Area: Economics

Two workers in protective gear conducting drive-up COVID-19 testing Research Brief / COVID-19

Comprehensive COVID-19 Screening Would Pay for Itself Many Times Over

Reliable, widespread testing regimen could help jump-start economy

A color image of a genome. Research Brief / Behavioral Economics

College Completion and Your Genome (Don’t Get Too Excited)

It’s still early days in genetic research, though advances will aid study of educational attainment and, notably, disease

Illustration of businessman plugging ears with fingers and megaphone to the right of him, Research Brief / Politics

Closely Held Political Beliefs Often Immune to Conflicting Information – Even From Trusted Sources

People say they’d change their minds, but they mostly don’t

Guillermo Moreno Research Brief / Economics

Citizens Are Not Fooled by Fake Statistics

What happened when the Argentine government lied about inflation numbers?

A white woman dressed in black sits in a chair while people walk behind her. Research Brief / Gender

Career Mentoring Default — Women for Women — Altered by Quality Data

A well-intentioned best practice, gender matching might not be optimal

Illustration of hands raised in blue, with one hand colored red Feature / Politics

Campaign Contributions Swayed by Neighbors’ Politics

A field experiment using public donation data indicates peer pressure matters

Illustration of office buildings with a silhouette of a figure holding their arms out Research Brief / Taxes

Businesses Vastly Overestimate the Likelihood of Being Audited

Should tax-collecting agencies keep audit activity secret to discourage cheating?

Monochrome photo of soldiers marching Research Brief / Cultural History

Bowling for Fascism: Exploring the Dark Side of Social Capital

In pre-World War II Germany, sports clubs became a vehicle to spread Nazism

Inverted image of a calculator Research Brief / Taxes

Boo! Does Merely Mentioning an Audit Increase Taxpayer Compliance?

Research undermines the notion that companies coldly calculate tax avoidance

A line of 13 members of a family lined up to the mother at Ellis Island Research Brief / Globalization

Big Families — and Overall Population Growth — Lead People to Emigrate

Europe’s Great Migration to North America, 1850-1920, offers lessons for today’s immigration patterns

Illustration of a guillotine Research Brief / Cultural History

Beyond Angry Mobs: Intellectuals in the French Revolution

History’s Encyclopédie subscribers are matched to grievances against the monarchy

Illustration of a man looking at a carrot while a magnet opens his head Research Brief / Nudges

Behavioral Economics: Are Nudges Cost-Effective?

A team of experts makes the financial case that governments should spend more on nudging

A lone red char in empty office. Research Brief / Investing

As Concentrated Shareholder Ownership Rises, Wages and Employment Suffer

Where big investors gather, corporate wealth is reallocated away from workers

A Soviet Union propaganda poster for May Day in 1950 that features a man and woman. Research Brief / Economics

An Enemy’s Economic Success Sparked U.S. Congressional Cooperation

Bipartisan action rose amid reports of surprising Soviet Cold War economic growth

Illustration of Caribbean Research Brief / Labor

An Early Episode of How Corporate Profits Shaped Labor Markets

Caribbean plantation owners, faced with slavery’s end, enacted legal barriers to employment elsewhere

A man with a headlamp and safety helmet on Research Brief / Wealth Inequality

Americans Want to Help Poor People, but Only the Hard-Working Poor

Biases around race, nation-of-origin and disability are small compared to the preference for helping the diligent