Paul Hufe

Paul Hufe

@paulhufe.net

social scientist (economist). interests: equality of opportunity, skill development, and education. paulhufe.net

1.2K followers905 following88 posts

Last but not least: @kristoberg.bsky.social builds social welfare functions holding workers responsible for *merit* (own education) not *circumstances* (parental education), calibrates on an optimal tax model on Norwegian registers. Result: lower optimal marginal rates than utilitarian.

Why do meritocratic societies tolerate big inheritance-based inequalities? Simona Sartor runs two US experiments: people partly accept inherited merit as merit — "aristocratic meritocracy." Optimal inheritance tax falls below the pure-meritocrat benchmark.

When good ends require dodgy means, what do people do? Our second keynote Roland Benabou (Princeton Economics) runs a real-stakes trolley plus 5 other ends-vs-means games. 20–44% pick non-consequentialist — but trolley choices predict *nothing* about the rest. Kantian/utilitarian isn't a trait.

Next up: Ingvild Almas (UZH Department of Economics) on perceived *unfair* inequality in labor markets — with a particular focus on the influence of inequality perceptions and fairness preferences.

What story do people *spontaneously* tell about inequality? Magdalena Wasilewska (UvA) asks Dutch respondents in their own words: 62% structural (labour market, taxes, family), 25% merit, 16% luck.

Is it OK to put yourself first? @ranveigfalch.bsky.social asks ~28k people in the US and Scandinavia. 95% say yes — but only 8% accept caring *only* about yourself. Markets/voting fine, family/work not. Americans more permissive than Scandinavians.

Opening keynote (on zoom): Ernst Fehr (UZH) showing that social preferences from standard designs suffer from an omitted variable bias. You need to account for both behindness- and aheadness- aversion to get it right.

Why do some countries hold the line on inequality? @mortenstostad.bsky.social runs a 40-country, 90k-person experiment splitting redistribution into altruistic vs "self-preserving" (inequality is bad *for you*). Self-preserving predicts welfare states — biggest in the Nordics.

Opening keynote (on zoom): Ernst Fehr (@econ.uzh.ch) showing that social preferences from standard designs suffer from an omitted variable bias. You need to account for both behindness- and aheadness- aversion to get it right.

Paul Hufe reposted

Replying to @tomanbarsbai.com

Christoph Albert shows that US immigrants buy substantially more imported goods than natives. They also reduce trade costs and increase local import supply, with small spillovers to natives. Tariffs hit immigrant households far harder than natives. Paper: www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo...

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Ran Abramitzky addresses the interaction between immigration and politics: if immigrants' outcomes are positive, why are immigration politics so negative? Long-run perspective using historical US data.

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Can migrant letters shape culture at origin? @martinfs23.bsky.social presents evidence from 6,000+ letters by 19th-century Irish migrants in North America. The Catholic Church’s staggered expansion in the US increased religious content, contributing to a Catholic revival in Ireland.

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Next up, Sarah Winton studies Jordan’s decision to grant Syrian refugees the right to work. Refugees moved to better jobs, while Jordanians shifted out of the most exposed occupations. Result: higher output, lower inequality, and the largest gains for the poorest Jordanians.

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@linchuanxu.bsky.social studies labor recruitment agencies in China. By connecting workers in poorer regions to jobs in high-wage cities, these middlemen increase temporary migration, narrow regional wage gaps, generate output gains, and capture a large share as profits.

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@jeromevallette.bsky.social studies how far-right movements reshape mainstream politics in France. As the Front National gained votes, mainstream right candidates moved to its terrain, talking more negatively about immigration and linking it to crime and welfare.

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With Caroline Theoharides, we turn to how migration moves more than people. International mobility can carry skills, ideas, and human capital across borders, with important lessons for how policy shapes who benefits from these flows.

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@yajnagovind.bsky.social studies France’s 1993 reform requiring children of immigrants to formally request French citizenship. The reform weakened French identity, increased perceived discrimination, and reduced cultural integration.

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Emma Thill studies how European national football shapes immigration attitudes. When diverse teams win, people become more open to immigration. When they lose, immigrant-origin players become scapegoats, and support for the far right increases.

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Next, @mkaradja.bsky.social shows that war reaches people who never enter the conflict zone. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainians in Sweden saw mental-health prescriptions rise by 30%, while also working and earning more to support family and friends at home.

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Next, @mettefoged.bsky.social studies Denmark’s decision to label high-immigrant neighborhoods as “ghettos.” Rather than fostering social cohesion, the policy backfired: families chose more foreign-sounding names and cultural distance widened.

💥 We’re absolutely thrilled that the Bristol Applied Economics Meetings (BÆM) kick off tomorrow at the University of Bristol! 💥 We have an amazing program bringing together leading research on development, migration, and fairness in the economy.

