Nick Bloom discusses work from home

 Econ To Go is a Stanford series in which Neale Mahoney, the director of SIEPR, interviews an economist.

In this one he interviews the inimitable Nick Bloom, who is perhaps the leading scholar of the growing pattern of work from home. 

 

x 

 

Summer school in Economic Theory in Jerusalem (28 June- 7 July 2026)

 The Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is once again planning its long-running summer school in Economic Theory (which was skipped last year, amidst war with Iran...)

The 35th Advanced School in Economic Theory - Recent Developments in Economic Theory
Sun, 28/06/2026 to Tue, 07/07/2026
 
General Director: Eric Maskin, Harvard University

Director: Elchanan Ben- Porath, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

 Speakers

Itai Ashlagi, Stanford University

Elchanan Ben- Porath, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Ben Brooks, The University of Chicago

Marina Halac, Yale University

Eric Maskin, Harvard University

Abraham Neyman, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Bruno Strulovici, Northwestern University

Omer Tamuz, Caltech

Alexander Wolitzky, MIT

"This year’s School features some of the most exciting recent results in economic theory presented by the researchers who discovered them "

Claudia Goldin to Receive Talcott Parsons Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

 Here's the announcement from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences*:

Claudia Goldin to Receive Talcott Parsons Prize 

“To truly understand the American economy, one must recognize Claudia Goldin’s essential work,” said Laurie L. Patton, President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. “We commend her fearlessness, leadership, and commitment to understanding what is lost and what is gained for everyone when opportunities for women contract or expand. Her dedication to communicating that knowledge widely is equally courageous.”

“It is a great honor to receive an award named for Talcott Parsons that has been given to leading figures in linguistics, history, psychology, and sociology,” said Goldin. “I am immensely gratified that my work in economic history is seen as a bridge between economics and the other social sciences.” 

#########

I learned of this award from an email with the subject line "Announcing an Academy Award," which for a moment made me think that Claudia had been honored by the Academy Awards, and would receive an Oscar.

An anti-facist open letter from 23 retired Harvard Business School professors

Anti-fascism should have broad support across the American political spectrum.  Elections need to be defended.  Here's an open letter from retired professors at HBS (where I'm emeritus) in which we call for business leaders to address that need. This version is in the Harvard Crimson:

We’re 23 HBS Professors. This Is the Cost of Silence. 

"As the 2026 elections approach, we are witnessing many efforts to subvert American democracy by undermining one of its critical foundations: fair and free elections.

This is a matter of both voter access to the political process and the integrity of the process itself.

Business leaders — known for their capable company leadership and not their political party membership — are uniquely positioned and clearly needed to address this imminent threat in a strong and nonpartisan fashion.

It is vital to recognize the escalating threats to American democratic processes. On January 28, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents executed a search warrant at an election center in Fulton County, Georgia, for ballots from the 2020 presidential election. On January 24, the U.S. attorney general made unprecedented demands in a letter to the Minnesota governor for information on voters in that state. For the past several months, the federal government has been collecting the largest database of voter information ever gathered by the Department of Justice — information that could be used to fraudulently impact election results. Deployment of armed federal immigration officers in American cities is discouraging citizens of various ethnicities — many of whom have already been detained — from venturing to schools, stores, and workplaces. It’s doubtful they will venture to the polls on election day.

We are retired Harvard Business School professors who have devoted our lives to business education. We ask that the leaders of the business world in the United States — some of whom it has been our privilege to teach — speak out now, act now, in defense of democracy.

“This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly.” These words, spoken by Franklin D. Roosevelt ’04 at his first inauguration, perfectly describe our situation today.

We understand the reluctance to speak out. Nobody wants to be a target in the toxic environment surrounding us. We understand that business leaders have a responsibility to their shareholders, employees, and customers, who may not agree with the politics of the CEOs.

But we are not asking for a statement about politics. We are asking for a statement about the most basic feature of democratic government — namely, the right to vote in electing public officials and adopting or rejecting proposed legislation.

Ensuring that our government meets this test is not a partisan issue. Business leaders can do much to help the nation that has done so much to enable them to have fulfilling careers leading successful companies. They can speak out, individually or collectively, for the proposition that access to the polls is a right that must be protected by the rule of law. Business leaders did speak, collectively, about the importance of election integrity in 2020. We need to hear these voices again.

They can allow their employees paid leave not only to vote but also to safeguard the polls, if they choose, against any intimidation from the left or the right. Some companies, including The Coca-Cola Company, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Procter & Gamble, Salesforce, and Walmart, are already supporting such efforts.

Our country will be a shadow of itself if our democracy fails — economically, socially, and in global standing.

“If destruction be our lot,” Abraham Lincoln said, “we must ourselves be its author.” Business leaders must act to prevent our country from being the author of its own destruction.

