#AcademicRunPlaylist - 6/23/25

Well I went golfing with the family today, and while it got brutally hot we finished relatively early and I was able to cool off inside and listen to some talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was an amazing discussion with Nicole Cade, Josh Gunn, and Alex Vandenberg on using a list experiment to elicit more accurate estimates of firm earnings manipulation (and finding that it's quite prevalent) on the Business Scholarship Podcast. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M1j0RMVNco

Next was "Impossible Subjects" by Mae Ngai. This book covers American immigration law, policy, and its reality on the ground, focusing mostly on the period ending in the 80s. Ngai doesn't proceed linearly - rather she lays out different facets of American immigration and then follows it through, demonstrating subtle differences between seemingly identical phenomena. The major events are covered here, but I loved the in-depth coverage of the Bracero program and its aftermath. Unfortunately this book is more timely than ever, as many of the patterns revealed here are playing out again before us. Highly recommend https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691160825/impossible-subjects

Last was "Iran's Grand Strategy" by Vali Nasr. The majority of this book is an excellent history of modern Iran, with great analysis of its formative events and the governing philosophy of the current regime. There are unfortunately many sections that deal with events in the last decade, even running up into 2025, and while I understand the urge to comment on current events little is added beyond what is in the news (and already seems woefully out of date given recent events). I also could have used more economic analysis here. Still, overall there is insightful analysis on the genesis of modern Iran, the Iran-Iraq war, and the evolution of the modern state. Highly recommend https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691268927/irans-grand-strategy