#AcademicRunPlaylist - 7/14/25

Luckily the typhoon missed us, and while enjoying a cooler day I also enjoyed some talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was a great pair of talks by Lawrence Schmidt (AI and the labor market) and Niklas Engbom (long-term decline of the US job ladder) at the National Bureau of Economic Research's economic fluctuations and growth symposium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgqBQNbw0dI

Next was an interesting talk by Sean Cao on issues with disclosure regulation at the NBER https://www.youtube.com/live/vd_bZhxDxh8?si=d3EjGVIvS3FATNNw&t=2534

Last was "Make Your Own Job" by Erik Baker. Baker provides excellent background on formative theories in management, particularly the sexist and racist views and writings of some of modern management theory's progenitors. Unfortunately, most of the rest of this book consists nearly entirely of analysis by vibes - quantitative data is nonexistent, and most claims that are held up as untrue aren't refuted with any sort of analysis. According to Baker, it's bad management practice to insist that McDonald's franchisees work in a restaurant first (wut), and quality of life got worse for a large percentage of people after WW2 (nearly every shred of research says the exact opposite).

Beyond that, Baker conflates entrepreneurship - starting your own company - with work/management in large organizations. To be fair this is rife throughout the popular discourse, as Baker rightly points out. But as a consequence, this book never actually examines the kind of entrepreneurship involved in starting your own company, except for ones that eventually become extremely large. Restaurants? Other small businesses? Nowhere to be found.

This book ends up being a missed opportunity, and one that is hopefully followed up with a more thoroughly researched sequel https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674293601