1. David Brooks on America falling apart (NYT).
4. "Likewise, authors from the same PhD program or who previously worked with the reviewer are significantly more likely to receive a positive evaluation. We also find that sharing “signals” of ability, such as publishing in “top five”, attending a high ranked PhD program, or being employed by a similarly ranked economics department significantly influences editor decisions and/or reviewer recommendations." Link here.
5. So a virus triggers multiple sclerosis? And more here (NYT). And, not unrelated, the nature of Long Covid.