Some Personal News: I’m transitioning out of my role at RenPhil to join GeoQuant as their director of political data science. I will stay on as an advisor to RenPhil.
Also, this change will change absolutely nothing about this Substack. So: links!
Murder rates in London are down ~40% since the 1990s.
It feels like all of the crime news in the UK is negative lately, and it is true that phone theft seems to be up. But it is worth not losing track of the bigger picture - that violent crime is down significantly.
Starting a PhD causally worsens mental health. Note that this study is from Sweden - a country I think of as having really quite gentle PhDs and good working conditions.
My friend Rory Fenton is hiring for a program manager role at a “DARPA for animal welfare”.
Economics research does not appear to be getting more replicable or robust over time.
In the 1500s in England, there was a minimum number of working hours. It was 66 hours a week. Man I love modernity.
Congrats on the new job! Glad to see you'll be staying in the RenPhil fam