Celebrating my doctoral student, co-author and friend
@MarcosSalgado46
receiving his first tenure track job offer! This is a truly fantastic day
@StanfordGSB
Pandemics & War can be particularly devastating to indigenous communities. But some prove resilient. In a piece for
@voxeu
, we summarize our research shedding new light on indigenous resilience in one of the most traumatic events in human history: the Conquest of Mexico.
Very excited and honoured to be returning to
@CASBSStanford
, this time as a Faculty Fellow! Hope to see more of everyone on the Hill & look forward to joining the team facilitating interactions of serendipity with us toiling down below on
@Stanford
campus.
The historian-blogger Andre Loez has been engaged in a series of critical tweets about two papers (with
@CageJulia
, Pauline Grosjean,
@AnnaDagorret
,
@mvlass
and
@yveszenou1
): Heroes and Villains (AER 2023) and Political Trenches (WP). Here are links to shorter accessible
Excited that my paper with Moses Shayo on "Valuing Peace: The Effects of Financial Market Exposure on Votes and Political Attitudes" is out in this month's issue of Econometrica.
1/N
As a grad student, I occasionally daydreamed about what it might be like to have a research paper featured in the
@TheEconomist
. My student self would have been thrilled today. Have to admit old jaded me is still pretty excited too.
Thrilled to have my parents come visit us in California! With Covid and visas etc, it has been too long a time. My mum comes armed with a strategic stockpile of spices.
Can’t stop thinking how only 5 months ago, on a lovely peaceful fall day, Pres. Zelensky, along with his wife and foreign affairs team came to
@FSIStanford
. It was a serious but light-hearted discussion. Now their lives and those of so many others are in great danger.
Growing up in Scotland and the Himalayas, I’ve always been inspired by the mountains. Particularly happy for the inspiration given the wee hill still left to climb on our paper revision.
One of the very best parts of the job: celebrating with my student, Thomas Cao
@StanfordGSB
as he embarks on his next chapter as an assistant professor of tech policy
@TuftsUniversity
@FletcherSchool
Being
@Stanford
@CASBSStanford
means daily walks in gigantic footsteps. This can intimidate, but also inspire. I wrote a short piece about how Doug North and Avner Greif helped me better understand the lessons of history for building tolerant societies.
I am looking for a pre-doctoral fellow to work closely with me for 2 years, starting next summer, as part of the amazing Research Fellows program
@StanfordGSB
.
Please spread the word!
#WilliamsCollege
was the only one to admit me w/ a scholarship so I could study in the US. Along with the amazing profs I had there, this changed my life. Really grateful for that & to
@AmandaGregg711
@KaraDimitruk
for inviting me to give the keynote at
After conducting the largest voting exercise in history, India today demonstrated to the world that its electoral institutions remain resilient and strong.
We’re hiring in political economy
@StanfordGSB
! Please do apply. It’s quite sunny 😎 and we have 🌴 . This year, I would particularly like to encourage junior folks working on comparative politics / political development economics to give us a look!
How networks of influential individuals helped destroy one of the world’s most durable democracies and legitimise a racist, authoritarian state | VOX, CEPR Policy Portal
A bit over 3 years since we adopted Kaylo, who needed a home. As a 100lbs of what we think is sled dog, he sometimes pulls us in new & unexpected directions, but very grateful he’s with us.
Looking forward to giving a talk
@OxfordEconDept
tomorrow! As an undergrad, I was privileged to spend a transformative year in the
@WilliamsCollege
in Oxford program. Though I later ended up studying at the “Other Place”
@Cambridge_Uni
, Oxford, even on a drizzly day, remains
Our paper reconstructing the populations of pre-Columbian Mexican towns in order to understand who survived the Conquest, and why, was a real labor of ❤️ for
@diazcayeros
,
@jespinosb
and me. Really appreciate this recognition from my favorite new journal
@JHPE_journal
!
Very pleased to announce that the winner of the 2023 Lee J. Alston Prize for best article in Volume 2 (2022) of
@JHPE_journal
is "Pandemic Spikes and Broken Spears: Indigenous Resilience after the Conquest of Mexico,” by
@diazcayeros
,
@jespinosb
&
@saumjha
. Congratulations!
