Skills and Permissions: Claude Code for Economists
Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham | Episode 162-4
This post includes the sixth and seventh episode (of eight) in our mini-series on Claude Code for Applied Economists, with Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham.*
Episode 6: Claude Skills
In this episode, Paul explained Claude Skills: reusable instruction bundles that help Claude perform recurring tasks in a standardized way. He showed where Skills are stored, how global and project-level Skills differ, and then built a paper-summary Skill. Paul also introduced community Skill packs such as “superpowers.”
Paul’s detailed notes on this episode can be found here.
Timestamps:
[0:00] What are Claude Skills?
[7:33] Building a paper-summary Skill
[21:50] Skill packs, “superpowers,” and cautions about overusing Skills
Episode 7: Permissions and OpenClaw
In this episode, Paul explained how to think about autonomy and risk when using Claude Code and other agentic AI tools, for example covering different types of permissions. Paul showed how containers and sandboxes, including Docker-based workflows and tools like Safe House, can give AI agents more autonomy while limiting potential damage. Paul also discussed OpenClaw-style bots, and introduced us to his own “Duncan Idaho” research assistant agent.
Paul’s detailed notes on this episode can be found here.
Timestamps:
[0:00] Permission types and an overview of agentic tools
[11:37] Sandboxing with containers and Docker
[35:43] OpenClaw and autonomous research agents
* Goldsmith-Pinkham is an Associate Professor of Finance at the Yale School of Management and a Faculty Research Fellow at NBER. Hosted by Markus Brunnermeier.