Prof. of public policy at Georgia Tech. My tweets don't represent my university or USG. They are random reads & vents that I find interesting or provocative.
Feb 25, 2020 • 21 tweets • 3 min read
THREAD: As part of my research, a few years ago I looked into effects of Spanish flu on US economy 1918-1919. It had similar transmission/mortality rates as COVID19. It might serve as worst case scenario becuz US govt mostly failed to respond, medicine/virology were pre-modern 1/
The first outbreaks occurred during Feb 1918 at military training centers in the US Midwest. The virus then spread rapidly through the country’s military bases. Soldiers home on leave carried it into civilian population, while US troops shipped to Brest took the flu to France. 2/
Apr 12, 2019 • 18 tweets • 3 min read
I have a "real" science degree, in physics, from UC Berkeley. There I assisted in research on condensed matter physics. And I'm here to tell you that political science *is* real science. THREAD/
In physics, you don't have to think too much about methods, because you can usually conduct controlled experiments. The laboratory gives you the ability to change just one single causal variable. And to do it again and again and again. 1/
