them away in either direction), as well as the politics of tackling them.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/o...
Opinion | Economists Hate This Idea. It Could Be a Way Out of the Affordability Crisis.
www.nytimes.com
November 16, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Smart, nuanced piece by @nealemahoney.bsky.social and @bharatramamurti.bsky.social that centers the essential trade-offs of price controls in this affordability moment (rather than assumes them away in either direction), as well as the politics of tackling them.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/o...
Reposted by Taib Muffak
Check out our new NBER WP “Pushing Back Against Private Practice: The Unintended Effects of Paying Public Doctors More” together with Núria Mas , Jon Gruber and Jaume Vives. 👇 www.nber.org/papers/w3443...
Pushing Back Against Private Practice: The Unintended Effects of Paying Public Doctors More
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
November 4, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Check out our new NBER WP “Pushing Back Against Private Practice: The Unintended Effects of Paying Public Doctors More” together with Núria Mas , Jon Gruber and Jaume Vives. 👇 www.nber.org/papers/w3443...
Reposted by Taib Muffak
🏠Transaction taxes don’t just cool housing—they reshape it. Same rate, different impact: investors buy more, households less. Result: lower ownership and welfare losses of 111% of tax revenue.
New paper from Han, Ngai & Sheedy:
www.restud.com/to-own-or-to...
#econsky #REStud
New paper from Han, Ngai & Sheedy:
www.restud.com/to-own-or-to...
#econsky #REStud
October 13, 2025 at 10:03 AM
🏠Transaction taxes don’t just cool housing—they reshape it. Same rate, different impact: investors buy more, households less. Result: lower ownership and welfare losses of 111% of tax revenue.
New paper from Han, Ngai & Sheedy:
www.restud.com/to-own-or-to...
#econsky #REStud
New paper from Han, Ngai & Sheedy:
www.restud.com/to-own-or-to...
#econsky #REStud
Reposted by Taib Muffak
Vivir para trabajar, o trabajar para vivir. Si es por estos, morir trabajando.
Garamendi pide "un permiso" de los permisos de Yolanda Díaz, que ha anunciado hoy la ampliación del permiso por fallecimiento familiar: "Es agotador. Cada día es una ocurrencia nueva. ¿Ha estudiado lo que significa esto económicamente? No"
rtve.es/noticias/
rtve.es/noticias/
October 9, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Vivir para trabajar, o trabajar para vivir. Si es por estos, morir trabajando.
Reposted by Taib Muffak
What America is going through is not unusual in historical terms. Plenty of examples like it today elsewhere in the world.
What makes it unusual is the rapid collapse from a set of widely espoused norms and values that centered on liberty. It is the sacking of the shining city on hill that shocks.
What makes it unusual is the rapid collapse from a set of widely espoused norms and values that centered on liberty. It is the sacking of the shining city on hill that shocks.
September 18, 2025 at 12:10 AM
What America is going through is not unusual in historical terms. Plenty of examples like it today elsewhere in the world.
What makes it unusual is the rapid collapse from a set of widely espoused norms and values that centered on liberty. It is the sacking of the shining city on hill that shocks.
What makes it unusual is the rapid collapse from a set of widely espoused norms and values that centered on liberty. It is the sacking of the shining city on hill that shocks.
Reposted by Taib Muffak
This is super, super sad. I did not agree with the guy's politics, but no one should be murdered for their beliefs. My heart is with his family and friends. RIP. 💔
September 10, 2025 at 8:46 PM
This is super, super sad. I did not agree with the guy's politics, but no one should be murdered for their beliefs. My heart is with his family and friends. RIP. 💔
Reposted by Taib Muffak
Les boomers sont devenus à la droite twitteresque ce que les riches sont à la gauche: le mythe du trésor caché dans lequel il suffirait de puiser pour devenir prospère.
August 30, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Les boomers sont devenus à la droite twitteresque ce que les riches sont à la gauche: le mythe du trésor caché dans lequel il suffirait de puiser pour devenir prospère.
Reposted by Taib Muffak
The deeper problem - perhaps the fundamental problem in this area - is that we have organized housing so that provision of a basic service is completely intertwined with a speculative asset market. The long run goal should be to disentangle them.
August 7, 2025 at 12:58 PM
The deeper problem - perhaps the fundamental problem in this area - is that we have organized housing so that provision of a basic service is completely intertwined with a speculative asset market. The long run goal should be to disentangle them.
Reposted by Taib Muffak
While the world's attention focuses on Iran, the destruction of Gaza and the starvation and displacement of its population continue.
Netanyahu hopes this will now attract less attention by the Israeli public as well as by Western media and governments...
Netanyahu hopes this will now attract less attention by the Israeli public as well as by Western media and governments...
