lorenzo sileci

🌈 exam season is upon us 🌈

after not being allowed to fail an essay which claimed the black rhino was one of Africa’s most important *predators* a couple years back, i wonder what’s in store this year

What Bill Gates Overlooks About Climate Change Peter Singer explains why a temperature increase of 2.9°C could indeed “be the end of civilization.”

bubble talk here but yet another dangerous statement that will fuel the rampant climate denialism we are observing. thanks but no thanks mr. gates.

www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/w...

that economists, of all professions, should regulate their scientific production through a cartel remains absurd

a home needs no walls

03/09/2016 - 02/09/2025

it’s not adios it’s hasta pronto
grateful for all the good times ❤️

open.spotify.com/track/35p0Z5...

after centuries of disagreement the profession has finally found its unifying trait 🎉

Tax on ultra-rich: 'France has the opportunity to lead the way,' say Nobel Prize-winning economists OP-ED. As public deficits balloon and extreme wealth explode, creating a minimum tax on the assets of billionaires should be a priority, argue seven Nobel Prize-winning economists in an op-ed for Le M...

An international call for action just got louder:

Today, 7 Nobel Laureates have issued a powerful call for a minimum tax on the ultra-wealthy in Le Monde

Here’s a quick breakdown of the debate—and where things stand globally

🧵

www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/a...

The impact of air conditioning on residential electricity consumption across world countries We provide a first globally-relevant assessment of the electricity consumption consequences of households’ adaptation to ambient heat through air cond…

quality research you can also show off at the dinner table in scorched-earth mediterranean summer 🔥

killer work by my mates @giacfalk.bsky.social and @fpavanello.bsky.social!!!

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

impatiently waiting to see farage rock up to the beach with a pack of diapers

CSAE Conference 2026 CSAE Conference 2026: Economic Development in Africa

📣Call for papers OPEN for #OxCSAE2026

The CSAE Conference brings together researchers from across the development economics community to discuss Africa.

🎂A special event for us as we celebrate the CSAE's 40th birthday in 2026!

Deadline: 14 Sept (funding 03 Aug)
www.csae.ox.ac.uk/csae-confere...

New article out on European Economic Review! "Warning words in a warming world: Central bank communication and climate change", with @jdeyris.bsky.social, @davideromelli.bsky.social and G. Scalisi.

Available open access here: doi.org/10.1016/j.eu...

Speech dataset here: cbspeeches.com

best venue if you ask me :)

One last view over Bergen following a nice #EAERE2025 conference.

Always happy to meet friends and colleagues I seldom have the occasion to cross paths with.

Including
@profejzrobinson.bsky.social
@bengroom.bsky.social
@elchinosauro.bsky.social

And many others

@eaere.bsky.social

90% of doing science is being open to new ideas.

Amid DOGE-induced turmoil, National Science Foundation in crisis The $9 billion agency, which exists solely to fund researchers, projects and facilities outside its Alexandria, Virginia, headquarters, is hitting reverse on its mission.

Under pressure from the Trump administration, the National Science Foundation (NSF), a $9 billion agency funding scientific research that has made America great, has canceled over a thousand grants and slowed new funding. That's just the beginning and will get way worse unless Congress intervenes.

🏆The winners of the 2025 𝗘𝗔𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰𝘀 are Romain Fillon, Filippo Pavanello and Rik Rozendaal. Read more at www.eaere.org/best-doctora...

Congratulations!

#EAEREawards

@romainfillon.bsky.social @fpavanello.bsky.social

hard to be more local than to cycle down to Sant’Ambrogio on a late saturday morning - and having a cup in the sun at Coffee Mantra after aperitivo at the market :)

Trump administration orders half of national forests open for logging An emergency order removes protections covering over half the land managed by the U.S. Forest Service as the president aims to boost timber production.

"Trump administration orders half of national forests open for logging...

"An emergency order removes protections covering more than half the land managed by the U.S. Forest Service..."

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

The XXVI Annual BIOECON Conference on "Integrating Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Change Solutions," taking place on 1-2 September 2025 at St. John’s College, Cambridge University. Call is here. SUBMIT!! @GRI_LSE @UniofExeterNews @EAERE_envecon

www.bioecon-network.org/pages/26th_2...

who doesn’t like maps?

3. More productivity analysis needed on this question since we cannot make claims about improvements. Better yields would reduce spillovers and maintain food security. Geo-localised farm level microdata combined with remotely sensed land use will be essential to tackle this question! 🌽

2. Set-aside on its own has minor effect on biodiversity, on generalists in this case so better interventions needed for better results (though biodiversity can be framed as a co-benefit here since it was not the focus of the set-aside policy). 🦆

1. To evaluate impacts on biodiversity we need to define what the target measure is in order to judge success. Different metrics - different results! 📊

Agricultural set-aside increases biodiversity (🔺🦜) in terms of abundance and species richness, but not in terms of abundance weighted phylogenetic distance (Shannon or HAED). The average trade-off with cereal output is not large (🔻2%) compared to land setaside (🔻 10%).

takeaways 👇

(very) long journey for this one but so stoked to see "Birds" in print at last! my first ever job in research with the great @bengroom.bsky.social and Charlie Palmer 🦜🦆🦉

bit of a summary thread below.

on fascist salutes and inaugurations.

Envionmental Behavioral Sciences Seminar, "Floods, Fires, and Fairness: Environmental Justice in Planning for Climate Hazards" Envionmental Behavioral Sciences Seminar Floods, Fires, and Fairness: Environmental Justice in Planning for Climate Hazards As climate hazards like floods and wildfires intensify, local governments ...

Commentators emphasize that the CA fires don't discriminate.
That's misleading:
"only about 40% of local governments have hazard mitigation plans... when climate threats are concentrated in less affluent or non-white neighborhoods [they] are less likely to act":
events.stanford.edu/event/floods...

heat will tear us apart.

only a quarter of the way through the book and cannot unread this now - genuinely scared about hearing the soundtrack in my head as i go

especially as he starts promoting AfD in the upcoming German elections. frightening.