Tobias Klein

Professor at Tilburg University, enthusiastic about economics, food and technical gadgets.

[Tobias Klein @kleintob]

Over the last years, we have been working on a new website for empirical researchers. It provides lots of information on how to set up workflows for empirical projects. It also introduces researchers to freely available tools. And there is starter code. https://t.co/QfwDKqtuI9

[Emily Oster @ProfEmilyOster]

Advice for PhD students in economics about using AI, from the brilliant Isaiah Andrews. This should probably be circulated to all PhD cohorts

https://t.co/07xEbmx5n5

[Tobias Klein @kleintob]

I always liked the way Jeff Wooldridge approached the new diff in diff!

[Jeffrey Wooldridge @jmwooldridge]

Let's discuss different DiD estimators with unbalanced panels -- often due to missing data on Y, or attrition. I will use the Stata commands csdid and jwdid as part of the discussion. First, a review. Assume time-constant covariates, X and a balanced panel.

[Tobias Klein @kleintob]

Agree!

[John A. List @Econ_4_Everyone]

I have recently received several DMs from both first year grad students and first year assistant professors. The link is not surprising because there is a specific kind of vertigo that comes with Year 1 of grad school and Year 1 of a professorship. It's the gap between who you think you should be and who you feel like you are in the moment, where two worlds collide:

The Imposter Syndrome: "They're going to realize I'm just guessing."
The Uncertainty: "There is no map for this, and I'm the one driving."

For all of those out there, please hear me: the first year isn't a test of your intelligence; it's a test of your endurance through the "I don't know" phase.

But I want to go further than just reassurance, because reassurance alone doesn't build anything.

That discomfort you're feeling? It's actually diagnostic information. It means you're operating at the frontier of what you know, which is exactly where you're supposed to be in a research career. The people who never feel that discomfort are often the ones playing it too safe with their questions.

And the fog doesn't just clear on its own. It clears because you do specific things: you read papers you don't fully understand and struggle through them anyway. You sit in seminars feeling lost and eventually start recognizing the shape of arguments. You write terrible first drafts and revise them into less terrible drafts. The endurance isn't just emotional, it's the endurance to keep doing the work when the feedback loop is painfully delayed.

One more thing: there actually are maps. Advisors, reading lists, established literatures, methodological frameworks. The real challenge is that nobody hands you the map. You have to go find it and figure out which one applies to your particular problem. That's a learnable skill, not a character trait.

So yes, you are not broken. But pair that knowledge with this: start building the thing you're missing. Find the map. Do the next hard read. Write the next bad draft.

The fog clears for the people who keep walking through it. I'm rooting for you.

[Kirill Borusyak @borusyak]

Hi all, I've uploaded the 2025 update to my PhD Applied Econometrics slides:

➡️ More on regression & causality
➡️ Dynamic panel data models
➡️ Streamlined diff-in-diff extensions
➡️ More on spillover effects
➡️ Results from new papers on many topics

Link in the original tweet

[Tobias Klein @kleintob]

Competition is for losers 🧐

[Jaynit @jaynitx]

In 2014, Peter Thiel gave a 1-hour masterclass on how to build a monopoly from scratch.

He broke down how:
• Google became untouchable
• PayPal beat the odds
• Facebook crushed competition

Here are 11 timeless lessons from his masterclass:

1. Create value, then capture it

[Tobias Klein @kleintob]

#econTwitter #econometrics

[Kweku Opoku-Agyemang, Ph.D @KwekuOA]

Everything you wanted to know about econometrics but were afraid to ask.

Don't miss out on this compilation of free econometrics notes:

[CEPR @cepr_org]

The CEPR Virtual Industrial Organisation Seminar #VIOS Series kicks off the Fall 2025 sessions on 1 October featuring Leon Musolff @Wharton presenting: 'Sources of Market Power in Web Search: Evidence from a Field Experiment'
Discussant: @kleintob @TilburgU
More info and register: https://t.co/PlsLfmWes5

[Tobias Klein @kleintob]

AI is not only present everywhere but also has measurable effects on the labor market: https://t.co/yKS7Ar2rTt Great work by @erikbryn and co-authors.

[Tobias Klein @kleintob]

Lively @TilburgU campus

[Tobias Klein @kleintob]

That’s what I’m doing it for 😌. My #econometrics teaching material is #openaccess and available here: https://t.co/43zkL6WgVd and on YouTube https://t.co/sdU0cuiZH0… #econtwitter #economics #openeducation @TilburgU_TiSEM @TilburgU 🧑‍🎓

[Tobias Klein @kleintob]

@JPrzewoski @TilburgU_TiSEM @TilburgU That’s true—but I’m sharing everything I have!

[Florian Ederer @florianederer]

This is one of the most influential papers in labor economics in the last 30 years.

[Tobias Klein @kleintob]

@Saad49211902 Unfortunately only by students from @TilburgU

[Tobias Klein @kleintob]

I have just made a chatbot 👩‍🏫 for my econometrics bachelor's course. I've uploaded the material and the syllabus. Students can now ask questions about course logistics, contents of the slides, the R code we use, and derivations. I love it! 📷 Powered by https://t.co/4q1j95wuix

[Tobias Klein @kleintob]

We have just finished a new paper on advertising

[CEPR @cepr_org]

New CEPR Discussion Paper - DP20376
Are Viewer and Advertiser Preferences Aligned? Evidence from Israel
Chen He @ShanghaiTechUni, @kleintob, Ittai Shacham @TilburgU
https://t.co/zf16cdbxcZ
#CEPR_IO #EconTwitter

[Tobias Klein @kleintob]

Apparently I’ve been on Twitter/X for 14 years #MyXAnniversary

[John B. Holbein @JohnHolbein1]

Difference-in-differences for practitioners from the diff-in-diffs dream team!

[Tobias Klein @kleintob]

Nice list indeed!

[John B. Holbein @JohnHolbein1]

This reading list of recent advances in applied econometrics looks like a treasure trove!

curated by: @Christine_Cai27

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