Content Type: Research Brief

Illustration of three characters screaming at each other Research Brief / Workplace

Abusing a Co-Worker? Watch Your Back

Analysis of 250 studies finds the most common response to negative workplace behavior is an eye for an eye

Chalk illustration of a graph Research Brief / Data Analytics

Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics — and Data Visualization

How we interpret time-series data is dependent on the designer’s chosen format

Line chart with hearts Research Brief / Time

Our Envy of Prospective Events Is Greater Than of Those Past

That’s helpful information in a social media world filled with friends who do enviable things

Workers leaving a building Research Brief / Labor

Which Policies Best Counter Mass Layoffs? Maybe None

A study of military base closures finds that labor-friendly policies had little effect on job growth after the layoffs

Illustration of a person pulling a line chart Research Brief / Consumer Lending

Credit Scores, Used to Predict Repayment, Can Restrain Economic Recovery

Rigid adherence to scoring systems can reduce consumer spending when it’s most needed

Warehouse Research Brief / Sustainability

Once Begun, Corporate Carbon Reduction Efforts Gather Momentum

Companies are surprised: Opportunities to reduce CO2 are more plentiful than expected

TV News anchor Research Brief / Politics

Municipal Pension Crisis Made Worse by Democrats in Close Elections

Sixty years of data suggest retirement obligations rise after Democrats scrape into office

Woman shopping for a new home Research Brief / Personal Finance

How Will You Spend Your IPO Windfall?

“Uh, I already bought a house”: Tech workers spend ahead of actual stock sales

Person shopping online on a laptop Research Brief / Marketing

Free Shipping: Our Preference to Spend on Ultimate Goals vs. Preliminary Steps

Prerequisites are valued poorly in a series of six experiments

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

Stack of college textbooks on a shelf Research Brief / Education

Is Anyone Happy about the College Textbook Market?

Buyers find the tomes heavy, costly and too frequently revised, while sellers might like to kill the used book market entirely

A person looking a computer screen with stock ticker Research Brief / Stock Returns

A Tool for Finding Mispriced Stocks

Less sophisticated investors reveal their sentiment in certain trades, and a 20-year study measures it company by company

A classroom with students Research Brief / Gender Gap

Parents Who Favor Boys Raise Girls Who Score Lower in Math

A clue that parents prefer a son: They have more kids when their firstborn is a girl

Illustration of bond certificates as a boat in the ocean filled with water Research Brief / Bond Market

A ‘Safer’ Treasury Bond

The government’s floating rate notes feature an added measure of security: higher interest earnings in times of rising rates

Smokey factories in China Research Brief / Sustainability

94% of China’s Pollution Inspections Find No Violation

Researchers offer a model for more effectively targeting wrongdoers

Male prisoners in a prison yard Research Brief / Politics

Do Private Prisons Lead to Higher Incarceration Rates?

Researchers take on the difficult job of isolating for-profit prisons from a host of other factors