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Matthew Yglesias

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Matthew Yglesias
Yglesias in 2008
Born (1981-05-18) May 18, 1981 (age 43)
New York City, U.S.[1]
EducationHarvard University (BA)
Occupations
  • Blogger
  • journalist
Years active2002–present
Employers
RelativesRafael Yglesias (father)

Matthew Yglesias (/ɪˈɡleɪsiəs/; born May 18, 1981[2]) is an American blogger and journalist who writes about economics and politics.[3][4] Yglesias has written columns and articles for publications such as The American Prospect, The Atlantic, and Slate. In 2014 he co-founded the news website Vox.

In November 2020,[5] he left his position as an editor and columnist at Vox to publish the Substack newsletter Slow Boring. In the same month, he joined the Niskanen Center as a Senior Fellow.[6][7]

Early life and education

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Yglesias is the son of Rafael Yglesias, a screenwriter and novelist. His paternal grandfather, novelist Jose Yglesias, was of Cuban and Spanish Galician descent, while his paternal grandmother, novelist Helen Yglesias (née Bassine) was the daughter of Yiddish-speaking immigrants from the Russian-controlled portion of Poland. His mother, Margaret Joskow, was the daughter of Jules Joskow, founder of National Economic Research Associates; economist Paul Joskow is Yglesias's uncle. His maternal grandparents were also of Eastern European Jewish descent.[8]

Yglesias went to high school at the Dalton School in New York City. He attended Harvard University, where he was editor in chief of The Harvard Independent and graduated in 2003 with a B.A. magna cum laude in philosophy.[9][10]

Career

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Early career

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Yglesias started blogging in early 2002, while still in college, focusing mainly on American politics and public policy issues, often approached from an abstract, philosophical perspective.

Yglesias joined the American Prospect as a writing fellow upon his graduation in 2003, subsequently becoming a staff writer. His posts appeared regularly on the magazine's collaborative weblog TAPPED.[11]

From June 2007 until August 2008, he was a staff writer at The Atlantic Monthly, and his blog was hosted on the magazine's website, The Atlantic. In July 2008, he announced that he would leave The Atlantic Monthly for the Center for American Progress where he wrote for its blog, ThinkProgress, because he missed "the sense of collegiality that comes from working with like-minded colleagues on a shared enterprise" and thought he could "help advance their mission."[12] On November 21, 2011, he left ThinkProgress to work as a business and economics correspondent at Slate's Moneybox.[13][14]

Vox

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In February 2014, he left Slate and joined Vox Media to co-found Vox with Ezra Klein and Melissa Bell.[15] On November 13, 2020, Yglesias announced that he would no longer be writing for Vox.com.[16] Yglesias moved to Substack for editorial independence.[17]

Controversy

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In 2013, Yglesias garnered controversy for his statements about the 2013 Dhaka garment factory collapse, with Yglesias arguing that the lower building standards that partially led to the factory's collapse make "economic sense"[18] in developing countries, later tweeting that "foreign factories should be more dangerous than American factories"[19][20] and "the current system of letting different countries have different rules is working fine."[21] His comments were widely criticized in The Daily Beast,[22] Time[23] and other outlets,[24][25] with The Guardian commenting that Yglesias is "confusing a person's human worth with their socio-economic status. That's wrong."[26] Yglesias later clarified some of his comments, but stood by his original position.[27]

Yglesias deleted his past Twitter feed in November 2018, after controversy over tweets which defended the motivation of protesters who gathered outside the house of Tucker Carlson. The tweets also expressed a lack of empathy for Carlson's wife, which caused outrage.[28]

Books

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Yglesias authored the political nonfiction book One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger, released on September 15, 2020.[29] It was inspired by Doug Saunders' Maximum Canada.[30] According to an analysis by British digital strategist Rob Blackie, Yglesias was one of the most commonly followed political writers among Biden administration staff on Twitter.[31]

Andrew Sullivan, a fellow blogger, takes nominations on his blog for the Yglesias Award, an honor "for writers, politicians, columnists or pundits who actually criticize their own side, make enemies among political allies, and generally risk something for the sake of saying what they believe."[32][33]

