
Postdoc @Watson_School | Ph.D. @Harvard Government | @ITAM_mx alum 🇲🇽 💙🌅: https://xitter.cf/t.co/9NoKyxRX0T
Providence, RI
Joined July 2018
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Semester is in full swing at @BrownUniversity and I'm thrilled!
I joined @RhodesCenter for International Economics and Finance as a postdoc, continuing my work on how legal labor and export markets and their regulatory institutions shape armed group strategy in conflict.
Coffee?
María Ballesteros 💚 retweeted
New article in @JournalPolitics: how does Latin America's far right contest the Organiation of American States (OAS)? Through a transnational anti-gender network (churches, NGOs, populist radical right parties) that can neutralize an IO from within. 🧵 1/7 doi.org/10.1177/026339572614…
María Ballesteros 💚 retweeted
Mexico City isn't a realistic immediate expansion target for the NBA, but not because of CRIME
Mexico City's murder rate is far lower than many NBA cities.
Americans are so normalized to gun violence, yall dont even realize you're more likely to be murdered in Alabama than CDMX
María Ballesteros 💚 retweeted
Happy to announce the release of our first curated dataset from @GLL_Brown @Brown_Economics @Watson_School @RhodesCenter We logged every US tariff rate: threats, announcements, signed into law since January 2025. 749 of them, timed to the minute, with the exact quote and source. Only 30% are executive orders. The rest is the noise markets trade on. Free, updated weekly:
globallinkages.org/datasets/…
María Ballesteros 💚 retweeted
Our department is hosting its 7th PS-prep; this is a program for students interested in applying for a PhD in polsci at any institution.
PS-prep consists of an informational session over zoom + the opportunity to get feedback from a PhD student or Faculty on your application(..)
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María Ballesteros 💚 retweeted
People dunking on this saying that TWFE is just fine are omitting an important detail that these are from “top 5” -- papers that have been vetted for identification, passed several robustness checks, gone through several rounds of reviews, and then gone through.
María Ballesteros 💚 retweeted
Forthcoming in the AER: "The Economic Impacts of Sexual Assault" by Abi Adams, Kristiina Huttunen, Emily Nix, and Ning Zhang. aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.12…
María Ballesteros 💚 retweeted
the future of academic papers!
Thrilled that #paper2agent is published in @nature today!
Scientific knowledge is traditionally stored in passive papers. Paper2Agent transforms papers into virtual authors that answer questions, apply its methods and collaborate w/ other paper agents to make new discoveries 🧵
María Ballesteros 💚 retweeted
En Colombia se volvió común presentar el “posdoctorado” como el máximo nivel educativo, o declararse “posdoctor”. Cada vez que ocurre, muchos académicos salimos a aclarar lo mismo: no existe el título de posdoctor o posdoctora.
Este fantástico artículo de @JavierMejiaC explica de forma sencilla el sentido y la lógica de un posdoctorado, sus particularidades en las ciencias sociales y, sobre todo, por qué no es un título ni una jerarquía superior al PhD, el máximo título académico. Recomendadísimo.
En Colombia esto ha ido muy lejos. Quizás porque el propio Estado aquí tiene pocos PhDs, y entonces quienes diseñan políticas y programas se confunden o no entienden estos títulos y procesos de formación y entrenamiento para la investigación. Por eso no sorprende que el propio @MincienciasCo!!! lo tenía en las encuestas del CvLAC como título, y el @DANE_Colombia todavía lo incluye en sus encuestas (ver foto) en preguntas sobre máximo nivel educativo como si de verdad existiera un título de posdoctor superior al doctorado. Es decir, ni el propio Estado colombiano entiende el tema y termina tergiversando cuál es el máximo nivel educativo.
Esto no es menor. El Estado colombiano funciona con una lógica legalista y de títulos más que de competencias. Por eso no sorprende que hasta una ministra de ciencias del anterior gobierno se mostrara en redes como “posdoctora” de Harvard, algo que no hace ningún profesor ni contratista posdoc de Harvard, o que el Contralor y un par de los recién nombrados en este gobierno fueran presentados como “posdoctores” y hasta tener varios, como si fueran tarjetas coleccionables.
Y ha llevado incluso a que universidades colombianas, sin rubor, pretendieran crear programas conducentes a “título de posdoctorado” por los que cobran y otorgan título, algo que contradice la esencia misma del posdoc: una experiencia laboral contratada en la que la universidad le paga al investigador y no al revés.
Por eso el Estado colombiano necesita revisar sus procesos y regulaciones desde la Ley 30, para que no vuelvan a pasar cosas así o a aparecer procesos de selección o encuestas con la idea falsa e imprecisa de que existe el título de posdoctor y es el máximo nivel académico. Columna recomendada para @Mineducacion, @ClauPBenavides y @rvalencia123.
#Posdoctoradonoestitulo
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La academia tiene prácticas y códigos extraños.
En esta columna hablo de uno de ellos, uno que incluso dentro de la academia misma suele ser mal entendido: la figura del postdoctorado
forbes.co/red-forbes/que-es-…
What I really want is a kindle that is iPhone max size and has a page turn button where the iphone volume buttons would be. Please help @amazon
Refugee Return and Conflict: Evidence from a Natural Experiment
aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.12…
María Ballesteros 💚 retweeted
“The New Political Economy of U.S. Trade” with David Lake in Current History magazine. We survey the Trump Admin's trade policies, provide historical perspective, and analyze the expected impact on the US and the intl trading system. Available here blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/jaf8…
María Ballesteros 💚 retweeted
This is a long shot, but you never know. If your child lost this little guy at the Amtrak station in Philadelphia today please tell me the name embroidered on his foot for verification and I will be pleased to mail him back to your family. (Keywords: toy rat philly kid found)
En fin, me parece muy triste que se nos haga chistoso burlarnos de la gente por estudiar. La sociedad siempre necesita más educación, aunque no sea la que tú hubieras escogido, @saraisinh_
Me tiene muy confundida este tweet…
Lo que está mal es estudiar?
O querer estudiar una maestría en el extranjero?
O escoger la una maestría orientada al servicio público????
Explícame porfi que si necesita el mundo
My main takeaway from this article is that many of the critiques are valid, but I find it profoundly ironic that a call for more respect and better working conditions for academic workers treats job market candidates with such open contempt. Hold up the mirror, dude.
Much of @Tyler_A_Harper’s academic career had felt like a fairy tale. When he landed a tenure-track job, one adviser said that it was like “watching the last dinosaur being born.” But after few years at Bates College, his faith in academia had shattered: theatlantic.com/magazine/202…
María Ballesteros 💚 retweeted
Happy to see my paper with @CoryMcCartan out! We provide a modern approach to fairness in redistricting, applicable to race, party, and more within one measure.
We started this project in the summer before our third year of grad school (5 full years ago)!
Individual and differential harm in redistricting dlvr.it/TTtXC1
After 6 years in Boston I am so thrilled to share that this city finally has decent tacos.
Everyone should be checking out Taquería los Compadres in Downtown Crossing because this place surviving is now crucial for my mental health.
María Ballesteros 💚 retweeted
I'm proud to finally announce the first release of the Small-Area Global Elections (SAGE) dataset, encompassing global, granular, standardized, geocoded, polling station or equivalent-level election results for 110 countries, conditionally accepted at Nature Scientific Data. (1/n)
































