Australia's ban on social media use by teens under sixteen

 Australia has put into effect a ban on social media use by teenagers younger than 16.  My first thought is, good luck with that...

Here are some headlines that caught my eye:

From MSN: 

Australian leader defends social media ban as teens flaunt workarounds  by Byron Kaye 

"A day after the law took effect with bipartisan support from the major political parties and backing by some three-quarters of Australian parents, the country's social media feeds were flooded with comments from people claiming to be under 16, including one on the prime minister's TikTok account saying "I'm still here, wait until I can vote".

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And (more optimistically) from Nature:

Australia’s world-first social media ban is a ‘natural experiment’ for scientists
Researchers will study the effects of the policy on young people’s mental health, social interactions and political engagement.   By Rachel Fieldhouse & Mohana Basu 

" Many teenagers in the country are furious, but for social scientists, the policy offers a natural experiment to study the effects of social-media restrictions on young people." 

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And this:

Social Media Lab Appointed as Lead Academic Partner for Australian Legislation 

Nottingham's Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics celebrates its 25th anniversary

 In September, Nottingham's productive center for experimental economics celebrated a quarter century since it's founding: 

 CeDEx 25th Anniversary Workshop .

I just saw the announcement now, but maybe that's a sign of how successfully experimental economics has become established in the profession, over the last century and around the world.

 For some early history, see e.g. 

Roth, Alvin E. "The early history of experimental economics." Journal of the History of Economic Thought 15.2 (1993): 184-209.

 

Crypto has found a use, and it's money laundering

The NYT has the story:

How a Cryptocurrency Helps Criminals Launder Money and Evade Sanctions
Through layers of intermediaries, stablecoins can be moved, swapped and mixed into pools of other funds in ways that are difficult to trace, experts say.  By Aaron Krolik

"Smugglers, money launderers and people facing sanctions once relied on diamonds, gold and artwork to store illicit fortunes. The luxury goods could help hide wealth but were cumbersome to move and hard to spend.

"Now, criminals have a far more practical alternative: stablecoins, a cryptocurrency tied to the U.S. dollar that exists largely beyond traditional financial oversight.

"These digital tokens can be bought with a local currency and moved across borders almost instantly. Or they can be returned to the traditional banking system — including by converting funds into debit cards — often without detection, a New York Times review of corporate filings, online forum messages and blockchain data shows.

"A report released in February from Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis firm, estimated that up to $25 billion in illicit transactions involved stablecoins last year. And as more Russian oligarchs, Islamic State leaders and others have begun using the cryptocurrency, the rise of these dollar-linked tokens threatens to undermine one of America’s most potent foreign policy tools: cutting adversaries off from the dollar and the global banking system.
...

"To test just how easily crypto can slip between the cracks of banking controls, I found a crypto A.T.M. in Weehawken, N.J., to convert cash into stablecoins.

"Soon after I fed two $20 bills into the machine, I received a notification on my phone that crypto had arrived in my digital wallet. A Telegram bot then guided me through the next step: using the stablecoins to generate a Visa payment card number with a balance that I could spend anywhere.

"A payment card functions very much like a debit card, though it is not tied to any of my bank accounts. In this case, the card I was issued did not require me to provide an address or identity check of any kind — in effect creating a degree of anonymity for my spending. 

...

"Tether, which has over $180 billion worth of stablecoins in circulation, is based in El Salvador and would not be covered by the new rules. The company holds more than $112 billion in U.S. Treasuries, and any law enforcement action against Tether could potentially risk destabilizing important financial markets.

"The picture is further complicated by political and financial ties surrounding Tether. The company has close connections to the family of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who is responsible for restricting exports of sensitive U.S. technology — restrictions that people can try to sidestep by making transactions with stablecoins like Tether. 

"One of Mr. Lutnick’s sons, Brandon, is the chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald, which provides services to Tether, placing the family in a position where the company behind the world’s largest offshore dollar token intersects with a key federal enforcement role. Another son, Kyle, is executive vice chairman of the firm.

"Cantor Fitzgerald and the Commerce Department declined to comment." 

The former governor of Indiana is pleasantly surprised by Harvard

 Eric Holcomb taught a seminar at Harvard after stepping down as governor of Indiana.  He reports that he expected to find a woke hell, but instead found a thriving university.  He attributes that in part to President Trump's war on American universities in general and on Harvard in particular.