@rikhilb
& I tell the story of a quest for new data, and an attempt to fill in a key gap in our understanding of
one of the most important nonviolent movements in world history. Also featuring our moms. Today on
@BlogBroadstreet
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Indo-US-Italian amity, & honoring Ludovico di Verthema, the intrepid medieval Bolognese traveller who taught me much about medieval Indian ports, I present Fusilli a la Verthema: with lamb, garam masala & Swiss chard.
@xftrebbi
pls forgive me!
Kaylo and I celebrating a professional hat trick- despite our family being away, truly delighted that we could do 3 referee reports- all great papers and all positive- all in a row on a single day (just to reassure authors and editors: Kaylo’s role was not based upon his
One nice thing about having your students graduate and become professors themselves is you can go visit, and talk research while going for a walk. And Rio truly was inspirational today. Thanks
@MarcosSalgado46
- it was fun!
Having worked too many weekends, and accumulated a few miles, I promised Nikki I would take him anywhere in the world for a few days. He chose Belgium! And so our father-son adventure begins with Nikki sending texts in Russian to his mother (Neither know Russian)
Sometimes
@Stanford
also gets cold, dark and sickly. Health prospects improve from seeing an old friend made 1/3 century ago on the other side of the world.
Many folks appear to have preconceived notions about economists. But most economists I know care a great deal about data provenance and getting it right. And we are willing to talk with anyone who would like to have a conversation about our work in good faith.
1st day back to having class in person
@StanfordGSB
. So great to see folks in more than 2 dimensions! Only one interruption by a passerby shouting that our mask mandate & vaccines are a hoax & something (I think) about Boris Johnson. All in all, chalking this up as a lovely day.
In an increasingly zoomified world, working together with a co-author in person is a special treat, and particularly so if they live across an ocean. Great to catch up with and to delve into research with the amazing Pauline Grosjean.
Our first day physically at
@CASBSStanford
! Lots of great work has been done here in the past, so it’s a bit intimidating to be on leave here, but the turkeys have taken over since March and don’t seem overly-concerned.
Thank you India for welcoming us back home, for giving us the chance to learn and explore, and especially for bringing family, young and less so, together after so long.
Honoured, slightly intimidated yet excited to be flying to Madrid to give the 21st Figuerola Lecture on economic history on my book project on Wars and Freedoms with
@SWilkinsIndia
. Discovering that our working title sounds much better in Spanish.
In politically polarized societies where trust is low, things can look bleak. But we find that by encouraging folks to invest in broad financial assets that allow them to share in the risks & returns of others, we can build trust, & do so particularly among political partisans.
New working paper with
@saumjha
\&
@moseshayo
.
Using an RCT in 🇮🇱 we show that providing Jewish Israelis with opportunities to trade in financial markets increases generalized trust.
A short overview 🧵:
Teaching a class session about the French Revolution at the Place de la Bastille itself has been a rêve of mine that today became a reality. It was a hot bustling day on the Place, but likely not quite as hot and bustling as on July 14 1789.
A short piece on how my 9-year old son and I invest together, using
#Robinhood
as a means to learn about finance, politics, economics, the common good, overconfidence and being patient with marshmallows. Featuring research with
@moseshayo
On a lightning trip to the DC area, such a delight to catch up and talk about ideas with the legendary
@bijurao
, co-author and old friend, who also taught me very first course in development economics.
Thanks once more to the amazing
#StanfordGSB
MSx class of 2020 for honouring me with the Teacher of the Year award. I miss you guys already! My deep thanks too to the incredibly generous people who have taught me over the years, who are role models on how I wish I could teach.
SIEPR Senior Fellow Saumitra Jha
@saumjha
has won the MSx Teaching Excellence Award. Upon accepting the honor, Jha told his students that teachers share a “profound duty to give you our best whenever we’re in the classroom.”
@StanfordGSB
@FSIStanford
Drove thru lovely,peaceful Champagne & Lorraine towards Verdun. The beauty made more poignant by the markers of so much war: Valmy, Marne, Argonne, too many others. Heroism seems to be so often wedded to tragedy. Happily today was a beautiful day of peace truly worth savouring.
