Melissa Knox
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mknox.bsky.social
Melissa Knox
@mknox.bsky.social
Economist at the University of Washington. Interested in health and nutrition policy, public health, demography, econ of gender, and gender in econ. More of a data nerd than a data geek. #EconSky 📉📈 #TeachEcon (Also 🚴🏻‍♀️☕️🧶)

More at: melissaknox.net
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So happy to be able to share my article on Seattle’s Fresh Bucks program! FB is a $40/month benefit that can be spent on fresh fruits and vegetables at all local Safeways, farmers markets, and some smaller grocers. It requires *no* SNAP enrollment and *no* matched spending… 🧵1/7
Seattle’s $40/month health food voucher program was associated with increased food security, and increased fruit and vegetable consumption among low-income residents. ja.ma/41asI6W
Reposted by Melissa Knox
bringing back shame and consequences would not by any means be the ballgame, but it would certainly be something
November 20, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
"In a New York Times essay last April, Summers lamented that the University had “repeatedly failed to impose discipline and maintain order.” If Summers won’t step aside voluntarily, Harvard should take his advice — and begin by disciplining him."
👏👏
"By any consistent standard, if Summers is unfit to work for each of these institutions [from which he resigned], he is equally unfit to teach at our school. Harvard should not be the only institution in America where Summers remains above reproach."

🔥🔥🔥

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
The Professor and the Pedophile | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson
Summers should choose the most straightforward path and resign. Should he refuse to, though, the University must cut ties with its former president to the greatest extent possible.
www.thecrimson.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
"By any consistent standard, if Summers is unfit to work for each of these institutions [from which he resigned], he is equally unfit to teach at our school. Harvard should not be the only institution in America where Summers remains above reproach."

🔥🔥🔥

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
The Professor and the Pedophile | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson
Summers should choose the most straightforward path and resign. Should he refuse to, though, the University must cut ties with its former president to the greatest extent possible.
www.thecrimson.com
November 20, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
I have been feeling depressed and discouraged that this man has the power and influence he does at my school and in my profession

And I am a tenured professor at Harvard! How much more protected can I be?

Imagine how STUDENTS feel. Junior faculty. This quote nails it
November 19, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
New paper with @instrumenthull.bsky.social and Michal Kolesár on leniency/judge IV designs.

This article is targeted for the Journal of Economic Perspectives, and so we wrote it with the goal of being accessible to a wide range of users, including advanced undergrads!🧵

arxiv.org/abs/2511.03572
November 17, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Reposting so I can come back and find these lovely puzzles.
❤️ Love this ❤️

@mathforge.org has done what I’ve never been organised enough to do myself, and catalogued every #geometrypuzzle I’ve ever posted on social media. It looks amazing!
November 17, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
The Crimson is doing great work with this story. Heckuva kicker here:
"The final messages, dated July 5, 2019, show Summers still in regular contact with Epstein....
The thread ends at 1:27 p.m.
Epstein was arrested the next day."

Else they'd still be emailing!

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
As Summers Sought Clandestine Relationship With Woman He Called a Mentee, Epstein Was His ‘Wing Man’ | News | The Harvard Crimson
When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: convicted sex offender Jef...
www.thecrimson.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
Never forget that just a week ago, Ross Douthat and the NYTimes were asking if women ruined the workplace.
November 17, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
And if it wasn’t for COVID pushing first round interviews to Zoom, I’m pretty sure econ would still be doing this since we still were in 2019-2020…
If you are not in academia, you might not know this, but job interviews used to be held at conferences IN HOTEL ROOMS. Women candidates in a hotel room alone with often all-male committees. People sitting on beds! The horror stories I've heard.
I thing I sometimes thing about is that university departments were still doing job interviews in hotel rooms in the mid aughts
November 16, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
1/ Egalitarianism should begin at home. I link to this article by @bencasselman.bsky.social in light of the communications between Larry Summers and Jeffrey Epstein that have just been released. The released emails and the fact of friendship are vile.

www.nytimes.com/2021/02/23/b...
For Women in Economics, the Hostility Is Out in the Open (Published 2021)
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
Tip on being human for faculty men:

Things never to mention to any student, unless directly asked: their clothing, their bodies, their romantic lives. Ever. (Even new hair and outfits, obvious pregnancies, engagement rings, etc.) They will bring it up if they want your opinion. It's not that hard.
Yeah as a woman who has fended off comments from men and women about my outfits throughout my career no matter what I wore I’m here to second your comment. If you look too nice in something they’ll tell you you look too sexy to be serious but if you dress as I did at one point in overly large
November 16, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
"If you have a water view, Bruce Harrell might be for you!"
November 13, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
seattle's political geography is as wild as (and presumably at some level is reflective of) its physical geopraphy
November 13, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
Re-upping this as job market season gets going! If you love teaching & working with undergrads, check out this position that my department is hiring this year 👇
#econsky #econjobs

@miamiecon.bsky.social is hiring an Assistant Teaching Professor this year! A great fit for someone who is passionate about teaching & advising undergraduates.

www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing....
American Economic Association: JOE Listings - August 1, 2025 - January 31, 2026
www.aeaweb.org
November 12, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
Join us tomorrow afternoon at #2025APPAM for a great panel on health policy affecting children! Featuring our work on state vaccine policy.
November 12, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
1/4 Don’t miss our #2025APPAM roundtable on evidence-based solutions to support individuals with opioid use disorder on 11/13 @ 8:30 featuring Pierce County & J-PAL affiliated researchers Mireille Jacobson & Ariel Zucker. Follow this🧵to learn more about the projects being discussed.
November 10, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
New working paper posted last week. This is one of my dissertation chapters, I estimate the effect of a major expansion of the federal EITC on measures of material hardship (it helps!). I’ll have a poster on this at #2025APPAM find me if you want to chat about it papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
<p>The Effect of Expansions to the Earned Income Tax Credit on the Material Hardship of Families with Children</p>
In 2022, nearly half of children in the United States (45 percent, or 32 million) had experienced material hardship, or difficulty meeting a basic need like foo
papers.ssrn.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
Tomorrow, Thursday, I’ll be leading not one, but two, amazing community get togethers at #APPAM2025 #2025APPAM!

10:15am Immigration researchers meetup with Carolyn Heinrich

1:45pm Women in economics meetup

Come by and join these conversations! All are welcome!
November 12, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
Coming to #APPAM2025 #2025APPAM? Hear what we've learned about ECE workforce compensation and financial support strategies in MA, IL, ME and DC.

⏰Friday, November 14, 8:30am 📍Room 708 (Sol Duc)
November 12, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Interested in learning more about the heterogeneous impacts of policies to fight poverty and food insecurity? Come to our session at 8:30 am on Thursday at #2025APPAM with @johncawley.bsky.social
November 12, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Here’s a screenshot of the info since the link is a bit slow. #2025APPAM
November 12, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
I need a very long nap

Or bath

Or both
Insights from Larry Summers

"I observed that half the IQ In world was possessed by women without mentioning they are more than 51 percent of population..."
November 12, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Heading to #2025APPAM and want to learn about some of Seattle’s innovative policies and the rewards and challenges of researchers working with city policymakers to evaluate them? Come to our roundtable Thursday @10:15! With @romich.bsky.social
eppro01.ativ.me/appinfo.php?...
APPAM25
eppro01.ativ.me
November 12, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
Normal people are just sick to fucking death of the cruelty and meanness
November 5, 2025 at 3:50 AM
Reposted by Melissa Knox
Seattle, you have two hours to turn those ballots in. Are you going to let NYC make us look bad?
New Yorkers are HITTING THOSE POLLS. It's the highest turnout in about two decades.
November 5, 2025 at 1:53 AM