Also, beside the point, but from what I can see the medal rack is fine?

Huge congrats! I’ve been teaching this paper for the last two years and I’m a very big fan!

Congrats Jay, this looks awesome.

Co-authored with Paolo Bertolotti, Fotini Christia, and Ali Jadbabaie all at @mit.edu IDSS.

If you work on security, IR, or conflict data — hope you’ll give it a read.

If you (or your students) want a presentation on the work, hit me up!

#dronewarfare #civilianimpact #IR #politicalmethodology

⚙️ Why it matters:
Civilian disruption shapes attitudes, legitimacy, and stability.
Digital data can measure war’s unseen effects
These are the kinds of hidden costs policymakers usually miss.

🧠 Interpretation:
Even “precise” warfare alters daily life.
Fear, uncertainty, and displacement ripple through communities — long after the explosion stops.
A reminder: low-casualty ≠ low-impact.

💥 Results:
On strike days, mobility of civilians in affected zones jumped ~24% — roughly 6.5 km more movement than usual.
Thousands left strike areas, and many stayed away for weeks.
Drone campaigns produce major non-lethal civilian disruption.

📱 Method:
We link anonymized call-detail records (CDRs) from ~6 million Yemeni cellphone users with U.S. drone strike data (2010–2012).
Event-study design → observe civilian mobility before/after strikes.
CDR data reveal real behavioral shifts invisible in official reporting.

V well deserved!!!

When is it coming out?! I am looking forward to reading.

And here are links.

@macartan.bsky.social : macartan.github.io/teaching/how...
@chrisblattman.bsky.social : chrisblattman.com/blog/2010/02...
Miller et al.: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
@brendannyhan.bsky.social : thepoliticalmethodologist.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...