Gaza residents say IDF escalated attacks in Strip since Israel launched war on Iran
***
www.haaretz.com
June 16, 2025 at 4:11 PM
While the world's attention focuses on Iran, the destruction of Gaza and the starvation and displacement of its population continue.
Netanyahu hopes this will now attract less attention by the Israeli public as well as by Western media and governments...
Netanyahu hopes this will now attract less attention by the Israeli public as well as by Western media and governments...
Reposted by Taib Muffak
Making abundance work for workers requires that we pay as much attention to those who build as to how much we build. My latest www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a...
Abundance for Workers
Dani Rodrik highlights the enormous social and political costs of viewing the goal of production solely as consumption.
www.project-syndicate.org
June 10, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Making abundance work for workers requires that we pay as much attention to those who build as to how much we build. My latest www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a...
Reposted by Taib Muffak
(among others)
- Europe already outspends RU on defence
- one cannot extrapolate from the war on (non-NATO) Ukraine to an attack on NATO
- it is not even clear Putin will be around in 5 years
- there are massive unmet spending needs in critical areas, like net zero, vital for wellbeing & security
2
- Europe already outspends RU on defence
- one cannot extrapolate from the war on (non-NATO) Ukraine to an attack on NATO
- it is not even clear Putin will be around in 5 years
- there are massive unmet spending needs in critical areas, like net zero, vital for wellbeing & security
2
June 10, 2025 at 8:06 AM
(among others)
- Europe already outspends RU on defence
- one cannot extrapolate from the war on (non-NATO) Ukraine to an attack on NATO
- it is not even clear Putin will be around in 5 years
- there are massive unmet spending needs in critical areas, like net zero, vital for wellbeing & security
2
- Europe already outspends RU on defence
- one cannot extrapolate from the war on (non-NATO) Ukraine to an attack on NATO
- it is not even clear Putin will be around in 5 years
- there are massive unmet spending needs in critical areas, like net zero, vital for wellbeing & security
2
Reposted by Taib Muffak
A few comments on the @mark-carney.bsky.social platform released today. You can find it here: liberal.ca/cstrong/.
I provided some 'sounding board' advice here and there to those working on the platform. As always: I disclose, but you can decide what weight to put on that.
Thread below...
I provided some 'sounding board' advice here and there to those working on the platform. As always: I disclose, but you can decide what weight to put on that.
Thread below...
Canada Strong | Liberal Party of Canada
Download our plan
liberal.ca
April 19, 2025 at 6:04 PM
A few comments on the @mark-carney.bsky.social platform released today. You can find it here: liberal.ca/cstrong/.
I provided some 'sounding board' advice here and there to those working on the platform. As always: I disclose, but you can decide what weight to put on that.
Thread below...
I provided some 'sounding board' advice here and there to those working on the platform. As always: I disclose, but you can decide what weight to put on that.
Thread below...
Reposted by Taib Muffak
Solyndra is often cited as a cautionary tale against industrial policy. In hindsight, though, the worst mistake the Obama administration made was the $465m loan to Tesla that allowed Musk to avoid bankruptcy.
March 5, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Solyndra is often cited as a cautionary tale against industrial policy. In hindsight, though, the worst mistake the Obama administration made was the $465m loan to Tesla that allowed Musk to avoid bankruptcy.
Reposted by Taib Muffak
On counter-tariffs. Yes they hurt one's own country more than the other country.
But that's not the right way to think about it. The point is to inflict pain on the other country to make them stop their tariffs, even if self-painful.
I don't like broad counter-tariffs, but use 'em where painful.
But that's not the right way to think about it. The point is to inflict pain on the other country to make them stop their tariffs, even if self-painful.
I don't like broad counter-tariffs, but use 'em where painful.
March 4, 2025 at 4:41 PM
On counter-tariffs. Yes they hurt one's own country more than the other country.
But that's not the right way to think about it. The point is to inflict pain on the other country to make them stop their tariffs, even if self-painful.
I don't like broad counter-tariffs, but use 'em where painful.
But that's not the right way to think about it. The point is to inflict pain on the other country to make them stop their tariffs, even if self-painful.
I don't like broad counter-tariffs, but use 'em where painful.
Reposted by Taib Muffak
“Dozens [of medical trials] have been abruptly frozen, leaving people around the world with experimental drugs and medical products in their bodies, cut off from the researchers who were monitoring them, and generating waves of suspicion and fear.” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/h...
Dozens of Clinical Trials Have Been Frozen in Response to Trump’s USAID Order
The stop-work order on U.S.A.I.D.-funded research has left thousands of people with experimental drugs and devices in their bodies, with no access to monitoring or care.
www.nytimes.com
February 6, 2025 at 8:35 PM
“Dozens [of medical trials] have been abruptly frozen, leaving people around the world with experimental drugs and medical products in their bodies, cut off from the researchers who were monitoring them, and generating waves of suspicion and fear.” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/h...
