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Noah Smith 🐇 Profile picture
Noah Smith 🐇
@Noahpinion
Writes about economics, posts about rabbits. For serious opinions/analysis, read my blog: https://t.co/KfUxUlCYPz (Avatar = Utsumi Yukie from Battle Royale)
10 subscribers
Oct 7, 2018 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Yes, we have been more divided than we are now. Within living memory. Labor disputes used to kill hundreds of people! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_…
Oct 6, 2018 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
"Noah" is at the point where it's a common enough name where there are lots of Noahs around, but still uncommon enough that people get us confused a lot. I keep feeling guilty about being mistaken for Noah Feldman and angry about being mistaken for Noah Berlatsky...
Oct 4, 2018 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
1/OK so, I might as well give my take on this new Sokal Hoax on culture studies: motherjones.com/kevin-drum/201… 2/Sokal hoaxes are funny pranks - at least I find them funny.

And they probably do point to an important problem in academia - the "publish or perish" ethos that forces many academics to publish low-quality papers, often (though not always) in low-ranked journals.
Oct 3, 2018 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Democrats' midterm enthusiasm advantage over Republicans seems to have evaporated: npr.org/2018/10/03/654…

Is this from Kavanaugh? Something else? Plus GOP approval ratings are up. Wild. news.gallup.com/poll/242906/re…
Oct 1, 2018 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Today's @bopinion post is about the EITC, which is awesome, and about @RoKhanna's plan to expand the EITC, which is also awesome.

bloomberg.com/view/articles/… Here's a picture of how the Brown-Khanna plan would change the EITC. It's a very big expansion, but the cost ($140B/yr) is worth it, given how effective this program is at fighting poverty.
Sep 30, 2018 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
1/Here's a thread about why it kind of annoys me when people talk about "elites" in America.

I don't think the American elite is unified. I think what we have are a bunch of different elites that often don't even talk to each other or like each other that much. 2/Here are some groups in America who might reasonably be called "elites":
1. Tech industry businesspeople
2. D.C. lawyers and politicos
3. NYC finance people
4. Hollywood people
5. Academics at universities scattered throughout the country
6. Writers
7. CEOs
Sep 29, 2018 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
1/Random thread about "identity politics".

I think when people on the right and center talk about "identity politics", they tend to conflate a number of very different movements and ideas.

E.g. areomagazine.com/2018/09/25/ide… 2/Movements like BLM and MeToo are often labeled "identity politics", as are hard-multiculturalist ideas like anti-appropriation.

But these are very different. One is about winning equality within American society, the other is about carving out spaces within American society.
Sep 28, 2018 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
1/Weekly recap of my @bopinion posts for the week of 9/24-9/28!

First, a joint post with @conorsen about how to do homeownership policy right this time:
bloomberg.com/view/articles/… 2/Next, my debate with @StephanieKelton about the dangers of government deficits (er...private surpluses)!

bloomberg.com/view/articles/…
Sep 27, 2018 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
Hey, everybody! Today's @bopinion post is about the idea of creating a U.S. Office of Industrial Policy.

bloomberg.com/view/articles/… We already have a government agency that does technology projects, and it works startlingly well! nber.org/papers/w24674
Sep 25, 2018 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
おっす！ Today's @bopinion post is about the third term of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and how Japan can build on its recent economic successes!

bloomberg.com/view/articles/… Japan's economy has actually been doing fairly well since the year 2000 - no "lost decades" in the new millennium!

But it's been doing especially well in recent years, under Abe.
Sep 23, 2018 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
A small piece of good (or less bad) news.

I made a mistake! The new Trump rule denying visas & green cards to immigrants who use govt. benefits is NOT retroactive.

Here was my tweet, which I deleted, along with the relevant quote from the (mistaken) NBC article I based it on! Here is the (mistaken) NBC article I was citing: nbcnews.com/politics/immig…

And here is the text of the Trump proposal: dhs.gov/sites/default/…

Here is a quote saying it won't be retroactive, from p. 139:
Sep 21, 2018 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
Today's @bopinion post is about why Africa is the future, and why China is smart to invest in that future, and why the West should follow suit.

bloomberg.com/view/articles/… Why is Africa the future?

Simple: Because that's where all the people will be!
Sep 21, 2018 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Counterpoint:

Inequality between the working and middle classes has increased plenty in homogeneous nations like Japan as well.

U.S. median income ranks 6th in the world.

Crime is way down.

The U.S. is less corrupt than Japan, Korea, Ireland, France, or Taiwan. More counterpoint:

The Rust Belt happened in the 80s when America was still pretty homogeneous, and the Midwest has actually recovered somewhat since.

Diverse cities like San Diego, NYC and Houston are the economic and cultural powerhouses of the nation.
Sep 20, 2018 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
"And then there was the ever-present football player rapist"
- the Butthole Surfers

washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/… I remember hearing that line in high school and not even batting an eye. It was just reality. Saying "the ever-present football player rapist" was like saying "the neighbor's dog".

Sep 19, 2018 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
1/Today's @bopinion is about why "zero-growth" environmentalism is the wrong kind of environmentalism.

bloomberg.com/view/articles/… 2/We need growth in order to save the world's poor people from leading horrifying lives of grinding crushing poverty.
Sep 18, 2018 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
I wrote a @bopinion post about my hometown: College Station, Texas.

College Station has a very successful growth model that should be an example for the Rust Belt.

Unless Trump screws it up.

bloomberg.com/view/articles/… College Station's economy is doing GREAT.

Growing population, rising wages, low unemployment.
Sep 17, 2018 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
1/OK, a quick thread about why I disagree with most of this Krugman post:
nytimes.com/2018/09/16/opi… 2/Most importantly, the whole thing is written with a focus on macroeconomics, and business cycle analysis in particular.

Obviously that's one of Krugman's main interest, but it is far from synonymous with "economics".
Sep 15, 2018 • 22 tweets • 6 min read
1/Alright, so folks wanted me to expand on this idea, so here we go. Elite disaffection and the return of the American Left.

As you may have noticed, we're seeing an upsurge in young Americans who reject capitalism. Why? forbes.com/sites/victorli… 2/During a Bloggingheads discussion today, my interlocutor, a 29-year-old Jacobin writer, said something very interesting.

She said that interest in socialism wasn't just about destitution, but about "disappointment".
Sep 14, 2018 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
I thought I remembered playing Starcraft II #WhenLehmanCollapsed, but that must be a false memory since Starcraft II wasn't released until 2010. So in fact, I can't remember what I was doing. I don't recall being very concerned at the time. I do recall that on 9/11 I mostly played Super Smash Bros. with @bennpeifert.
Sep 11, 2018 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
Today's @bopinion post is about Bernie Sanders' "Stop BEZOS Act", and why it's a misguided idea.

bloomberg.com/view/articles/… The idea is to tax companies for 100% of the food stamps, housing vouchers, school lunches and Medicaid their employees receive, IF those employees are paid less than $15/hr.

seattletimes.com/business/sande…
Sep 11, 2018 • 20 tweets • 5 min read
1/I noticed Brit Hume defending Tucker Carlson's remarks about diversity today, and it made me think about how ideas go from the political extremes to the political mainstream. I kind of have a model in my head for how this process happens.

2/The idea that an influx of minorities is dangerous to the fabric of a nation is a very, very old idea on the political right, of course...

amazon.com/Strangers-Land…