Econ prof at BU. I mostly study hidden influence in U.S. politics (not so hidden these days). Some people call it corruption. I agree... https://sites.bu.edu/fisman/ Working on a book about whether business will save or destroy the world (Spoiler: Neither)https://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3mijs37xbjc2lDuring a recent seminar visit, a number of people asked about use of AI in the refereeing process. Every AEA journal includes the following in the email you get after agreeing to do a review. If you have any doubts about what constitutes appropriate use, please ask!02 Apr 2026 18:02 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mijs37xbjc2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3lypqlp3qfc2eFor no obvious reason one of Kei Hirano's classic economics haikus just popped into my head. Apropo of nothing: T-stat looks too good. Use robust standard errors-- significance gone. I'm sure it could be updated to reflect modern methods.13 Sep 2025 12:09 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3lypqlp3qfc2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3lyfqwrn5s22sI have a friend who had a successful career as a politician. When he retired from politics, I asked him what he was happiest to get away from. Without a moment's pause he answered, "The constant lying." https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/speaker-johnson-says-he-misspoke-about-trump-being-an-fbi-informant-in-the-epstein-case09 Sep 2025 12:48 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3lyfqwrn5s22shttps://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3lxfwfg3qoc2fMy 15 year old is proofreading my latest book manuscript. After the first paragraph he asked, “do people really consider you to be a good writer?” It’s only gone downhill from there.27 Aug 2025 21:01 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3lxfwfg3qoc2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3luhyr2cvts2tIs @wbur.org (very subtly) trolling the Trump administration ?21 Jul 2025 12:33 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3luhyr2cvts2thttps://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3ltgrt7tl7k2kDev Econ people: I was trying to access the DHS data, and got the message below. Can anyone help and/or have ideas for access? Any suggestions much appreciated!08 Jul 2025 07:31 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3ltgrt7tl7k2khttps://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3lqadyc2hok2uDear Nippon Steel: You would be insane to buy US Steel with the current American government holding this much control: https://www.reuters.com/business/us-government-may-hold-some-us-steel-shares-nippon-steel-deal-kyodo-says-2025-05-27/ Signed - someone who used to teach business in emerging markets, where this sort of thing happened a lot and rarely if ever ended well...1/228 May 2025 13:52 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3lqadyc2hok2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3lp2kbi5xos26A bit of personal/professional news: I'm sad to be leaving the wonderful editorial team at @restatjournal.bsky.social now that my terms are up, but excited to be joining AEJ: Applied as editor in January. https://www.aeaweb.org/news/member-announcements/2025-may-1313 May 2025 13:03 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3lp2kbi5xos26https://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3lniizf2rkc2iIt's amazing that markets these days are so completely driven by whether the U.S. president says he'll do something completely unhinged, or says he *won't* do something completely unhinged.23 Apr 2025 15:27 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3lniizf2rkc2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3lni7n6us722dThe most jaw-dropping thing that came up in this week's Freakonomics story was Phil Zimbardo, in recounting the story of the Stanford Prison Experiment, casually mentioning that he'd just started dating his PhD student like it was no big thing, and the podcast just continuing without a beat.23 Apr 2025 12:40 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3lni7n6us722dhttps://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3lnd53vqbok2rA question about the proposed bill on stock trading in Congress (https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1908/text). It wouldn't prevent someone from trading on macro news anyway, right? If I could have had inside info on tariff announcements, e.g., I still would've minted a fortune trading index funds. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1908/textwouldn't21 Apr 2025 12:11 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnd53vqbok2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3ln6x6nhwss23Summer office is open for business19 Apr 2025 20:14 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3ln6x6nhwss23https://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3lmn7uao7ys2oA little story I once heard, on good authority, about Peter Navarro. Some faculty at UC Irvine joked back in 2016 that they hoped Trump would get elected because then they'd at least be rid of Navarro, who was then an econ professor there. 1/212 Apr 2025 19:02 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3lmn7uao7ys2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3lmi3yvy2r22mApropos of nothing [contains quote post or other embedded content]10 Apr 2025 18:09 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3lmi3yvy2r22mhttps://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3lmfww2gtbc23A serious question: Is Trump doing this just so politically-connected investors can profit from insider trading, or is that merely a side benefit?09 Apr 2025 21:33 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3lmfww2gtbc23https://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3lmdpiy6e2c2cCanadian economists (and others): I'm running a survey in Canada for the first time, and need to "translate" some U.S. questions. Could someone point me to what the equivalent of either/both of these would be?09 Apr 2025 00:15 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3lmdpiy6e2c2chttps://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3lmdgcx6bos2mFinally an idea that can unite us as a nation (the second sentence, not the first one)08 Apr 2025 21:31 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3lmdgcx6bos2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3lmdbkwkscs2wOr maybe multiply by 2 instead🤷 [contains quote post or other embedded content]08 Apr 2025 20:06 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3lmdbkwkscs2whttps://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3lmcdsx3ft22bOn tariffs, straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. Dear CEA: at least divide by 4. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/opinion/trump-tariff-math-formula.html08 Apr 2025 11:13 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3lmcdsx3ft22bhttps://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3lm7pqbnqik2bSeems like it's worth asking again this morning... [contains quote post or other embedded content]07 Apr 2025 10:08 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3lm7pqbnqik2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/rfisman.bsky.social/post/3llwb7rreok2yI guess we don't know how bad it could have been but...the CEA has what seem to be some serious and earnest people. How is it possible that this doesn't make them resign? (I won't name names but some seem more serious and earnest than others)03 Apr 2025 15:55 +0000at://did:plc:bmlmvmqrskcy4zan6lj7q2kf/app.bsky.feed.post/3llwb7rreok2y