Political views

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In 2011, The Economist wrote that Yglesias espoused "left-leaning neoliberalism" in his writing.[34] In 2017, Vice listed Yglesias among a group of political writers who were labelled "neoliberal shills" in left-wing Twitter communities.[35] Yglesias himself embraced the "neoliberal shill" label in a 2019 podcast.[36]

Yglesias initially supported the US invasion of Iraq. He referred to Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as "evil" and argued that "we should take them all out", although he criticized the term "axis of evil".[37][38] Reflecting on his support for the 2003 Iraq War in 2010, Yglesias identified several reasons for his "mistake" at the time. He cited his belief in a more assertive American foreign policy, shaped by the idea that the US should have intervened more decisively in conflicts such as those in Haiti, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Kosovo. This belief contributed to his predisposition toward military intervention. He was also influenced by the support of prominent political figures, including key Democratic leaders and Tony Blair, whose positions he largely deferred to. Additionally, Yglesias acknowledged that he had underestimated the political risk for the Bush administration, even in the absence of confirmed weapons of mass destruction.[39]

In or before 2010, Yglesias coined the term "pundit's fallacy" to denote "the belief that what a politician needs to do to improve his or her political standing is do what the pundit wants substantively."[40][41][42] In 2012, Yglesias stated that he voted for Mitt Romney when he won the office for governor of Massachusetts in 2002.[43]

Personal life

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Yglesias is married to Kate Crawford. Yglesias and Crawford met in 2008, and have one son together. Crawford now serves as editor for his Slow Boring newsletter.[44]

Works

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  • Heads in the Sand: How the Republicans Screw Up Foreign Policy and Foreign Policy Screws Up the Democrats, Wiley, April 2008, ISBN 978-0-470-08622-3.[45]
  • "Long Philosophical Rant about Spider-Man 2", Ultimate blogs: masterworks from the wild Web, Editor Sarah Boxer, Random House, Inc., 2008, ISBN 978-0-307-27806-7
  • "The Media", The 12-Step Bush Recovery Program, Gene Stone, Carl Pritzkat, Tony Travostino, Random House, Inc., 2008, ISBN 978-0-8129-8036-3
  • The Rent Is Too Damn High, Simon and Schuster, March 2012, ASIN B0078XGJXO
  • One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger, Portfolio Penguin, September 2020, ISBN 978-0-593-19021-0.

