Policy & the Economy
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
August 16, 2023
Social-Media Algorithms Have Hijacked “Social Learning”
We make sense of the world by observing and mimicking others, but digital platforms throw that process into turmoil. Can anything be done?
William Brady, Joshua Conrad Jackson, Björn Lindström and M.J. Crockett
August 10, 2023
How Autocracies Unravel
Over time, leaders grow more repressive and cling to yes-men—a cycle that’s playing out today in Putin’s Russia.
Georgy Egorov and Konstantin Sonin
August 1, 2023
How Data Tracking Is Changing—and What That Means for You
Tech companies are phasing out cookies. Will consumers finally see meaningful privacy protections?
Guy Aridor
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
July 1, 2023
How to Prepare for AI-Generated Misinformation
“We have to be careful not to get distracted by sci-fi issues and focus on concrete risks that are the most pressing.”
William Brady
July 1, 2023
Will the PGA–LIV Golf Merger Pass the Antitrust Test?
“Statements that LIV has made about breaking up the monopoly of the PGA may come back to haunt them.”
Mark McCareins
June 30, 2023
The Supreme Court Ended Race-Conscious Admissions. A Sociologist Who Studies Bias in Elite Spaces Is Worried about the Ramifications.
“The decision represents a fundamental misunderstanding or misrecognition of what we know from science about how discrimination works.”
Lauren Rivera
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 22, 2023
What’s at Stake in the Debt-Ceiling Standoff?
Defaulting would be an unmitigated disaster, quickly felt by ordinary Americans.
David A. Besanko
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 21, 2023
Banning China from Owning U.S. Farmland Will Achieve Nothing
A new bipartisan bill would prohibit anyone associated with “foreign adversaries” like China from purchasing U.S. farmland. While protecting the U.S. food system and making farmland more affordable to domestic producers by limiting foreign ownership may seem plausible on paper, the reality is more complicated.
Nancy Qian
April 10, 2023
Are People on Social Media Actually That Outraged?
One reason we think Twitter is such a polarized place: we’re bad at inferring how angry people are from their posts.
William Brady and and coauthors
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
February 2, 2023
Consumers Lose Out When Health Insurers Offer Lots of Plans
While extra choices are usually considered a good thing, insurers are able to use them strategically to maximize profits.
Hector Chade, Victoria Marone, Amanda Starc and Jeroen Swinkels
February 1, 2023
Will AI Eventually Replace Doctors?
Maybe not entirely. But the doctor–patient relationship is likely to change dramatically.
David Dranove and Craig Garthwaite
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
January 21, 2023
Take 5: What We’ve Learned about Tackling Public-Health Crises
Covid-era research sheds light on how policymakers can guide the economy and the public through future emergencies.
Scott R. Baker, Efraim Benmelech, Paola Sapienza, Angela Y. Lee, Benjamin F. Jones, Ryan Hill, Dashun Wang and and coauthors
January 1, 2023
Partisanship Doesn’t Just Color Our View of Facts—It Alters How We Think about Hypotheticals
New research sheds light on how polarization can shape our counterfactual thinking.
Kai Epstude, Daniel J. Effron and Neal J. Roese
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