New Fellows of the Econometric Society

 The Econometric Society has announced the results of the 2025 election of new Fellows.

Congratulations to all of them. It's a great list, that includes important market designers and  experimental/behavioral economists.

"The Society is pleased to announce the election of 25 new Fellows of the Econometric Society. The 2025 Fellows of the Econometric Society follow. Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Duke University S. Nageeb Ali, Pennsylvania State University Heather Anderson, Monash University Debopam Bhattacharya, University of Cambridge Francis Bloch, Universite Paris 1 and Paris School of Economics Eric Budish, University of Chicago Booth School of Business Yi-Chun Chen, National University of Singapore Xavier D’Haultfoeuille, CREST-ENSAE Cecile Gaubert, University of California, Berkeley Bryan Graham, University of California, Berkeley Nathaniel Hendren, MIT Oscar Jorda, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco/University of California, Davis Anil K Kashyap, University of Chicago Booth School of Business Jinwoo Kim, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Frank Kleibergen, University of Amsterdam Ivana Komunjer, Georgetown University Leslie Marx, Duke University Edward Miguel, University of California, Berkeley Debasis Mishra, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi Tymofiy Mylovanov, Kyiv School of Economics and University of Pittsburgh Fabrizio Perri, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis David Romer, University of California, Berkeley Roland Strausz, Humboldt University of Berlin Francesco Trebbi, University of California, Berkeley Eyal Winter, Lancaster University and the Hebrew University" ########  In each of the years 2020-2024 the lists of new Fellows have been somewhat longer, and my sense is that we should keep trying to have longer lists, because we're  we're systematically missing many who would be jolly good Fellows.

Stanford kidney conference, recap

 Stanford Impact Labs (SIL) reports on our recent kidney exchange conference

Global Solutions-focused Summit on Expanding Access to Kidney Transplantation held at Stanford. Physicians, scholars, healthcare practitioners, and policymakers gathered to explore research advances underway in India, Brazil, and the U.S.   by Kate Green Tripp and Marina Kaneko

 "Earlier this month, the Alliance for Paired Kidney Donation (APKD), Stanford economist Alvin E. Roth, and Stanford Impact Labs hosted the Palo Alto Summit, a two-day global convening at Stanford University dedicated to exploring challenges and advances in kidney transplantation around the world.

"On the heels of the 2025 World Transplant Congress in San Francisco, more than 30 physicians, scholars, transplant coordinators, and government officials from the U.S., India, Brazil, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and South Africa gathered to share key learnings, challenges, and advances in the field.

...

" APKD and Roth, the Craig and Susan McCaw Professor of Economics at Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences, have teamed up with transplant specialists in India, Brazil, and the United States to form the Extending Kidney Exchange project. 

...

"The summit’s sessions were designed to advance national efforts in KPD in India and Brazil, and deceased donor-initiated chains (DDIC); foster collaboration among leading clinical, policy, and academic partners; and identify actionable steps and shared milestones for KPD in India and Brazil, paired liver exchange in India, and DDIC in the United States. As a transplant strategy, DDIC utilizes kidneys from deceased donors to create a chain of transplants so as to maximize the use of available organs and to connect multiple recipients, especially when there are mismatches or compatibility issues.

...

"“When the very first [nonsimultaneous] chain of kidney transplants took place in 2006, it was not necessarily welcomed as an innovation,” recalls Michael Rees, a transplant surgeon at the University of Toledo and founder of the Alliance for Paired Kidney Donation (APKD). “It is incredibly exciting to reflect on the progress we’ve been able to make across the transplant community since that time, to increase the utility of a single kidney from either a living or deceased donor.”

 

 

##########

Earlier:

Thursday, August 7, 2025 Stanford conference on extending kidney exchange

 

Also of note:

Matthew Gentzkow Named Director of Stanford Impact Labs

"The economist will lead a community of social scientists who want their scholarship to improve people’s lives."
 

 

Lawyerly characteristics of American law students

 The Americans With Disabilities Act requires schools to make accommodations for students whose disabilities require extra time for completing exams.  Apparently such disabilities are common among law students: over a third of law students at Pepperdine require extra time, according to this article:

How Cheating Spreads at Law Schools.  Noah Werksman asked why so many peers got extra time on tests. Pepperdine accused him of bullying.   By Jillian Lederman 

"Law schools don’t disclose their rates of accommodations, but a 2023 Oregon Law Review paper reports data on public law schools obtained through state public-records laws. As of 2021—before the post-Covid rise in disability accommodations—the accommodations rates were 21.3% at the University of California, Hastings (now UC Law San Francisco) and 25.5% at UC Irvine. Private law schools like Pepperdine aren’t subject to public-records laws.

The Law School Admissions Council reports that only 12% of first-year law students nationwide said they had a mental or physical disability in 2023, suggesting that many students who don’t need accommodations are using them to get a leg up. The California Bar Exam’s accommodations rate, by contrast, is around 7%.
...

"students at the school told me it’s common knowledge that the accommodations system is easy to manipulate. 

...

