Policy & the Economy
November 28, 2023
The Long Tail of China’s Zero-COVID Policy
As the costs of China’s pandemic experience are tallied, younger generations are confronting a disconcerting new reality.
Nancy Qian
October 18, 2023
Why Younger Workers Just Can’t Get Ahead
In wealthy countries, the wage gap between older and younger workers is growing. A crowded promotion pathway could be to blame.
Nicola Bianchi and Matteo Paradisi
October 2, 2023
Is Chinese Youth Unemployment as Bad as It Looks?
China’s exceptional growth in recent decades has influenced the education and career choices of young people and their families. But now that high-skilled jobs are drying up and recent graduates are struggling to find work, there is a growing mismatch between expectations and new realities.
Nancy Qian
September 1, 2023
Why Do Long Wars Happen?
War is a highly inefficient way of dividing contested resources—yet conflicts endure when there are powerful incentives to feign strength.
Sandeep Baliga and Tomas Sjöström
July 27, 2023
Youth Unemployment and China’s Economic Future
For decades, China’s growth has followed the pattern of advanced economies, with rising incomes and educational attainment, shrinking family size, and growing female labor-force participation. But across these and other dimensions, the economy now appears to be going backward.
Nancy Qian
June 2, 2023
China’s Youth Unemployment Problem
If the record-breaking joblessness persists, as seems likely, China will have an even harder time supporting its rapidly aging population.
Nancy Qian
May 16, 2023
Take 5: Yikes! When Unintended Consequences Strike
Good intentions don’t always mean good results. Here’s why humility, and a lot of monitoring, are so important when making big changes.
Sunil Chopra, Jacopo Ponticelli, Anna Tuchman, Erika Deserranno and Jörg L. Spenkuch
May 1, 2023
2 Factors Will Determine How Much AI Transforms Our Economy
They’ll also dictate how workers stand to fare.
Benjamin F. Jones
April 1, 2023
How Marriages Are Exacerbating Income Inequality
Marriage patterns can account for 40 percent of rising inequality, according to a new study.
Almar Frederik, Benjamin Friedrich, Ana Reynoso, Bastian Schulz and Rune Vejlin
January 25, 2023
6 Takeaways on Inflation and the Economy Right Now
Are we headed into a recession? Kellogg’s Sergio Rebelo breaks down the latest trends.
Sergio Rebelo
December 23, 2022
Podcast: China’s Economy Is in Flux. Here’s What American Businesses Need to Know.
On this episode of The Insightful Leader: the end of “Zero Covid,” escalating geopolitical tensions, and China’s potentially irreplaceable role in the global supply chain.
Nancy Qian, Benjamin F. Jones and David Dollar
December 22, 2022
What Do American Businesses Need to Understand about China Right Now?
As China’s zero-Covid policy ends, it’s time to take stock of where the world’s second largest economy may be headed.
Nancy Qian, Benjamin F. Jones and David Dollar
December 6, 2022
Which Workers Suffer Most When New Technology Arrives?
It’s not necessarily who you think.
Leonid Kogan, Dimitris Papanikolaou, Lawrence Schmidt and Bryan Seegmiller
December 1, 2022
What Happens to Worker Productivity after a Minimum Wage Increase?
A pay raise boosts productivity for some—but the impact on the bottom line is more complicated.
Decio Coviello, Erika Deserranno and Nicola Persico
December 1, 2022
How COVID Changed the Way Americans Think about Economic Inequality
For some, the pandemic laid bare the social factors that can keep people down. But not everyone adopted a new perspective.
Hannah J. Birnbaum, Andrea G. Dittmann, Nicole Stephens, Ellen C. Reinhart, Rebecca M. Carey and Hazel Rose Markus
November 28, 2022
Post-War Reconstruction Is a Good Investment
Ukraine’s European neighbors will need to make a major financial commitment to help rebuild its economy after the war. Fortunately, as the legacy of the post–World War II Marshall Plan shows, investing in Ukraine’s future will also serve Europe’s own long-term interests.
Nancy Qian
November 1, 2022
How Experts Make Complex Decisions
By studying 200 million chess moves, researchers shed light on what gives players an advantage—and what trips them up.
Yuval Salant and Jörg L. Spenkuch
October 1, 2022
Why Did So Many Ukrainians Die in the Soviet Great Famine?
They perished at a much higher rate than ethnic Russians during what’s known as Holodomor. A new study suggests this was a deliberate policy decision.
Andrei Markevich, Natalya Naumenko and Nancy Qian
September 28, 2022
China’s Future Will Reflect Russia’s
China learned from Russia’s post-1991 experience and pursued its economic liberalization with more care. But it ultimately could not avoid the political implications of pro-market policies and is now following Russia down the road to autocracy—continuing a century-long pattern of mirroring its neighbor’s historical trajectory.
Nancy Qian
August 26, 2022
The Food Crisis Is Bigger Than Ukraine
While Russia’s war has undoubtedly caused real problems in global food markets, they are different and more complex than what most news coverage suggests.
Nancy Qian
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