I was a red state governor. What I saw at Harvard surprised me.
The spirit of association remains alive in unexpected places.   By Eric Holcomb
Eric Holcomb, a Republican, was the governor of Indiana from 2017 to 2025.

"In January, I completed two terms as governor of Indiana. This fall, I did what all red state Republicans do (right?): spent a semester teaching at Harvard University. As someone who believes that restoring our communities is among America’s greatest challenges, my goal was to see if the foundation of an open-minded, problem-solving community still existed in a place far removed from my own cultural comfort zone. It does.

...

"I found a community that didn’t always agree but could still talk with each other and work together toward the greater good, which in Harvard’s case includes education, discovery and the development of ideas and technologies.

...

"What I’ve experienced may be a natural return to Harvard’s more moderate bearings, following noisy displays of intolerance by campus agitators in recent years. Or it may be due to the Trump administration’s forceful executive orders and fiscal pressure. Either way (and it’s probably both), let’s take the win and learn the broader lesson." 

Kate Ho (1972-2025)

 Kate Ho has passed away, tragically early.  I met her when she was a grad student at Harvard, who worked with Ariel Pakes.

Here's the Econometric Society announcement:

In Memoriam: Kate Ho 

"We are deeply saddened by the passing of Kate Ho, the John L. Weinberg Professor of Economics and Business Policy at Princeton University and a Fellow of the Econometric Society. Kate was a brilliant IO economist and scholar whose impact on the profession will resonate for many years to come.

Among her numerous achievements, Kate delivered the 2021 Fisher-Schultz Lecture of the Econometric Society and received the 2020 Frisch Medal for the best applied paper published in Econometrica over the previous four years, recognizing her pathbreaking work on contracting and insurer competition in health care markets. She served as Co-Editor of Econometrica from 2021 to 2025, contributing with extraordinary dedication and insight. She was also an elected member of the Council of the Econometric Society from 2021 to 2024 and served on many other Society committees. Beyond her professional excellence, Kate was an exceptionally kind, thoughtful, and collaborative colleague. We will miss her deeply.

We extend our heartfelt condolences to Kate’s family, friends, colleagues, and all who were fortunate enough to know her." 

Kidney exchange updates

 Here are three kidney papers and proposals that I've noted recently,  which will have implications for the growing interest in international kidney exchange on a global scale:

Klaassen MF., de Klerk M, Dor FJ.M.F., Heidt S, van de Laar SC., Minnee RC., van de Wetering J, Pengel LH.M. and de Weerd AE. (2025) Navigating a Quandary in Kidney Exchange Programs: A Review of Donor Travel versus Organ Shipment. Transpl. Int. 38:14804. doi: 10.3389/ti.2025.14804

Abstract:  In multicenter kidney exchange programs (KEPs), either the explanted kidney must be shipped, or the donor must travel to the transplanting center. This review describes the available data on these two approaches and formulates recommendations for practice. We searched for studies addressing organ shipment or donor travel in KEPs. Data were categorized into four domains: cold ischemia time (CIT), logistics, donor/recipient perspectives and professional perspectives. From 547 articles screened, 105 were included. Kidneys are shipped in most countries. Prolonged CIT due to shipment may increase the risk of delayed graft function, but does not seem to impact graft survival. Planning the shipment requires a robust logistical framework with guaranteed operating room availability. Donor travel is reported to be both emotionally and financially distressing for donors and exposes them to inconsistencies in donor evaluation and counseling across centers. Reduced willingness to participate in KEP when travelling was reported by 36%–51% of donors. Professionals generally support offering organ shipment to donors not willing to travel. In conclusion, the decision between donor travel or organ shipment should be tailored to local circumstances. Healthcare professionals should prioritize minimizing barriers to KEP participation, either by facilitating organ shipment or reducing the burden of donor travel. 

