#AcademicRunPlaylist - 12/5/25

It was extremely cold in Boston, but after bundling up I still got out for a nice run and listened to talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was the always informative monthly economic briefing (sans BLS numbers) by Gregory Brown at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFl7g05Xm74

Next was a great talk by Erik Hurst on labor market transformations during technological change at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYe4tVUj5DI

Next was the National Bureau of Economic Research place-based policies and entrepreneurship conference, with standout talks by Lee Fleming (tech clusters distort innovation) and Karthik Sastry (Embrapa and Brazil's agricultural revolution) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s99R14RMak0

Next was an interesting talk by Bryan Seegmiller on AI and the labor market at NBER https://www.youtube.com/live/SP6DkVxtkqM?si=-RFmSFwCrO519vu4&t=20767

Next was the BREAD/NBER development economics meeting, with notable talks by Garima Sharma (effects of mandated maternity leave on labor market outcomes in India), Erin Kelley (household preferences for female employment in Bangladesh), and Joshua Dean (effect of location exposure on spatial choices in Nairobi) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjGmSXhemvo

Next was the first day of the NBER innovation information initiative working group meeting. This event is short but packed with incredible data work by Melissa Wasserman (biologics patent DB), Evgenii Fadeev (constructing the Soviet patent dataset), and a depressing but vital talk by Matt Marx and Andrew A Toole on the next steps for US patent data. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxJ2dEukqGM

Next was “The Half Has Never Been Told” by Edward Baptist. This book is an important, impressive work of scholarship that combines personal accounts with macro perspective to demonstrate the importance of slavery in driving US economic growth. In addition, Baptist repeatedly demonstrates how the protection and expansion of slavery was baked into US systems of governance. I would have looked to see more quantitative data and analysis, and there are entertaining but ultimately distracting asides and flowery prose that aren't my cup of tea. Overall this is still a great book that is unfortunately more relevant than ever. Highly recommend https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/edward-e-baptist/the-half-has-never-been-told/9780465097685/

Last was “Feminist Cyberlaw,” edited by Meg Leta Jones and Amanda Levendowski Tepski. This is a great, eclectic collection of essays analyzing legal and law-adjacent topics from a feminist perspective. As with any collection like this, some sections are going to be more interesting than others, and with some non-academics mixed in the analytical style varies a fair amount. I particularly liked the chapter by Nina Srejovic on patents and the gendered view of computing. Highly recommend https://www.ucpress.edu/books/feminist-cyberlaw/epub-pdf