Area: Economics
The Transformative Potential of Financial Reparations
Payouts to victims of Colombia’s decadeslong armed conflict suggest benefits may exceed the initial cost
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
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
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
Using Ancestral Characteristics to Study Modern Economics
A database of pre-industrial sampling supports historical and ethnographic research
Voters Often Opt for Candidate They Expect to Win
The bandwagon effect boosts the top vote-getter in preliminary rounds
What Happens to Pesos When Dollars Go Digital?
As major central banks adopt digital currency, emerging countries will feel mixed effects
What Sparks Tech Adoption? Learning Competitors Are Ahead
Firms start their own tech upgrades after learning peers had done their own, study finds
When Manufacturers Commence Exporting, They Become More Efficient
Looking at costs, in a sample of 5,000 plants in Chile, remarkable productivity gains occur
When the Economy Goes South, Political Opinions Veer Right
A survey of 77 papers seeks better understanding of how crises shape beliefs and preferences
Why Can’t We All Get Along? On Some Things, We Do
The narrative of a growing cultural divide, while partly true, conceals a more nuanced picture
Why the COVID-19 Baby Bust May Be Far Smaller Than Expected
Access to birth control among lower-income women was curtailed by pandemic’s lockdown
Women Are Likelier to Drop Out after Early Political Loss
But the “persistence gap” in seeking elective office narrows with experience
Work From Home: Adjustments Still to Come?
The history of industrial transformation suggests more gradual change