Policy & the Economy
March 1, 2024
How to Award Contracts When You’re Concerned about Quality
You want a good price, but you don’t want lousy workmanship. What’s a buyer to do?
Giuseppe Lopomo, Nicola Persico and Alessandro T. Villa
March 1, 2024
Video: Understanding America’s Prescription Drug Market
A healthcare economist answers questions about pharmaceutical innovation, costs, and more.
Amanda Starc
February 23, 2024
The Dos and Don’ts of Regulating AI
How can governments capitalize on AI’s benefits while minimizing its dangers? New research examines several policies—and identifies a promising approach.
João Guerreiro, Sergio Rebelo and Pedro Teles
February 23, 2024
What’s at Stake in the UFC Antitrust Case?
The outcome of the mixed-martial-arts saga could have wide-ranging implications for the future of global sports entertainment.
Mark McCareins
February 5, 2024
What Happens When We Give Doctors an AI Assistant?
Machine-learning systems can improve physicians’ accuracy at diagnosing dermatological diseases. But even with AI assistance, physicians struggle to close the accuracy gap between light- and dark-skinned patients.
Matthew Groh, Omar Badri, Roxana Daneshjou, Arash Koochek, Caleb Harris, Luis R. Soenksen and Rosalind Picard
February 1, 2024
How the Railroad Laid the Tracks for Modern Government
Technologies that allowed federal officials to monitor workers from afar played a key role in the emergence of the bureaucratic state.
Nicola Mastrorocco and Edoardo Teso
January 4, 2024
Why Are So Many Young Chinese Depressed?
It’s not just the economic slowdown. The country’s education system and social policies have created a disillusioned generation.
Nancy Qian
January 2, 2024
Community Revitalization Is Hard to Get Right. Here’s How It Can Succeed.
“The basic amenities people want are pretty universal, but every community has its own priorities and ideals.”
William Towns
January 1, 2024
How Should Global Cities Manage an Influx of Wealthy Foreign Residents?
In an age of remote work, the trend will only continue. So how can governments take advantage of the benefits while mitigating the harms?
João Guerreiro, Sergio Rebelo and Pedro Teles
December 11, 2023
Investing Over-the-Counter—and Under the Radar
In most markets, buyers and sellers benefit from soliciting many offers. New research shows why the opposite is true for OTC traders.
Markus Baldauf and Joshua Mollner
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
November 1, 2023
In a Warming U.S., Smaller Manufacturers Are Feeling the Heat
Smaller firms struggle in the face of temperature shocks, while larger ones are less affected—a trend that is driving industry consolidation.
Jacopo Ponticelli, Qiping Xu and Stefan Zeume
November 1, 2023
When Your Savings Account Is Also a Lottery Ticket
Prize-linked savings accounts can be more enticing to customers than interest rates—and banks like them, too.
Paul Gertler, Sean Higgins, Aisling Scott and Enrique Seira
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 6, 2023
Can We Build a Better Prescription Drug Market?
Medicare will soon be able to negotiate directly with drug makers. But one economist explains why “the goal should be to increase value, not just lower prices.”
Amanda Starc
October 5, 2023
Big Tech Takes the Stand
Google may look like a monopoly, but is its power actually hurting consumers? A legal expert weighs in.
Mark McCareins
October 2, 2023
How the Electoral College May Curb Election Fraud
This distinctive aspect of American democracy has come under increased scrutiny. But the very quality that most vexes its critics comes with an underrecognized upside.
Georgy Egorov and Konstantin Sonin
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 28, 2023
It’s Election Season. Here Comes the Morally Charged Language.
In the U.S., presidential candidates across the political spectrum lean on value-laden rhetoric—but emphasize different values.
Kobi Hackenburg, William Brady and Manos Tsakiris
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
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