Nathan Franz

Nathan Franz

@nathanfranz.bsky.social

Econ job market candidate at UT-Austin, working on maternal and child health in India

217 followers314 following345 posts

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UM Population Studies Center
@um-psc.bsky.social

💗 Meet the new postdocs at @um-psc.bsky.social! @nathanfranz.bsky.social, @jessiehimmel.bsky.social, and @michaeltopping.bsky.social shared their research projects (summary in the link!) at PSC's kick-off brown bag seminar. @umisr.bsky.social @burgards.bsky.social psc.isr.umich.edu/news/meet-th...

psc.isr.umich.eduMeet the Post-Docs: Nathan Franz, Jessie Himmelstern and Michael Topping Join the Population Studies CenterThree new postdoctoral fellows introduced themselves and their research at this fall’s kickoff brown-bag seminar at the University of Michigan Population Studies Center (PSC). Here’s a look at their w...

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Ryan Moulton
@moultano.bsky.social

I have no way of knowing how close the labs are to RSI other than what they say, and they say they're close. Everything on the other side of RSI looks Yudkowskian to me. I can't visualize an alternative.

Nathan Franz
@nathanfranz.bsky.social

Something I realized today: "All models are wrong, but some are useful" applies in economics, but the usefulness is mainly rhetorical, not in describing reality. Models are engines of persuasion.

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Nathan Franz
@nathanfranz.bsky.social

Canonical economic models everyone agrees on are rarer than I expected, coming from physics. When they exist it's often a selection effect, where the model defines the field rather than the field converging on truth.

Nathan Franz
@nathanfranz.bsky.social

Perhaps a literature makes real progress when adversarial models, built from opposite sides' premises, converge on similar conclusions. The remaining disagreement becomes empirical rather than theoretical.

Nathan Franz
@nathanfranz.bsky.social

Something I realized today: "All models are wrong, but some are useful" applies in economics, but the usefulness is mainly rhetorical, not in describing reality. Models are engines of persuasion.

Nathan Franz
@nathanfranz.bsky.social

A model is persuasive when its premises are ones the opposing side accepts, and its conclusions go against them. The rhetorical force comes from granting the other side's starting point.

Nathan Franz
@nathanfranz.bsky.social

This gives every model a rhetorical direction and points to needing multiple models for every disagreement. The only productive extension is to make the primitives even more adversarial to the conclusion.

Nathan Franz reposted

Prof Dynarski
@dynarski.bsky.social

A senior academic using mentoring as leverage to obtain sex is a contemptible abuser of power.

Prof Dynarski@dynarski.bsky.social

Summers conferred with Epstein frequently about how to extract sexual favors from a Harvard econ grad (AB '04, PhD '09) The grad is from China Epstein and Summers referred to her by the codename "Peril" Racism and sexual exploitation in one efficient package bit.ly/3LHpin8

bit.lyAs Summers Sought Clandestine Relationship With Woman He Called a Mentee, Epstein Was His ‘Wing Man’ | News | The Harvard CrimsonWhen former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: convicted sex offender Jef...

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Melissa Gentry
@melissadgentry.bsky.social

I am excited to announce I am on the #EconJobMarket this year! 🎉 My research explores economic barriers for people with disabilities at the intersection of labor, public, and health economics. My #EconJMP examines how reliable transportation transforms outcomes for this population. 🧵1/6

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Miranda Lambert
@mirandainez.bsky.social

I'm on the #EconJobMarket!🥳 My research examines how childhood trauma from violence shapes household violence in adulthood. My #EconJMP asks: How do trauma histories interact with their partners' experiences to shape intimate partner violence and violence against children? 🧵

Nathan Franz reposted

Anne Fitzpatrick
@annefitz13.bsky.social

Replying to @annefitz13.bsky.social

Nathan Franz, PhD student at UT Austin - he’ll be on the market this fall! Paper is about the trade off between public and private facility deliveries, leading to a situation where private and more expensive facilities have worse health outcomes Website: nathan-franz.github.io

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R. Daniel (Danny) Bressler
@rdbressler.bsky.social

🚨New Paper🚨 Valuing statistical absences? Why benefit-cost analysis cannot avoid population ethics" My new paper with regulatory legal scholar extraordinaire Andy Stawasz is out in Ecological Economics! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.comValuing statistical absences? Why benefit-cost analysis cannot avoid population ethicsPolicies subject to BCA sometimes prevent premature deaths. If survivors would later have children, those policies not only prevent deaths; they cause…

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David
@yonderdavid.bsky.social

By the way, for anyone wondering why we have imports on the books from Heard Island and McDonald Islands, the answer is that someone logged imports from Honduras incorrectly.

David@yonderdavid.bsky.social

The databases really do claim that we imported "INSULATED COAXIAL CABLE AND OTHER COAXIAL ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS" from HM/HMD. That doesn't make sense, but do you know what one of the top exports of HN/HND is? Insulated wire. I'd love to know the *mechanics* of the error but the result is obvious.

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Nathan Franz
@nathanfranz.bsky.social

Even assuming there must be zero net trade across all its trading partners, Country A would be better off with a trade deficit with Country B and trade surplus with Country C. Similarly for the rest of the countries.

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Eeshani Kandpal
@eeshani.bsky.social

A timely, important, and wonderfully written piece on the Demographic and Health Surveys by Caren Grown. So much learning stands on the shoulders of the DHS. Donors must step up and step in— and soon— especially to rescue the 18 surveys currently in the field. www.brookings.edu/articles/an-...

brookings.eduAn ode to the Demographic and Health Survey ProgramCaren Grown reflects on the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program and its 40-plus years of impact.

Nathan Franz reposted

Data Rescue Project #DataRescue
@datarescueproject.org

Our group has been hard at work to release a new tool: The Data Rescue Tracker. The tool aims to provide a consolidated overview of who is downloading which dataset from which government websites. Please share! www.datarescueproject.org/data-rescue-...

datarescueproject.orgThe Data Rescue TrackerWe are excited to introduce the Data Rescue Tracker, a collaborative tool built to catalog existing public data rescue efforts so that we can coordinate better across initiatives. At this stage, you c...

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