"That has consequences. Law students are assessed on a highly competitive curve. Not only do grades determine job prospects, but at many law schools students receive conditional scholarships that can be reduced or revoked if their grade point averages fall in the bottom 20%, or even the lower half, of the class. Pepperdine students say many of their classmates who ranked near the top of the class, made it onto the law review, and secured competitive jobs at major law firms received extended time on tests. The university denied that students with disabilities are disproportionately represented in these groups."

#####

Of course, needing extra time may not be a disadvantage in a profession that bills by the hour.

Sessions that caught my eye in the ASSA program

Economics of Higher Education

Lightning Round Session

 Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025   8:00 AM - 10:00 AM (PST)

 Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Golden Gate 3

Hosted By: American Economic Association

• Chair: Caroline Hoxby, Stanford University

Cap-and-Apply: Unintended Consequences of College Application Policy in South Korea

Taekyu Eom

, 

SUNY-Buffalo

 

•  View Abstract

 

College Course Shutouts

Kevin Mumford

, 

Purdue University

Richard Patterson

, 

Brigham Young University

Anthony Yim

, 

Brigham Young University

 

•  View Abstract
 
•  Download Preview (PDF, 3.27 MB)

Do Double Majors Face Less Risk? An Analysis of Human Capital Diversification

Andrew S. Hanks

, 

Ohio State University

Shengjun Jiang

, 

Wuhan University

Xuechao Qian

, 

Stanford University

 

Bo Wang

, 

Nankai University

Bruce A. Weinberg

, 

Ohio State University

•  View Abstract

 

Inequality-Aware Market Design

Paper Session

 Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025   10:15 AM - 12:15 PM (PST)

 Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Union Square 1 and 2

Hosted By: Econometric Society

• Chair: Piotr Dworczak, Northwestern University

Waiting or Paying for Healthcare: Evidence from the Veterans Health Administration

Anna Russo

, 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 

•  View Abstract

Optimal Redistribution via Income Taxation and Market Design

Mohammad Akbarpour

, 

Stanford University

Pawel Doligalski

, 

University of Bristol

Piotr Dworczak

, 

Northwestern University

 

Scott Duke Kominers

, 

Harvard University

•  View Abstract

Should the Government Sell You Goods? Evidence from the Milk Market in Mexico

Diego Javier Jimenez Hernandez

, 

Chicago Federal Reserve

 

Enrique Seira

, 

Michigan State University

•  View Abstract

Taxing Externalities without Hurting the Poor

Mallesh M. Pai

, 

Rice University

Philipp Strack

, 

Yale University

 

•  View Abstract

Discussant(s)

Vasiliki Skreta

, 

University of Texas-Austin and University College London

Dmitry Taubinsky

, 

University of California-Berkeley

Mohammad Akbarpour

, 

Stanford University

Dan Waldinger

, 

New York University

 

 

Market Design in College Admissions

Paper Session

 Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025   10:15 AM - 12:15 PM (PST)

 Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Union Square 11

Hosted By: Econometric Society

• Chair: Evan Riehl, Cornell University

College Application Mistakes and the Design of Information Policies at Scale

Anaïs Fabre

, 

Toulouse School of Economics

Tomas Larroucau

, 

Arizona State University

Christopher Andrew Neilson

, 

Princeton University

Ignacio Rios

, 

University of Texas-Dallas

 

•  View Abstract

Inequity in Centralized College Admissions with Public and Private Universities: Evidence from Albania

Iris Vrioni

, 

University of Michigan

 

•  View Abstract

Stakes and Signals: An Empirical Investigation of Muddled Information in Standardized Testing

Germán Reyes

, 

Middlebury College

Evan Riehl

, 

Cornell University

 

Ruqing Xu

, 

Cornell University

•  View Abstract
 
•  Download Preview (PDF, 1.12 MB)

 

Finance and Development

Paper Session

 Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025   1:00 PM - 3:00 PM (PST)

 Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Continental Ballroom 9

Hosted By: American Economic Association

• Chair: Martin Kanz, World Bank

Default Contagion in Microfinance

Natalia Rigol

, 

Harvard Business School

Ben Roth

, 

Harvard Business School

 

•  Hide Abstract

Abstract

Joint liability is one of the hallmarks of microfinance. Though it is intended to reduce non-payment, it has also been hypothesized to lead to default contagion, whereby non-payment by one borrower may reduce the likelihood of repayment by groupmates. Utilizing unexpected deaths, we document significant default contagion in one of Chile's largest microfinance institutions. We estimate that a single default causes an additional 0.8 borrowers to default, indicating that nearly half of observed default is due to contagion. 

Credit Contracts, Business Development, and Gender: Evidence from Uganda

Selim Gulesci

, 

Trinity College Dublin

 

Francesco Loiacono

, 

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Miri Stryjan

, 

Aalto University

Andreas Madestam

, 

Stockholm University

•  View Abstract

Discrimination Expectations in the Credit Market: Survey Evidence from India

Stefano Fiorin

, 

Bocconi University

Joseph Hall

, 

Stanford University

Martin Kanz

, 

World Bank

 

•  View Abstract

Discussant(s)

Simone Gabrielle Schaner

, 

University of Southern California

Anna Vitali

, 

New York University

Janis Skrastins

, 

Washington University-St. Louis