Thanks to Pauline Grosjean and the shout-out in
@lemondefr
to my work with Steven Wilkinson about the civil war and revolutionary contagion that can emerge when ideas and those with the organizational skills to act upon them meet. This is a situation that we can measure by
When
@StanfordGSB
asked me to envision an impactful global experience for our incoming MBAs, the upcoming Brazilian elections and the impact it will have both on Brazil and the world immediately sprang to mind. Excited to learn about this amazing country & to see old friends!
Looking forward to learning about and discussing the key geopolitical issues we all face with the honorable Foreign Minister of Singapore
@VivianBala
at the
@Stanford
Asian Economic Forum, and to seeing former students and other friends there!
After presenting a fascinating paper at our seminar today,
@alexeymakarin
declares a Palo Alto Negroni “pretty good”. Keeping in mind he is Russian currently living in Rome, I’m declaring this a huge victory for
#shallowalto
. Thanks for coming, Alexey!
Really nice to chat with and learn from the truly remarkable and ever-provocative
@_alice_evans
about lessons from the history of South Asia for fostering resilient tolerance and peace.
What prevents Hindu-Muslim violence?
Did trade encourage harmony?
Is conflict driven by economic competition or culture?
What explains Islamophobia?
My podcast with the great
@saumjha
If you’re a student interested in political economy, pls apply to the Berkeley Summer School this August. I’m excited to be part of it and to learn from a set of fantastic scholars including
@guoxu_econ
@sararlowes
@xftrebbi
@rxjia
@JonathanWeigel
& others wisely off-twitter.
Summer School in Political Economy, "Political Economy for a Changing World," August 16 - 18, 2023 at UC Berkeley. Deadline April 15. Students please apply - it's a great chance to get exposure to a variety of political economy work.
@ComparativeEcon
Thanks to
@StanfordGSB
Insights for their nice writeup of our working paper with
@chagai_weiss
&
@moseshayo
. Our field experiment in Israel finds that "Financial Market Exposure Increases Generalized Trust, Particularly Among the Politically Polarized".
We (
@jaj7d
& I) are *very* excited to announce the chapters for the Oxford Handbook of Historical Political Economy (out in early 2023)
We are proud that it is interdisciplinary. It is a mix of mostly political scientists & economists, as well as historians & sociologists
1/n
Come join us at Stanford! We’re eager to recruit talented folks from around the world looking to build their research skills while assisting Stanford faculty on projects related to global development.
Apply now for our two year predoc program! This program aims to help individuals prepare for an academic career in global development. Students from low- and middle-income countries are encouraged to apply.
#predoc
Finally on a ✈️ to India in the omicron era- so happy to see family & friends, particularly missed these last 2 yrs. A sigh of relief making it through closed doors & new protocols; each made me empathize a bit more w/ the unfortunate fellow passengers on Indiana Jones’ airship
The Political Economy group at the Stanford GSB is hiring (open rank). PE scholars from a wide range of disciplines (political science; economics; management; public policy; etc.) are encouraged to apply.
30 years ago, jaws dropped throughout the world. The stunned included communist leaders, experts on communism, the CIA and KGB, even dissidents who sensed communism would fall like a house of cards. Systems sustained by preference falsification are vulnerable to sudden collapse.
I’ve visited a few business schools in my day, but
@NovaSBE
has to be among the most beautiful! If you are co-located next to a surf school, you clearly know a thing or two about strategy. Very much looking forward to giving a talk here later today.
Really enjoyed my fleeting visit to give a talk to the wonderful folks
@handels_sse
Econ department. The long days allowed for a late night walk by the water. With special thanks to
@jmerilainen
for the warm Finnish welcome!
Nov 4: the deadline for
@CASBSStanford
fellowship. You not only get a cool mug but a wonderful opp to spend a year thinking & learning from a remarkable set of inter-disciplinary scholars. With interests in Historical Pol Econ, I loved it! Please do apply.
I keep this astrolabe in my office to remind me that people can and have built ethnic and religious tolerance that has survived centuries, through many dark times. I also try not use it as a fidget toy too often.
The DevPEC Conference will take place on April 18-19 this year!
A great opportunity to present your work and get feedback from
@UCBerkeley
&
@Stanford
peers & faculty. Keynote speaker is Professor Saumitra Jha
@saumjha
!
Submit your work by Feb 11th, link below!
#EconTwitter
Imperfectly camouflaged despite his fluffy tail, my 🐶 Kaylo keeps vigil over the SF Bay Area. On a lovely day like this, it becomes possible to hope our storms will pass.
