The Mixtape with Scott

Orley Ashenfelter is arguably the founding father of one of the most influential empirical movements in the modern era -- the so-called credibility revolution. He was the adviser to two Nobel laureates (Josh Angrist and David Card), and guided the Princeton Industrial Relations group for years. Arguably if not one of the most important labor economists of his generation, then at least one of the sharpest. In this interview we talk about his influences, his discovery of the famed Ashenfelter Dip, the popular research design difference-in-differences and more. Check it out! Get full access to Scott's Mixtape Substack at causalinf.substack.com/subscribe

When I think of the economics of the minimum wage, I think of Ted Lasso season 2 when we learn of a pretend new book by Brené Brown, "Enter the Arena, But Bring a Knife". The economics of minimum wage is not for the faint of heart as the question of its effect, both in theory and in reality, has been debated fiercely by extraordinarily competent labor economists for decades, and I don't see it ending any time soon. In this interview, I talk with two economists linked to Texas A&M's economics department -- Jonathan Meer and Jeremy West -- an important paper in the minimum wage literature published in a 2016 issue one of the top labor economics journal, the Journal of Human Resources, about their work on the minimum wage. Check it out and prepared to have your priors confirmed and/or challenged about this important program! Get full access to Scott's Mixtape Substack at causalinf.substack.com/subscribe

A panic attack spread across empirical social science fields like economics from 2008 to 2022 as a result of a half dozen econometrics articles analyzing the most popular non-experimental methods in causal inference -- the difference-in-differences design. The reason? The way researchers had been used it probably wasn't right because they'd been using the wrong tools to do it. One of those econometricians was the brilliant Sophie Sun, a recent graduate of MIT's famous economics department who with Sarah Abraham worked on the problem of analyzing what are called "event studies" using a traditional version of the ordinary least squares model called "twoway fixed effects". This paper both helped expose problems with that approach, but graciously, also proposed solutions. A shot heard around the world! In this interview, we learn more about Sophie's work on the subject, where the ideas came from, and her own interpretation of what she helped create. Get full access to Scott's Mixtape Substack at causalinf.substack.com/subscribe

Alberto Abadie is the creator of one of the most important innovation in causal inference of the last 20 years -- the synthetic control method. Published in 2003, Abadie's model identifies causal effects of broad social interventions when experimentation is practically impossible. He tells the story about how he became interested in terrorism, which was the impetus of the creation of the method in the first place (and which obviously cannot be randomized), as well as his thoughts about econometrics more generally. A brilliant and interesting man, expect him to one day win the Nobel Prize. Get ahead of that future wave by learning more about him now. Get full access to Scott's Mixtape Substack at causalinf.substack.com/subscribe

Steve Tadelis is an interesting bird: Harvard PhD applied microeconomics theorist turned experimentalist, he spent some time at eBay as a Distinguished Scientist where he made some interesting discoveries about the effectiveness (or not) of paid search advertising, a key part of search engine giants like Google's underlying business model. In this interview with Steve, we learn about that research, what makes good versus bad ambassadors of economics in tech, and more. Get full access to Scott's Mixtape Substack at causalinf.substack.com/subscribe

John List, chief economist at Walmart and professor at the University of Chicago, shares his remarkable transition from aspiring golf pro to a leading economist. He discusses the evolution of economic research from environmental themes to practical applications in business. List delves into the importance of scaling effective programs and the challenges of applying academic findings in real-world scenarios. He also highlights the role of entrepreneurial thinking in shaping modern economic landscapes, particularly in tech industries, and explores the dynamics of intimacy within contemporary marketplaces.