
Chief Economist, @ArchbridgeInst. PhD, @texastech. @Loyola_NOLA grad. Removing barriers to human flourishing and finding the best po-boy in New Orleans.
New Orleans, LA
Joined April 2011
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This new op-ed from economists like Piketty, Stiglitz, and Hickel call for essentially de-growth. A few notable incorrect statements here 🧵
theguardian.com/commentisfre…
Justin Callais retweeted
Please join us in welcoming @rsalinasleon as a Latin America fellow!
As president of the Alamos Alliance and a pivotal partner in developing our annual Latin America Summit, Roberto will help advance our mission to lift barriers to human flourishing across the globe. 🌎
Justin Callais retweeted
New Stanford Childcare Model shows that reducing regulatory compliance costs by 20% reduces childcare prices and increases teacher wages. Our @ArchbridgeInst Child Care Regulation Index identifies next steps for cutting down on compliance costs in each individual state.
Justin Callais retweeted
The AI response may well be imperfect, but it does raise a legitimate concern: your choice of which criticisms to engage with seems to consistently lean in one direction. Which is the criticism I made for years in many peer-reviewed papers.
Rather than focusing on the AI response, appeals to authority, or rhetorical flourishes, I would welcome a substantive engagement with the arguments that Phil Magness (@PhilWMagness) and I have developed across multiple papers, which have so far gone largely unanswered.
The same applies to the work of Auten and Splinter, Josh Rauh, and Sylvain Catherine.
I think there is a basic principle of scholarly debate at stake here. It is difficult to invoke the importance of serious academic criticism while declining to engage with substantive objections from researchers who have devoted considerable effort to examining your work. This is particularly true when those objections are sometimes characterized in ways that do not accurately reflect the arguments being made.
We are serious scholars raising serious questions. Surely, it is reasonable to expect that these arguments receive the same consideration as criticisms you have chosen to address.
I am not asking for much—simply a fair and substantive engagement with our actual arguments. Ignore how mean Tyler was to you. That is not important to scholarship debates!
Hello @elonmusk and @tylercowen ,
You have just decided to publicly attack our research, six days before the vote on the California billionaire wealth tax.
Your attempt to discredit our work and that of our numerous academic colleagues is pathetic.
Let’s take a look. 🧵
Justin Callais retweeted
So far I've counted 6 of my previous podcast guests covering 8 episodes of @freethe_economy in attendance - a great sign! (s/o to @JustinTCallais, @rlorenc, @SamRaus1, @Galepooley, @JohnMTillman, & Peter Lipsett of @DonorsTrust)
Justin Callais retweeted
It's always a blast working with @JustinTCallais! We argue that, shockingly, creating a fund overseen by the agencies and interests that stand to receive its money is not how you drive adaptation to technological change. Read the rest below!
New in @NRO w/ @NaThielman Sen. Mark Kelly wants AI companies to pay into a federal “AI Horizon Fund.” But who really bears the cost, and who ends up capturing the money?
nationalreview.com/2026/10/w…
Justin Callais retweeted
I've been wanting to tweet about this forever. @TheIHS has this ridiculous tool called Scholar's Edge and it's full of the most beautiful public policy-related datasets and AI tools.
It also has an MCP! Their people have a deep love of building and sharing knowledge and are a blast to work with.
New in @NRO w/ @NaThielman Sen. Mark Kelly wants AI companies to pay into a federal “AI Horizon Fund.” But who really bears the cost, and who ends up capturing the money?
nationalreview.com/2026/10/w…
In Episode 15 of From Ideas to Innovation, Akash also breaks down:
→ Why populism offers economic solutions to non-economic problems
→ What Capitol Hill taught him about redlining statutes, not just writing white papers
→ Why childcare deregulation is the most underrated affordability fix
Listen to the full episode where you get your podcasts.
Check-out my show notes and subscribe to get future episodes here: fromideastoinnovation.substa…
Justin Callais retweeted
In @aier @thedailyeconomy, I discuss Benjamin Jaros @HooverInst & @joshrauh's excellent analysis of the #California wealth tax.
thedailyeconomy.org/article/…

ALT California’s income tax changes provide a cautionary tale. In 2012, voters approved Proposition 30, an increase on the existing 9.3 percent personal income tax rates on higher incomes through the end of 2018. These temporary increases were then extended through 2030, when voters approved Proposition 55 in 2016. Once government spending has been promised, it is tempting for policymakers to turn “one time” into “one more time.”
5/ 3) Who is promising this is one-time?
Saez & Zucman designed Warren’s annual wealth tax. Zucman’s 2024 G20 report suggested 2% of wealth annually on 3k billionaires. The architects of Prop 40 have argued for annual wealth taxes for two decades.
4/ Europe already ran this experiment. France (1982–2017) lost 10,000+ millionaires and about €7B/yr in capital flight against only €3.5B raised. Norway’s 2022 hike pushed out 30+ billionaires in one year.
2/ 1) The exodus already happened.
Seven billionaires worth 1/4 of state's billionaire wealth, publicly left CA between the October 2025 filing and the January 1 residency snapshot. That rev is gone whether or not this passes.


