I worked for
@bijurao
as an RA while doing a master’s. It was a truly inspiring experience. If you’d like to learn how to combine rigorous qualitative & quantitative methods to inform policies for economic development, and a little Indian musicology on the side, work for Biju!
Seeking an RA to assist me on a variety of projects on gender dynamics, political economy & well-being in South Asia using a mix of econometric, ML/NLP and qualitative methods. Must be proficient in Stata/R. If interested, pl send your CV to my email here:
My friend Pedro told me of the Jaboticaba- a fruit unique to Brazil that also jokingly refers to an idea that has also been tried nowhere else.
These are difficult times for 🇧🇷 & the 🌍 but I return home to
@Stanford
with some hope . (1/3)
The deadline
@CASBSStanford
for their fellowship is Nov 5. Do consider applying! With interests in historical political economics, I learned a lot from the other fellows & found my leave there deeply enriching. Plus the view is quite nice & you can make fun of us down below.
The ancient
#ranthambhore
fortress, once a great stronghold of the Rajputs in the hills of western Rajasthan, the scene of many dramatic moments in Indian history. Now a jungle fortress within the tiger preserve.
The Econ Hist. seminar in the iconic 3rd floor rm in
@Stanford
Econ bldg has been one of the most nurturing places for me since I was a grad student. Always lovely to be back & get such valuable feedback on newest work w/
@MarcosSalgado46
& Peter Koudijs
Celebrating our Indian festival of Rakhi, when brothers recommit to protect their sisters, is always a bit ironic for me, given that my big sis has looked out for me all my life. So today I most want to say thanks Didi
@JhaJitsu
, for everything. I love you.
The Khusro Bagh in
#Allahabad
. A Mughal pleasure garden where Emperor Jahangir imprisoned his rebellious eldest son for many years. Fought over fiercely in the 1857 uprising and now home to fierce pickup games of cricket and badminton.
The
#economics
review process in the wild, captured Aesop-style by the
#Chambal
river.
#Reviewer2
, a gharial 🐊 basks in anonymity on the riverbanks waiting for a chance to strike. Meanwhile egrets scamper beside animals on the path, picking off bugs as they find their own way.
Whole communities disappeared, some without a trace. We draw upon itineraries by priests just after the Conquest to identify where they were, and which survived. Unlike in Europe, Mexican coastal settlements did not gain from the new global trades. Instead, they were decimated.
#Polarization
and
#conflict
are unfortunately all too common. Excited to be part of a new open access book distilling the newest economics research on the big lessons from history for overcoming these challenges.
Inter-group conflict isn't inevitable.
@saumjha
@StanfordGSB
shows in Ch. 4 that even with opposing social identities, violence can be prevented under 3 conditions:
#economic
complementarity, intangible comparative advantage, & minority mobility.
We are gearing up for another exciting virtual HPE session this Thursday at 12:30 EST!
@saumjha
will present co-authored work with
@SWilkinsIndia
on "Revolutionary Contagion",
@CedricChambru
will discuss. Send me a message if you want to be added to our email list!
In these dark times, sometimes a little Napoleonic-scale bibliotherapy is exactly what the doctor ordered. Thanks for writing this-
@AMikaberidze
I can’t wait to read it!
This evening my 10 year old son asked me what the term “nuclear winter” meant. A conversation I once believed would never happen again. Thanks Vladimir.
Learned tonnes from this fantastic pioneer class of
@StanfordGSB
students on a dream course for me to teach: Managing Politically Conflictual Environments. Thank you!
Looking forward to Pauline Grosjean presenting our paper on Heroes with
@CageJulia
& Anna Dagorret at 9am PST Monday at the
@cepr_org
seminar. Or, if that's too early, we present it again at noon PST
@StanfordPoliSci
. Here's a link to our paper:
Interested in Organizational Economics? With
@cepr_org
we're putting on a new seminar series. Next one is May 18 by Grosjean "On Heroes and Villains: The Effects of Combat Leadership on Collaboration in War-Time France ” Sign up here:
@orianabandiera
By calling Arizona, whether ultimately proven right or not, Arnon Mishkin at the Fox decision desk really undermined an election-stealing narrative that could have led today to be a lot more adversarial. History may remember this decision as being critical for our democracy