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 asThe American Prospect,The Atlantic, andSlate. In 2014, he co-founded the news websiteVox.

Matthew Yglesias
Yglesias in 2008
Born	(1981-05-18)May 18, 1981 (age 43) New York City, U.S.[1]
Education	Harvard University (BA)
Occupations	Blogger journalist
Years active	2002–present
Employers	The American Prospect The Atlantic Slate Vox
Relatives	Rafael Yglesias (father)

In November 2020,^[5] Yglesias left his position as an editor and columnist atVox to publish theSubstack newsletterSlow Boring. In the same month, he joined theNiskanen Center as a Senior Fellow.^[6][7]

Yglesias is the son ofRafael Yglesias, a screenwriter and novelist. His paternal grandfather, novelistJose Yglesias, was ofCuban and SpanishGalician descent, while his paternal grandmother, the novelistHelen Yglesias (née Bassine) was the daughter of Yiddish-speaking immigrants from the Russian-controlled portion of Poland. His mother, Margaret Joskow, was a daughter of Jules Joskow, the founder ofNational Economic Research Associates; the economistPaul Joskow is Yglesias's uncle. His maternal grandparents were also of Eastern European Jewish descent.^[8]

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

Yglesias started blogging in early 2002, while still in college, focusing mainly onAmerican politics andpublic policy issues, often approached from an abstract, philosophical perspective. Yglesias joined theAmerican Prospect as a writingfellow 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, Yglesias was a staff writer atThe Atlantic Monthly, and his blog was hosted on the magazine's website,The Atlantic. In July 2008, he announced that he would leaveThe Atlantic Monthly for theCenter 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 atSlate's Moneybox.^[13][14]

In February 2014, Yglesias leftSlate and joinedVox Media to co-foundVox withEzra Klein andMelissa Bell.^[15] On November 13, 2020, Yglesias announced that he would no longer be writing for Vox.com.^[16] Yglesias moved to |the digital blogging and writing platformSubstack for editorial independence.^[17]

In 2013, Yglesias garnered controversy for his statements about the2013 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 inThe Daily Beast,^[22]Time,^[23] and other outlets,^[24][25] withThe 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 ofTucker Carlson. The tweets also expressed a lack of empathy for Carlson's wife, which caused outrage.^[28]

Yglesias authored the political nonfiction bookOne Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger, released on September 15, 2020.^[29] It was inspired byDoug Saunders'Maximum Canada.^[30] According to an analysis by British digital strategistRob Blackie, Yglesias was one of the most commonly followed political writers amongBiden 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]

In 2011,The Economist wrote that Yglesias espoused "left-leaningneoliberalism" 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 theUS invasion of Iraq. He referred toIraq,Iran, andNorth 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 andTony 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 forMitt Romney when he won the office forgovernor of Massachusetts in2002.^[43]

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

• 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 aboutSpider-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.

• Matthew Yglesias onTwitter 
• slowboring - Matthew Yglesias blog