Popular by Design
Alexander Kustov, Yaoyao DaiA newsletter about migration and policies that work
| Platform |  | Pricing | Only free issues | Publishes | Weekly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issues | 28 | Founded | a year ago | Last Issue | 4 days ago |
| Active | |||||
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popularbydesign.orgLatest Issues
Will Intervention Cause a Migration Crisis in Cuba?
I’m excited to share our first guest post on Popular by Design from . Gil does some of the best migration research around at the , grounded in hard demographic data, and it shows in his feel for what actually drives people to move. I found...
LinkedIn Is Doing What Bluesky Was Supposed to Do
For a brief moment about a year ago, it really did look like Bluesky might work. Researchers and left-of-center intellectuals were flooding in, swapping starter packs, reassembling what felt like a nostalgic reunion of old Twitter. Then eve...
"Why Don't You House Them Yourself?" — Because I Legally Can't (From the Archives)
Originally published in September 2025, this was the first long-form essay I wrote for Popular by Design, and the one that jump-started it. I only had a few hundred subscribers at the time. I still think it’s one of the best things I’ve wri...
Academics Need to Wake Up on AI, Part III
Please like, share, comment, and subscribe. It helps grow the newsletter without a financial contribution on your part. Thank you for reading.
In Part I, I argued that AI can already do social science research better than most profe...
What is Populism Actually Good for?
Why does yelling about “corrupt elites” seem to work in politics? From Donald Trump to Viktor Orbán to Marine Le Pen, politicians who rail against the establishment and claim to speak for “the real people” keep winning elections. The populi...
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Authors
The writers behind this newsletter.
Author of "In Our Interest: How Democracies Can Make Immigration Popular." Professor. Immigration policy, public opinion, AI (?), and effective governance.
A computational social scientist working on information manipulation, populism, authoritarian politics, machine learning, and measurement methods.
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