The world witnessed what happened when Germany turned its back on democracy on January 30, 1933. History does indeed have lessons to teach. We must strive to see that what happened there, then, does not happen here, now.

Some business executives may feel that any action or statement conflicts with their role as CEO. We understand that reticence. But we respectfully disagree.

A well-functioning democracy and, with it, the rule of law are essential for the functioning of a free enterprise economy.

We urge business leaders to recognize that there is no conflict between their responsibilities as CEO and their responsibilities as citizens. The cost of silence is incalculable.

This is the moment for leaders to lead. If not now, when?

Teresa M. Amabile is the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration, Emerita, at Harvard Business School. Richard S. Tedlow is the Class of 1949 Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School.

Teresa M. Amabile, James E. Austin, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Christopher A. Bartlett, Michael Beer, Stephen P. Bradley, John A. Deighton, Allen S. Grossman, Paul M. Healy, James L. Heskett, Dorothy A. Leonard, Paul W. Marshall, F. Warren McFarlan, John W. Pratt, Alvin E. Roth, Malcolm S. Salter, Benson P. Shapiro, Howard H. Stevenson, Richard S. Tedlow, Richard H.K. Vietor, Lou T. Wells, Michael A. Wheeler, and Gerald Zaltman are retired professors at Harvard Business School. They sign as individuals, not as representatives of Harvard Business School, Harvard University, or all retired professors at HBS."

Ed Peskowitz (1944-2026)

 After an eventful life, with major accomplishments in business and philanthropy, Ed Peskowitz succumbed to kidney failure this week.  I met him only after he had turned to philanthropy, and after he had received a kidney transplant.

Here's his obit in the Washington Jewish Week: 

Edwin Peskowitz 

"Ed was an extremely generous man who touched the lives of many. Over the course of his life, he and his wife supported local educational initiatives, such as the I Have a Dream Foundation and the SEED Public Charter School. Ed was passionate about promoting Middle Eastern peace and supported numerous causes in the region aimed at building understanding between various cultures and religions and he created the Friendship Games to encourage this among young athletes. He was a supporter of the Anti-Defamation League, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the University of Maryland.

Ed suffered from renal disease and was given the gift of life by an altruistic kidney donation in 2019. Ed devoted the last years of his life to creating and supporting philanthropic efforts, such as the Alliance for Paired Kidney Donation, Kidney Transplant Collaborative and Kidneys for Communities, to encourage living kidney donation and improve matches between potential donors and recipients." 

 

Privacy vs. security: doorbell cameras (and Ring's Superbowl ad)

There's a tension between privacy (some of it constitutionally protected)  and security, involving everything from street crime to terrorism, and citizen observers of government agents and others.  Cameras make a difference (even before facial recognition software), and the debate on how to reach a balance that yields appropriate safety in both dimensions is likely to continue.

 The NYT has the story, motivated by the Ring doorbell Superbowl ad:

Ring’s Founder Knows You Hated That Super Bowl Ad
Since the commercial aired, Jamie Siminoff has been trying to quell an outcry over privacy concerns with his doorbell cameras.    By Jordyn Holman

"The commercial showed a new Ring feature called Search Party, which uses artificial intelligence and images from its cameras to trace a lost pet’s wanderings across a neighborhood. Critics said the feature felt dystopian, showing the potential for far-reaching invasive surveillance. Senator Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts and a critic of corporate data collection, called out “the serious privacy and civil liberties risks” in Ring’s technology. 

...

"The ad landed at a tense media moment involving home surveillance. In the search for Nancy Guthrie, the missing mother of the TV news anchor Savannah Guthrie, law enforcement agencies were able to recover footage from her Google Nest doorbell, despite reports that she did not have a subscription to the device.

But Ring, which is owned by Amazon, is so ubiquitous that is has become a generic term for any doorbell camera, and users raised questions about how much Ring was monitoring them.

Mr. Siminoff took pains in his media appearances to clarify Ring’s privacy policies. He said his company does not store users’ footage if they don’t have a subscription with Ring.

...

"Mr. Siminoff defended his technology, saying that protecting privacy and providing useful tools for helping people are both possible. He said that he understood people’s concerns, and that maybe people were “triggered” by an image in the ad that showed blue rings radiating out from suburban homes. " 

Kidney exchange in India (one minute video)

In India, which already does the third most kidney transplants in the world (after the US and China), physicians and surgeons are making great progress on kidney exchange.

  Some of this progress is with the help of the Alliance for Paired Kidney Exchange (APKD), supported by a grant from Stanford Impact Labs (SIL)

 Here's a short video about that collaboration, narrated by Mike Rees, the founder and guiding light of the APKD.

 The picture below was taken just after Mike Rees (on the left) and I observed a robotic kidney transplant surgery performed by  Dr. Pranjal Modi (on the right), in Ahmedabad 

 

  

#########

Earlier:

Thursday, January 22, 2026  Kidney exchange in Brazil (a clinical trial)