Josh Robinson

Academic economist doing research in health econ, human capital, inequality, and gun policy. Fighting ignorance. Views are my own.

[Josh Robinson @DrJoshRob]

Y’all gotta spot this shit. They were conned. Were they naive? Sure. But they are still victims here. The way forward is to embrace them into the side of understanding and truth. Trump is the greatest conman of all time, and the people he has tricked are victims.

[MAGA Cult Slayer🦅🇺🇸 @MAGACult2]

You have to watch this. This is exactly what the left told you (MAGA) precisely a year ago. Now you farmers can get bent. Welcome to the find out era. #FAFO

[Emily Oster @ProfEmilyOster]

In my many lectures on where data comes from, I start with: "The CDC estimates the obesity rate in the US is 41.6%. How do they know?" People have all kinds of ideas, but you quickly realize that to know this in a reliable way you need to weigh a random sample of Americans (1/2)

[Nate Silver @NateSilver538]

Should save this for a newsletter, but OpenAI's recent actions don't seem to be consistent with a company that believes AGI is right around the corner.

[Jeremy Horpedahl 🥚📉 @jmhorp]

The US now has fewer manufacturing jobs than before the pandemic. Total employment is up 5% over that same time period.

[Josh Robinson @DrJoshRob]

This is why skilled trades have always commanded a high salary and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. But we don’t have a shortage of them bc too many people go college. Most people can’t do them, and go to college to take the mindless jobs of the 21st century.

[Josh Robinson @DrJoshRob]

Hot take: the reason so few people go into skilled trades is because they couldn’t do it. Skilled trades take a level of problem solving, improvisation, and extrapolation that most people are incapable of. Modern white collar work mimics the factory work of old: learn and repeat.

[Josh Robinson @DrJoshRob]

While, many white collar jobs take a much higher level of learning than most old blue collar jobs, it is none the less true that most white collar jobs still boil down to repeating procedure with very little thought. Either most prefer this or are incapable of anything else.

[Josh Robinson @DrJoshRob]

So much winning 🤦‍♂️ ... But seriously, this is one of the many things that will drive us into a recession (~Q1 '26). The golden rule of public finance is that you don't tax intermediate goods because it will tank production. Welcome to what happens when the US is run by morons.

[Scott Lincicome @scottlincicome]

Thanks to tariffs (esp re: Canada), US aluminium prices are now roughly 50% higher than in Europe & Japan, thus putting US manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage.

Heckuva industrial strategy.

[Alberto Cavallo @albertocavallo]

US tariffs update: Imported goods cost 5% more, domestic goods 3% more than pre-tariff trends predicted. Data now runs through Aug 8 — and we push the history back to Jan 1, 2024 (Appendix), showing a full year of stability before tariffs broke the trend. https://t.co/BFAmW0frQF

[Brian Albrecht @BrianCAlbrecht]

🧵 of EJ Antoni completely not understanding economic statistics, being partisan hack, or both

[South Park @SouthPark]

Hey, Satan!

[Josh Robinson @DrJoshRob]

@DavidJo30329121 I say this all the time. If they are cheating, then they are terrible at it.

[Josh Robinson @DrJoshRob]

So proud of @RClohan! @UABSchoolofBiz Econ grads are awesome! Also, a @HonorsUAB grad.

[Wojtek Kopczuk 🇵🇱🇺🇦 and 🇺🇲 @wwwojtekk]

Everything about these tariffs was stupid, and everyone who defended it is economically illiterate, an opportunist or a moron (and often all of these). Even if this episode ends soon, the damage to US institutions and credibility is permanent and it's costly

[Justin Wolfers @JustinWolfers]

I just want to tip my hat to the crack team of White House economists who were able to discover--in just a few short days--that the U.S. is dependent on China for smartphones, computers and semiconductors.

[Michael Kofoed @mikekofoed]

The economics profession to policymakers everywhere this week:

[Josh Robinson @DrJoshRob]

This signals a massive, global retreat from dollar-based assets. This is concerning given our large national debt and the very high likelihood of a recession in the near future. We could be seeing the beginnings of a financial crisis... economy's biggest enemy is uncertainty.

[Justin Wolfers @JustinWolfers]

If you find talk of bond and forex markets hard to track, this graph does an amazing job illustrating what's going on (and why).

[Josh Robinson @DrJoshRob]

@jasonfurman is right about this, and we can only hope that Congress realizes this is the only pathway forward that doesn't risk significant, long-term economic damage. Congress must take tariff powers back.

[Bill Kristol @BillKristol]

NEW. @jasonfurman on Trump's tariffs.

"I don’t see how the president can get rid of what is now a massive amount of uncertainty...The only way to put that genie back in the bottle would be for Congress to take tariff-setting power back to itself."

https://t.co/CGUTcd2GGH