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Neetika Garg, Joe Habbouche, Elisa J. Gordon, AnnMarie Liapakis, Michelle T. Jesse, Krista L. Lentine,
Practical and ethical considerations in kidney paired donation and emerging liver paired exchange,
American Journal of Transplantation,
Volume 25, Issue 11,  2025, Pages 2292-2302,
ISSN 1600-6135,  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajt.2025.07.2459.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1600613525028382)
 

Abstract: Since the first kidney paired donation (KPD) transplant in the United States in 1999, the volume and scope of KPD has expanded substantially, accounting for nearly 20% of living donor kidney transplants in 2021-2022. This review article discusses the practical and ethical issues specific to paired donor exchange that patients, transplant centers, and exchange programs commonly encounter. Access to paired donor exchange and education of candidates regarding the potential benefits, risks, and logistics of KPD are important considerations. Transplant centers and patients must consider practical issues including wait times, allocation and matching strategies, assessment of organ quality, complex donors, cold ischemia time, and risks of broken chains. Protections available to donors from current KPD programs, the potential psychosocial effects, and the ethical concerns related to variable access and the proprietary nature of private exchange programs are also discussed. More detailed, timely data collection at a national level, and ability to merge national data with individual donor exchange registries will enable the analysis of the impact and outcomes of future trends in paired donation. KPD experience and key concepts may inform liver paired exchange, which has been used internationally to expand living donor liver transplantation and is emerging in the United States.

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Alliance for Paired Kidney Donation (APKD) Launches Wish Upon a Donor: A Hope-Focused Advocacy Program Helping Kids Who Need Kidneys Find Living Donors

"TOLEDO, OHIO / ACCESS Newswire / December 9, 2025 / The Alliance for Paired Kidney Donation (APKD) is proud to announce Wish Upon a Donor, a groundbreaking program that amplifies the voices of families fighting for a better and brighter future for their child. While pediatric kidney patients cannot advocate for themselves, their parents can - and too often, they face this battle alone. Wish Upon a Donor helps families share their child's story, shining a light on their hopes, dreams, and urgent need for a living kidney donor.

...

"The onboarding process is fast and simple, taking just 10-15 minutes to complete, and finalized videos are sent to patients in just one to three days. Participation is free, and patients retain full control over how and where their stories are shared.

Wish Upon a Donor offers a range of support for families as they seek living donors, including:

Production of a personalized, high-quality video designed to reflect the patient's wishes, personality, and future - not just their disease

Dedicated campaign webpage to make it easy to convert interest into action

QR-coded postcards and magnets for sharing in local communities

Social media guidance to help families and supporters spread the word

Spanish- and English-language outreach materials for broader access

A living donor mentor to answer any non-medical questions about the process

"Wish buddy" volunteers to assist with video narration and/or sharing patient videos with a broader audience

When interest is generated through the Wish Upon a Donor campaign, APKD ensures both patients and transplant centers are effectively supported with guidance grounded in real-life experience from a dedicated living donor mentor. The organization manages all incoming donor inquiries, educates potential donors on the process, protections, and realities of living donations, and then refers qualified donors to an appropriate transplant center partner. APKD maintains communication and support throughout the evaluation and donation process. This approach empowers potential donors with education while easing the burden on transplant centers."
 

Abortions in the U.S. since state bans have been enacted

 It's hard to effectively ban something that is legal in neighboring jurisdictions.

The NYT has the story:

A Small Illinois City at the Center of a Seismic Shift in Abortion Access. 
Carbondale, Ill., a liberal enclave within driving distance of 10 states with abortion bans, has become a hub for the procedure. Last year there were nearly 11,000 abortions in this city of 21,000.   By Elizabeth Williamson

"Abortion is legal in Illinois, but the state is surrounded by others that have largely banned the procedure in the three years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. As a result, Illinois now leads the nation in out-of-state abortion patients. Carbondale, a college town in Illinois’s southern tip within driving distance of 10 states with abortion bans, has become a major abortion hub.

"Last year three clinics in this city of 21,000 provided close to 11,000 abortions, almost all for women from other states. The numbers, provided by the clinics, account for nearly a third of all out-of-state abortions in Illinois. 

,,,

"The clinics have already drawn protests as well as intervention efforts from Coalition Life, a St. Louis-based anti-abortion group that stations “sidewalk counselors” outside Carbondale’s clinics.

...

"In states without total bans, there were 1,038,100 clinician-provided abortions in 2024, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights. The number includes 155,000 abortions for patients who had crossed state lines. Overall, the number of abortions in the country has slightly increased since the Dobbs decision, largely because of medication abortions."