toddpugatch.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

So - I've actually led Ebola outbreak response at USAID. This is bunk from Elon. They have laid off most of the experts, they're bankrupting most of the partner orgs, have withdrawn from WHO, and muzzled CDC. What's left is a fig-leaf effort to cover their asses politically.

submitted 23 hours ago • 455 comments

Why Dean Karlan, Chief Economist of USAID resigned yesterday: "I was ready to rebuild from wherever we ended up to identify the most effective programs, figure out how to get them back in place, and to recommend new awards. But I received no response. Zero engagement." www.npr.org/sections/goa...

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

Dean Karlan's job at USAID was LITERALLY to improve the efficiency of its programs. DOGE is clearly not actually after cutting fraud and waste. And its actions will clearly make the US weaker while also making the world a worse place. www.npr.org/sections/goa...

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Kudos to Dean Karlan and his team for their valiant efforts to improve the cost-effectiveness of foreign aid. We'll find a way to continue this important work together.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Development skeeps: has the US Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) been affected by cuts to USAID or other exec orders? If so, how? Teaching about aid in my development class this week and want to get it right. cc: @leecrawfurd.bsky.social @charlesjkenny.bsky.social

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

This is truly devastating. Without DHS, countries' and partners' ability to monitor trends and identify gaps informing where to target global health interventions related to maternal & child health, stunting, intimate partner violence & so much more is severely weakened. 1/6

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Econ seminars in the Iron Age

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Important new work by @nickchk.com & Claus Portner. I’m pleased to have been one of the many analysts on this many-analysts project (scroll the author list for ~5 minutes and you’ll find me).

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Shots fired: "the minority of researchers who used the R programming language were more likely to report outlier estimates than researchers who used Stata."

submitted 1 day ago • 5 comments

Accidentally download the appendix of an econ working paper:

submitted 49 days ago • 3 comments

Yesterday IZA, today the DHS 🥲 The DHS are such a key resource for data on health, nutrition, fertility, etc, and a global public good. Now it will be harder to document the damages of shutting down critical health programs among the world’s poorest, but likely this is why they have been terminated

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Is anyone else getting asked to review federal grant proposals at this time at places where you know many people have been fired? I'm willing to do it if there's some assurance that things will get funded. How are others handling these requests?

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

In terms of reaching other economists, IZA Discussion Papers are probably 2nd only to @nber.org working papers. And if (like me) you’re not in @nber.org, @iza.org is the next best thing. Glad to hear IZA plans to continue the Discussion Paper Series.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

The world's top network of labor economists—@iza.org—will close permanently at the end of this year. What a loss to research. Especially now when the rising waters of disinformation choke truth. It is up to us, now, to begin the work to rebuild. www.deutsche-post-stiftung.org/media/202502...

submitted 3 days ago • 5 comments

Sad news: @iza.org is closing. It's been an important venue for me and many others to disseminate and strengthen our research. Apparently the Discussion Paper Series will continue, which is great. I hope other network activities can be salvaged too.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

It's a very sad day. Just notified that @iza.org is closing its doors as of 31 December 2025. At a time when labor is under attack and technological change moves at an ever-faster pace, I can't help but think that this is a short-sighted decision. My heart goes out to those folks who work there.

submitted 3 days ago • 13 comments

📣 Join our team in South Africa as a Research Manager! Support cutting-edge research on a set of scaling evidence-based programs in collaboration w/ the Department of Basic Education @youthimpactorg.bsky.social @j-pal.bsky.social Lego Zenex + more www.youth-impact.org/join-our-tea...

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Replacing "I hope this email finds you well" with "Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation." in all emails from now on.

submitted 3 days ago • 3 comments

Devastated to report that reading papers to prep my PhD class is making me smarter than my usual weekend pastime of watching sports

submitted 4 days ago • 2 comments

As I always tell my students: an efficient allocation maximizes the sum of consumer susflum and producer susfluis. But watch out for producer burrlis.

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

Congratulations Microsoft on creating a new state of matter! Now fix Teams.

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

Really sad to see this. I hope there are more efforts like this to publicize local ramifications of withdrawing federal support.

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

Pausing in the midst of this dumpster fire of 2025 with gratitude for some students doing well on the job market and in PhD admissions. Sigh.

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

You cannot determine whether you saved or cost money based solely on one side of the ledger. Example: I saved my household $2K by not paying the mortgage.

submitted 10 days ago • 1537 comments

Hi friends! I’m chairing @sreesociety.bsky.social’s Education in Global Contexts section. Send us your best papers on the effects of education interventions outside the US or with lessons across countries. Conference: October 8-11 Chicago, IL 🗓️Abstracts: April 1 sree.memberclicks.net/2025-call

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

What these nihilistic vandals are doing to dismantle science & medicine—generations of expertise & public service & life improving benefits—is cultural revolution level national self harm. No foreign foe could inflict such brutal damage & senseless suffering on US so fast & effectively & unresisted.

submitted 12 days ago • 507 comments

Today!

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

The @aefpweb.bsky.social #EdDev community group meets this Fri (02/14) at 11am ET! @danilaserra-eco.bsky.social & @eeemda.bsky.social will present their work. @wsandholtz.bsky.social & Ari Anisfeld will discuss. Join the community group @aefpweb.bsky.social, or contact me for the Zoom link.

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

Friend just posted his breakfast in the group chat. Yeah ok I get it, you’re rich.

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

Sunday is the deadline for submissions to our 🚀 3rd CESifo/ifo Junior Workshop on the Economics of Education 🥳 12-13 May 2025, Munich Keynotes: Alexander Willén and @alexeble.bsky.social 🎇 Submit now! 👇

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

NEW PAPER: A World Bank study highlights the importance of engaging students in their learning and shows that the Engage observation tool is highly effective at predicting learning outcomes. The study: bit.ly/4i58odd My blog: bit.ly/4gqqchy @WBG_Education

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

NEW @nature.com article w/Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Liz Spelke + fantastic team! ☑️Children working can use arithmetic to solve problems in their shops, but struggle with abstract math ☑️Children in school can do abstract math, but cannot apply it www.nature.com/articles/s41...

submitted 21 days ago • 9 comments

Children working in markets in India could solve complex applied math problems, but they couldn't solve easier problems when presented in an academic style. Kids in school had opposite results: good on abstract problems, but terrible on an applied market (i.e., real life) problem.

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

Stirring words in my inbox forwarded from a USAID staffer "This Order is Unlawful, and We Must Refuse to Comply"

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

The sudden and illegal elimination of all US aid personnel worldwide immediately reduces US soft power. It makes Americans less secure, everywhere. Economists have shown that pro- and anti-American attitudes are directly shaped by aid given in time of need.

submitted 22 days ago • 9 comments

By 2028 every country on earth will have 3 fentanyl czars and no American tariffs on their goods.

submitted 23 days ago • 2 comments