Listen to him!

Pietro Biroli@pietrobiroli.bsky.social

📆 Gentle reminder that the deadline is approaching for submission. Don't answer that other email, drop everything else, focus. You HAVE TO POLISH THE PAPER and send it to ESSGN🧬. NOW. (think how the NON-gentle reminder would have been) ⚒️

Paul Hufe reposted

📣 Last call for BÆM 2026 📣 Submissions are open until this Saturday, 31st January. Development (5-6 May) w/ Mobarak, Orkin, Rasul, Rossi Migration (6-7 May) w/ Abramitzky, Monras, Theoharides Fairness (8 May) w/ Fehr, Bénabou, Almås www.baem.info

baem.infoBristol Applied Economics Meetings
Paul Hufe@paulhufe.net

‼️ Less than two weeks to go! ‼️ 📢 Submit your papers to BÆM 2026! - Development (5-6 May) w/ Mobarak, Orkin, Rasul, Rossi - Migration (6-7 May) w/ Abramitzky, Monras, Theoharides - Fairness (8 May) w/ Fehr, Bénabou, Almås www.baem.info

Very instructive thread! I love the idea of connecting perceived social value and deservingness. I am not aware of a study that has explored this avenue. Go for it @jacobedenhofer.bsky.social ! I would certainly be keen to see the results :)!

Jacob Edenhofer@jacobedenhofer.bsky.social

A deep paper -- that popped into my head as I was perusing S. Durlauf's recent essay on meritocracy. The paper raises a broader question: how to be meritocratic when there is uncertainty about the relative weights of luck and effort in individuals' production function? www.tse-fr.eu/sites/defaul...

Wohooo! Ganz herzlichen Glueckwunsch! Ich freue mich sehr fuer dich. 💪

Henning Hermes@henninghermes.com

1/ 📣 BIG News! It’s finally official: I’m starting a new job – and it’s the BEST! 🥳 I’ve joined the ifo Institute Munich as Deputy Director of the @ifoeducation.bsky.social (tenured) and have been appointed Associate Professor (tenure-track) at @lmumuenchen.bsky.social / @econmunich.bsky.social.

Paul Hufe reposted

Checking off your pre-🎄to-do list? Don’t forget to submit your paper to the Bristol Applied Economics Meetings (BÆM)! 🗓️ 5–8 May 2026 | 📍 University of Bristol School of Economics 🔗 www.baem.info Send us your best work!

baem.infoBristol Applied Economics Meetings
Paul Hufe@paulhufe.net

📢 CfP Alert! We’re excited to announce the 3rd Bristol Applied Economics Meetings (BÆM). 🗓️ 5–8 May 2026 | 📍 University of Bristol Three focused workshops in applied economics: Development, Migration & Fairness. 🔗 www.baem.info

Paul Hufe reposted

🚨 JOB MARKET PAPER ALERT! 🚨 Why do firms provide different workplace amenities? And how does amenity provision affect labor market inequality? 🧵

Paul Hufe reposted

BÆM is back! Submit your paper and join us for the 3rd Bristol Applied Economics Meetings. Three workshops with a fantastic lineup of invited speakers: Development Economics, 5-6 May Economics of Migration, 6-7 May Fairness in the Economy, 8 May Calls for papers👇https://www.baem.info/

📢 CfP Alert! We’re excited to announce the 3rd Bristol Applied Economics Meetings (BÆM). 🗓️ 5–8 May 2026 | 📍 University of Bristol Three focused workshops in applied economics: Development, Migration & Fairness. 🔗 www.baem.info

🌍 Development (5–6 May) M. Mobarak (Yale), K. Orkin (Oxford), I. Rasul (UCL), P. Rossi (CREST) 👥 Migration (6–7 May) R. Abramitzky (Stanford), J. Monras (UPF), C. Theoharides (Amherst) ⚖️ Fairness (8 May) E. Fehr (Zurich), R. Bénabou (Princeton), I. Almås (Zurich)

Keep an eye on this guy 👇Fantastic things to come. Congratulations to a truly outstanding thesis 👏

Daniel Weishaar@danielweishaar.net

I’m deeply grateful to @apeichl.bsky.social, Emanuel Hansen and @clemensfuest.bsky.social for forming an excellent and complementary supervision team. Together, they equipped me with the knowledge, networks, opportunities, and guidance that enabled my research to thrive over the past years.

Had an amazing time at LISIT 2025. Thanks a lot to @robertoiacono.org and all organizers for putting together a fantastic event!

Roberto Iacono@robertoiacono.org

The first session on Behavioral Econ was chaired by @robertoiacono.org and included presentations from @paulhufe.net (Just Cheap Talk), @franziskadbacher.bsky.social (The Good Council), and @krishnasrini.bsky.social (Who deserves a tax break and why).