References

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  1. ^ "Matthew Yglesias Profile and Activity". Vox. Archived from the original on May 28, 2024. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  2. ^ Yglesias, Matthew [@mattyglesias] (April 17, 2021). "They say the nanobots take two weeks to be fully operational" (Tweet). Archived from the original on April 17, 2021 – via Twitter.
  3. ^ Reeve, Elspeth (March 22, 2013). "Matt Yglesias' $1.2 Million House Stokes Class Envy in Conservatives". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  4. ^ Avard, Christian (July 22, 2008). "Matt Yglesias: A Case for Liberal Internationalism". The Huffington Post. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  5. ^ Yglesias, Matthew [@mattyglesias] (November 13, 2020). "Hey folks, some personal news. Co-founding @voxdotcom with @ezraklein & @MelissaBell has been one of the great adventures of my life but after 6+ years on the job I've decided it's time for me to move on to something new that I'm really excited about" (Tweet). Archived from the original on November 13, 2020 – via Twitter.
  6. ^ "Niskanen". Niskanen Center. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  7. ^ Yglesias, Matthew (November 30, 2022). "I'm a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center". www.slowboring.com. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  8. ^ Yglesias, Matthew (May 22, 2012). "The Myth of Majority-Minority America". Slate. Retrieved November 29, 2015.
  9. ^ "Matt Yglesias Bio". TheAtlantic.com. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
  10. ^ "About Matthew Yglesias". Retrieved October 20, 2022.
  11. ^ Hantschel, Allison, ed. (2005). Special Plans: The Blogs on Douglas Feith & the Faulty Intelligence That Led to War. Franklin, Beedle & Associates, Inc. ISBN 978-1-59028-049-2.
  12. ^ Yglesias, Matthew (July 16, 2008). "Big Think Tank Matt". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020.
  13. ^ Stoeffel, Kat (November 10, 2011). "Matthew Yglesias Moves to Slate". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
  14. ^ "Matthew Yglesias". Slate. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
  15. ^ Klein, Ezra (January 26, 2014). "Vox is our next". The Verge. Archived from the original on February 20, 2017. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  16. ^ "The Weeds Podcast". Vox. Archived from the original on January 15, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  17. ^ Friedersdorf, Conor (November 13, 2020). "Why Matthew Yglesias Left Vox". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  18. ^ Yglesias, Matthew (April 24, 2013). "Foreign Factories Should Be More Dangerous". Slate. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  19. ^ Beyerstein, Lindsay (April 13, 2013). "No, Matt Yglesias, Bangladeshi Workers Didn't Choose To Be Crushed To Death". In These Times. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  20. ^ Yglesias, Matthew [@mattyglesias] (April 25, 2013). "Foreign factories should be more dangerous than American factories" (Tweet). Retrieved October 30, 2021 – via Twitter.[dead link‍]
  21. ^ Robin, Corey (April 25, 2013). "Would It Not Be Easier for Matt Yglesias to Dissolve the Bangladeshi People and Elect Another?". Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  22. ^ McArdle, Megan (April 21, 2017) [2013-04-30]. "Should We Force Other Countries to Be Safe?". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  23. ^ Walsh, Bryan (April 29, 2013). "Fast, Cheap, Dead: Shopping and the Bangladesh Factory Collapse". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  24. ^ "Different Places Have Different Safety Rules So It's Okay If Poor, Brown People Die". The Aerogram. April 25, 2013. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  25. ^ "Fast, Cheap, Dead: Shopping and the Bangladesh Factory Collapse (Time)". Center For Global Development. May 6, 2013. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  26. ^ Maha Rafi Atal (April 29, 2013). "The Bangladesh factory tragedy and the moralists of sweatshop economics". The Guardian. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  27. ^ Yglesias, Matthew (April 26, 2013). "Some Further Thoughts on Bangladesh". Slate. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  28. ^ Prengel, Kate (November 8, 2018). "Matty Yglesias Has Deleted His Entire Twitter Feed". Heavy.com. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
  29. ^ "One Billion Americans". One Billion Americans. July 19, 2020. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  30. ^ Saunders, Doug (September 11, 2020). "Imagine a world with a billion Americans in it. No, really". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  31. ^ Thompson, Alex; Meyer, Theodoric (January 20, 2021). "Biden 'is planning to run again' in 2024". POLITICO. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  32. ^ Sullivan, Andrew. "The Daily Dish Awards". The Daily Dish. The Atlantic. Archived from the original on February 11, 2007. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
  33. ^ Sullivan, Andrew (January 22, 2021). "Biden's Culture War Aggression". The Weekly Dish. Substack. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  34. ^ W., W. (July 18, 2011). "Everything falls apart". The Economist. Iowa City. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
  35. ^ Peyser, Eve (July 20, 2017). "Everyone Hates Neoliberals, So We Talked to Some". Vice. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
  36. ^ "Chief Neoliberal Shill ft. Matt Yglesias", The Neoliberal Podcast, May 8, 2019, retrieved March 15, 2022
  37. ^ "MATTHEW YGLESIAS". Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  38. ^ "HYPER-HAWKISH TNR EDITORIAL". Blogspot. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  39. ^ Yglesias, Matthew (August 19, 2010). "Four Reasons for a Mistake". ThinkProgress. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  40. ^ Yglesias, Matthew (August 2, 2010). "The Pundit's Fallacy". ThinkProgress (blog). Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2018.
  41. ^ W., W. (May 1, 2012). "This week in the pundit's fallacy". The Economist. Iowa City. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2018.
  42. ^ Krugman, Paul (May 24, 2012). "How to End This Depression". The New York Review of Books. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2018.
  43. ^ Yglesias, Matthew [@Mattyglesias] (August 31, 2012). "My recollection is that pre-Romney MA was pretty good, and I voted for him to maintain the status quo. Which he did!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on July 18, 2013. Retrieved September 1, 2012 – via Twitter.
  44. ^ Zak, Dan (January 11, 2023). "The Boring Journey of Matt Yglesias". Washington Post. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  45. ^ Wiley product page for Heads in the Sand Archived January 27, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
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