American blogger and journalist (born 1981)
Matthew Yglesias (; born May 18, 1981) is an American blogger and journalist who writes about economics and politics. 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, Yglesias 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.
Early life and education.
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.
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.
Career.
Early career.
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.
From June 2007 until August 2008, Yglesias 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." On November 21, 2011, he left ThinkProgress to work as a business and economics correspondent at Slate's Moneybox.
"Vox".
In February 2014, Yglesias left "Slate" and joined Vox Media to co-found "Vox" with Ezra Klein and Melissa Bell. On November 13, 2020, Yglesias announced that he would no longer be writing for Vox.com. Yglesias moved to Substack for editorial independence.
Controversy.
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" in developing countries, later tweeting that "foreign factories should be more dangerous than American factories" and "the current system of letting different countries have different rules is working fine." His comments were widely criticized in "The Daily Beast", "Time", and other outlets, with "The Guardian" commenting that Yglesias is "confusing a person's human worth with their socio-economic status. That's wrong." Yglesias later clarified some of his comments, but stood by his original position.
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.
Books.
Yglesias authored the political nonfiction book "One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger", released on September 15, 2020. It was inspired by Doug Saunders' "Maximum Canada". 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.
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."
Political views.
In 2011, "The Economist" wrote that Yglesias espoused "left-leaning neoliberalism" in his writing. In 2017, "Vice" listed Yglesias among a group of political writers who were labelled "neoliberal shills" in left-wing Twitter communities. Yglesias himself embraced the "neoliberal shill" label in a 2019 podcast.
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". 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. 
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." In 2012, Yglesias stated that he voted for Mitt Romney when he won the office for governor of Massachusetts in 2002.
Personal life.
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.
References.
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