Reposted by Taib Muffak
Glad we got through the tariff emergency (at least the first wave of it....).
Also glad that people are bringing creativity, energy, and determination to figuring out a medium and long-run response.
But I want to throw cold water on three ideas I've seen floated. I'll explain...
Also glad that people are bringing creativity, energy, and determination to figuring out a medium and long-run response.
But I want to throw cold water on three ideas I've seen floated. I'll explain...
February 4, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Glad we got through the tariff emergency (at least the first wave of it....).
Also glad that people are bringing creativity, energy, and determination to figuring out a medium and long-run response.
But I want to throw cold water on three ideas I've seen floated. I'll explain...
Also glad that people are bringing creativity, energy, and determination to figuring out a medium and long-run response.
But I want to throw cold water on three ideas I've seen floated. I'll explain...
Reposted by Taib Muffak
Some of us have been writing about these issues - including how large companies set wage standards - for many years.
When I was in grad school it was not easy to work on these topics in economics.
Thankfully economics has changed since then.
When I was in grad school it was not easy to work on these topics in economics.
Thankfully economics has changed since then.
If you made this argument back in the day you were smugly dismissed as an economically illiterate lefty.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The Walmart Effect
New research suggests that the company makes the communities it operates in poorer—even taking into account its famous low prices.
www.theatlantic.com
January 25, 2025 at 1:43 AM
Some of us have been writing about these issues - including how large companies set wage standards - for many years.
When I was in grad school it was not easy to work on these topics in economics.
Thankfully economics has changed since then.
When I was in grad school it was not easy to work on these topics in economics.
Thankfully economics has changed since then.
Reposted by Taib Muffak
Thanks so much, Guntram. I'm glad you found the piece helpful.
I’d caution against cases where we back a single company, and, if that fails, draw the conclusion that industrial policy as a whole doesn’t work.
I'm afraid the issue requires more contemplation. So a thread on your question.
1/
I’d caution against cases where we back a single company, and, if that fails, draw the conclusion that industrial policy as a whole doesn’t work.
I'm afraid the issue requires more contemplation. So a thread on your question.
1/
Quite liked the rather gloomy paper on the second China shock for Germany by @sandertordoir.bsky.social & Brad Setser. Just one doubt: why so much belief in industrial policy? Looking back at last 5 years, I see that it mostly failed - think Northvolt or Intel. Why optimistic on effectiveness now?
January 23, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Thanks so much, Guntram. I'm glad you found the piece helpful.
I’d caution against cases where we back a single company, and, if that fails, draw the conclusion that industrial policy as a whole doesn’t work.
I'm afraid the issue requires more contemplation. So a thread on your question.
1/
I’d caution against cases where we back a single company, and, if that fails, draw the conclusion that industrial policy as a whole doesn’t work.
I'm afraid the issue requires more contemplation. So a thread on your question.
1/
Reposted by Taib Muffak
When I started studying inequalities one of the things I heard about freedom in America:
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." Louis Brandeis
Guess we get to investigate this claim a little
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." Louis Brandeis
Guess we get to investigate this claim a little
January 20, 2025 at 7:18 PM
When I started studying inequalities one of the things I heard about freedom in America:
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." Louis Brandeis
Guess we get to investigate this claim a little
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." Louis Brandeis
Guess we get to investigate this claim a little
Reposted by Taib Muffak
1/10
I always enjoy reading Noah Smith's always thoughtful and often brilliant pieces on macroeconomics, but while he doesn't always agree with me on trade (and vastly overstates my influence), this is the sort of discussion we should be having in the US.
www.noahpinion.blog/p/the-pettis...
I always enjoy reading Noah Smith's always thoughtful and often brilliant pieces on macroeconomics, but while he doesn't always agree with me on trade (and vastly overstates my influence), this is the sort of discussion we should be having in the US.
www.noahpinion.blog/p/the-pettis...
www.noahpinion.blog
January 16, 2025 at 9:57 AM
1/10
I always enjoy reading Noah Smith's always thoughtful and often brilliant pieces on macroeconomics, but while he doesn't always agree with me on trade (and vastly overstates my influence), this is the sort of discussion we should be having in the US.
www.noahpinion.blog/p/the-pettis...
I always enjoy reading Noah Smith's always thoughtful and often brilliant pieces on macroeconomics, but while he doesn't always agree with me on trade (and vastly overstates my influence), this is the sort of discussion we should be having in the US.
www.noahpinion.blog/p/the-pettis...