Alexander Yarkin

Assistant Professor, UC Dublin @EconomicsUCD. Labor, migration, political econ, growth. Previously PhD @Brown_Economics, postdoc @UCDavisEcon and @LISERinLUX

[Alexander Yarkin @AlexMYarkin]

Hi #EconTwitter,

I am on the Job Market!

My primary fields are Labor, Migration, and Political Economy. My secondary fields are Macro and Growth.

In my 1st JMP, I examine how the global spread of the Internet affects immigrants' socio-economic integration in the US.🧵

[Alexander Yarkin @AlexMYarkin]

@bergerthor @galoroded

[Michele Belot @BelotMichele]

Big announcement to the Labor Econ Community: We have created the "Labor Hub" - a platform to exchange relevant info (events, jobs, visits, SI, papers...) - Apply to become a member! Job market candidates especially encouraged to apply! Link: https://t.co/MPalJTiupY Please share!

[Alexander Yarkin @AlexMYarkin]

@GilDoVigor Congrats man! This is superb

[Brown Economics @Brown_Economics]

Meet this year’s @Brown_Economics Job Market Candidates! Explore their research, learn more about their work and connect with them here: https://t.co/5c8cyUnUhj

[Alexander Abajian @acabajian]

To the intersection of #EconTwitter and hiring committees — I'm on the #EconJobMarket and hoping to steal a bit of your screen time. My #JMP examines how adaptation to climate change will affect the global population distribution and its implications for welfare. (1/n)

[Alexander Yarkin @AlexMYarkin]

Had a fantastic day @MU_Econ yesterday: superb seminar, energetic faculty and students, and look at this campus 👇 Thanks for having me!

Don't forget to apply for their AP position, deadline is tomorrow! https://t.co/UT4MxCvSL0

[Alexander Yarkin @AlexMYarkin]

🚨We are hiring @EconomicsUCD

Open AP https://t.co/aI0dYa0Y8h

Assoc Prof (Environmental) https://t.co/Mkifb38kHr

💡Amazing research environment
🤗Great colleagues and PhD students
🏦Trinity, Maynooth & Central Bank next door
⛰️Stunning nature
🍻Dublin's vibes

Any Qs? DM me!

[Alexander Yarkin @AlexMYarkin]

@ThomasTalhelm @NatureHumBehav Very interesting! To double check: does this new dimension of "collectivism" not resemble the good old "family ties"? A-la Alesina et al.'s old papers? E.g., https://t.co/e3PBrnq3jg

[Alexander Yarkin @AlexMYarkin]

@akib_kn Will Piketty - Saez - Zucman get it, or too early / too controversial?

[Alex Imas @alexolegimas]

Important result from our Google AI x Econ team. Field evidence for pre existing expertise favoring the ability to learn from AI assisted work.

[Alex Veremeyenko @alex_verem]

MIT published a brutally honest report on what AI is doing to students.

A committee of professors and students spent five months studying how AI changed learning on campus, and the findings read like a warning to every university on the planet.

Study groups are disappearing. Office hours are emptying out. Problem sets and take-home exams no longer prove anything, because AI can produce credible solutions to almost any written assignment in the undergraduate curriculum. Students who lean on chatbots lose mastery and confidence, and some slip into what the report calls cognitive surrender, reaching for AI at the first hint of struggle.

The numbers are rough. 46 percent of surveyed MIT undergrads use LLMs daily. 90 percent worry about their own overreliance. Undergrads who feel AI makes them replaceable now outnumber those who feel it makes them capable.

The committee's answer surprised me. They refused to fight AI with surveillance. The report calls AI detectors unreliable, says lockdown browsers feel like spying, and warns that policing students builds a classroom atmosphere of mutual distrust.

Instead, MIT wants to rebuild education around the things AI can't replace. That means oral exams, semester portfolios, in-person project work, and a required social component in every subject. The report even floats the idea of rethinking grades entirely, since without a GPA to optimize, much of the incentive to cheat with AI evaporates.

The committee warns professors against replacing undergrad research assistants with AI agents just because they're cheaper, because a university exists to grow people, not output.

The most famous tech school on earth admitted the machines broke its way of teaching. Its answer is more humans, not more software.

[Alexander Yarkin @AlexMYarkin]

These latest PISA trends are grim. But the subject and country variations are curious.

The OECD average reading and science show a gradual decline since the social media age. Math shows a sharper COVID break.

In Ireland: minimal drop in reading and science, but big in math?

[Alexander Yarkin @AlexMYarkin]

@luca_repetto_c @EconomicsUCD I'll DM you

[Alexander Yarkin @AlexMYarkin]

Excited to share the @EconomicsUCD seminar line-up for Fall 2026!

As the seminar co-organizer, I am looking forward to welcoming this fantastic group of scholars to UCD Econ for an exciting term of research and exchange.

Shoot me a message if you'd like to come in the future!

[Alexander Yarkin @AlexMYarkin]

@luca_repetto_c @EconomicsUCD Thanks Luca! Have you been to Dublin? 😊

[Alexander Yarkin @AlexMYarkin]

@wsandholtz @EconomicsUCD Thanks Wayne! It's super exciting, can't wait to see all these folks come to UCD Econ. And it looks like we sample from NOVA quite a bit 😊

[Kevin A. Bryan @Afinetheorem]

Fall terms coming up. How should we modify university teaching to both use AI effectively and ensure students actually learn/don't just cheat their way through? I wrote eight rules I've been using; hopefully useful for you as well. 1/3

[Michael Clemens @m_clem]

The new H-1B tax gets announced tomorrow.

The original $100K tax was ruled illegal. The White House made its successor: a $103K tax on *all* private sector H-1Bs.

Much more drastic than the original: NO EXCEPTION for people already in the US (like grads of US universities) —>

[Alexander Yarkin @AlexMYarkin]

@vix_0ii @paulnovosad That's not what I asked though...

[Alexander Yarkin @AlexMYarkin]

@vix_0ii @paulnovosad Would you trust a lawyer with your money or a doctor with your life who him/herself learned nothing in school, but "can use AI at their job"?