The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) could drive a stake through the housing crisis with a policy that empowers states to overcome NIMBY opposition to new housing. A new report by me, @ShroyerAaron, and @aarmlovi shows how. (1/6)

Exciting job opportunity, courtesy of @ssrc_org & @Arnold_Ventures: Come build the "Abundance Academic Network" (name is still TBD) as the inaugural Program Director! 1/3

Hi all! We're still waiting on the official posting - but @The_Budget_Lab is looking for a new macro hire to add to our team! We're agnostic on level (Recent PhD, decades of experience, MA+ research experience, who knows?) - we care more about flexible thinking and curiosity

A plurality of Democrats now say fewer people having kids is bad. They’re right.

I'm in @TheArgumentMag this morning! Here's my argument: Organized medicine has captured Medicare and since the 1970s, has made it harder and harder for doctors to choose primary care. But quietly, this administration is pushing back and we should all be rooting them on 🧵:

One of the most important pieces of legislation in modern California history is currently sitting on Governor Newsom's desk: SB 79. He will likely either sign or veto it this week. Here's what you need to know, and how you can help.

I’m in @WSJopinion explaining how the proposed H-1B rule would backfire:

SB79 is currently on @GavinNewsom's desk. It’s a law that would speed up housing construction near transit and begin to address the massive housing crisis in our state. Passing it through the legislature was a huge victory for housing advocates and everyone who wants California

Some people think @open_phil are luddites because we work on AGI safety, and others think we’re techno-utopians because we work on abundance and scientific progress. We’re neither. Here's why we think safety and accelerating progress go hand in hand, in spite of the tensions:🧵

The 30 Rock episode “Subway Hero” has a certain prescience for the Trump era: famous “social conservative, fiscal liberal” line, Tracy Morgan subplot of endorsing the GOP and recording an ad saying “build a 200 foot wall to keep Mexico out,” and the superpower of shamelessness

Housing production in Los Angeles is currently at the lowest level in a DECADE. Now, the LA City Council may be voting on an ordinance that could cut the amount of affordable housing built IN HALF We need your help to stop this!

This analysis moves the goalposts. States like OH, IA and FL used to be perennial presidential swing states (WV was in play in 2004, Obama won IN in 2008…) and Senate Dems used to be competitive both in those states and in others like AR, LA, ND, SD, NE… Meanwhile, states like

Money and health impact are often out of whack in science/drug dev Outliers we've tried to rebalance with >$10M at @open_phil but need more support: 1) sickle cell, 2) syphilis, 3) strep A, 4) hep B,C,D,E, 5) newborn sepsis >$5M to 6) crypto 7) snakebite Each kills >50K ppl/y

Aside: I had not thought about the fact that the transfer portal + player pay is undercutting coach value a lot since the value of being a "great recruiter" falls hugely when there's a bidding system, good article from @Sportico https://t.co/eq2Kp7wUyW

It actually is weirdly underrated IMO for states to hire proven winners from other states

Earlier this year, the President’s budget proposed a 40% cut to the NIH budget. This sparked an obvious research question: What if the NIH had been 40% smaller in previous years? Here’s what Pierre Azoulay, Danielle Li, Bhaven Sampat, and I found when we looked at grants that

In 2016 Geoffrey Hinton said “we should stop training radiologists now" since AI would soon be better at their jobs. He was right: models have outperformed radiologists on benchmarks for ~a decade. Yet radiology jobs are at record highs, with an average salary of $520k. Why?

The deep problem at the heart of issue polling is that specific gun control policies poll at like 86% but then the party that opposes them has an overall trust advantage. I think that trust metric is much more robust for telling us what raising the salience of an issue will do

The new Trump H-1B rule just dropped! It prioritizes DOL "Wage Levels," not real wages. DOL thinks an experienced acupuncturist making $40k is a higher "Wage Level" than an early-career AI scientist making $280k. That means more visas for outsourcers, fewer for real talent.

Link to the piece here: