Today @haralduhlig, lead editor of the @JPolEcon, a prominent journal in economics, called for @paulkrugman to step down as @nytimes columnist to make room for a POC. I think this is an important moment for the economics profession because of the context of this tweet. Thread: 
In June, Uhlig called BLM members who advocated defunding the police "flat-earthers and creatonists": "some... wish to go and protest... while you are still young and responsibility does not matter. Enjoy! Express yourself! Just don't break anything, ok? And be back by 8pm."
In response to the ensuing criticism of these statements, he posted an apology thread that was a spectacular exercise in not apologizing; some details here:
Around the same time, his former student @bocar_a recounted insensitive behavior by @haralduhlig in the classroom, and his account was confirmed by others.
In @haralduhlig's ostensible apology to @bocar_a, he said he was "horrified"---although not so much by his own actions, but by the fact that Bocar hadn't reported him "appropriately" earlier.
Along with many others, @paulkrugman criticized @haralduhlig at the time, and questioned whether he should lead the JPE.
So this new tweet by @haralduhlig is difficult to interpret as genuine concern for the representation of POC at the @nytimes. Rather, it needs to be read in the context of @paulkrugman's criticism of @haralduhlig's insensitivity around matters of racial equity.
This is why @haralduhlig's new tweet is noxious: it instrumentalizes the (lack of) representation of a disadvantaged minority to take a shot at a critic. That's not only a failure to engage seriously with the substance of the original criticism.
More importantly, it betrays precisely the lack of respect for the concerns of that disadvantaged group that he was criticized for in the first place. It draws a parallel between the concerns of POC to be represented in positions of power and the recent criticisms of him.
That's preposterous because these concerns, and especially the injustices that underlie them and that animate the BLM movement, stand in no relation to @haralduhlig's career concerns, and it's distasteful and tone-deaf for him to invoke them in his own service.
In addition, notice that for this parallel to invalidate calls for his removal, it requires the understanding that calls for POC representation aren't valid. This is surprising because @haralduhlig is in favor of representation! For the "good ones" at least.
Now, @haralduhlig is not the first academic to descend into trolldom, and one approach would be to simply take this new episode has confirming his lack of seriousness and move on.
But his descent matters because he holds a prominent position: there's a cost in terms of the standing of economics in society, but especially in terms of welcoming junior scholars into the profession, to having someone so powerful be so socially maladjusted and get away with it.
Here is what I mean with "getting away with it": Already back in June, a few of us, led by @auffhammer, wrote an open letter to the editors to the @JPolEcon asking for @haralduhlig to be removed as lead editor. It was signed by about 500 people. dropbox.com/s/45hnqjjki125…
(Note that this letter has little to do with freedom of speech: @haralduhlig should of course be free to say what he wants. I just don't think we can afford having him as an ambassador of the profession.)
Shortly after, the @JPolEcon placed @haralduhlig on leave, pending an investigation; but that investigation was about the classroom behavior recounted by @bocar_a, not in response to the letter. (Nine days later, the investigation was concluded and he was reinstated.)
Until now, the editors of the @JPolEcon haven't responded to the letter. (Max tells me he got short personal notes from Magne Mogstad and John List.) That's disappointing because it suggests the concerns of even a large number of colleagues aren't taken seriously by the editors.
But not reacting also seems wrong. So my personal solution is that, while @haralduhlig is editor, I won't review for the @JPolEcon unless it's a paper written by a junior scholar; and I won't send papers there except with a junior co-author (and then only if it can't be helped).
.@ShellyJLundberg has already led the way. I invite you to join us. /End
