Area: Economics
Using Ancestral Characteristics to Study Modern Economics
A database of pre-industrial sampling supports historical and ethnographic research
Toward A Less Tragic Commons: a Two-Part Tax Plan to Prevent Resource Depletion
A levy on entering and expanding in an industry, on top of a per-unit extraction tax, tempers exploitation
Through the Minimum Wage Looking Glass: Economic Consensus Unrealized
Researchers struggle with faulty study designs, flyspecking each other’s work, re-arguing decades of debate about jobs and income
The Unhappy Quest for a Happiness Index
Pushing aside GDP for a measure of human well-being turns out to be very, very difficult. Ask Dan Benjamin
The Underappreciated Costs of Chasing a Raise
People have outsized expectations of how much happiness money can buy
The Transformative Potential of Financial Reparations
Payouts to victims of Colombia’s decadeslong armed conflict suggest benefits may exceed the initial cost
The Role of Chance Encounters in Silicon Valley Innovation
Cellphone signals and patent citations approximate a theory’s long-sought paper trail
The Mechanics of How Social Media Turbocharges Asset Bubbles
Establishment media coalesces around a lone narrative, but online chatter hops between storylines, sometimes shocking traders
The Long-Term Political Influence of Immigrants
Europeans brought an appreciation of social welfare programs that still resonates
The High Cost of Losing a Minimum Wage Job
Contrary to assumptions, low-wage workers lose substantial income in years after layoff
Testing 17 Theories on the Development of Complex Civilizations
Large-scale data project produces stark conclusion: military technology + agricultural productivity caused the takeoff
Tech Workers Take Much Lower Pay to Ditch the Office
Offers of remote work far more valuable to job seekers than employers seem to understand
Taxing Jet Fuel Could Reduce Airline Greenhouse Gas Emissions Now
Breakthrough technologies are years off for aviation, but incremental improvements are available
Surge Pricing’s Benefits Go to a Subset of Ride-Hailing Drivers
Full-timers gain the least, part-time drivers the most
State Tax Credits for Angel Investors Backfire
Good ideas may be scarce, capital to fund them is not