Topic: Data Analytics

LA Times homepage as seen on a computer desktop monitor Research Brief / Advertising

Why the Online Ad World Abandoned Soft-Floor Auctions

Complexity and a failure to boost platform revenue were culprits

A graph illustration showing the equilibrium of labor supply and labor demand Primer / Minimum Wage

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

A laptop with Netflix Research Brief / E-commerce

Streaming Choices: Do We Follow the Big Crowd or Our Friends?

The ubiquitous community-wide customer rating is the biggest pull in helping us pick a movie or show

Students walking on a path on campus Research Brief / Diversity

Sizing Up the Measurable Good of Affirmative Action

An economic model sets aside who loses and focuses on efficiency and overall growth

Suburban neighborhood Research Brief / Investing

Single-Family Rentals: What Drives Investor Return?

A unique data set provides fresh insights for the growing institutional investor market

Illustration of a man reaching for cherries on top of a pile of math symbols Feature / Productivity

Picked All the Low-Hanging Fruit? Finding Opportunity in Mathematical Models

After management does its best, new analytical approaches take effectiveness up another notch

Censored pricing at a store - Sale Price Research Brief / Pricing

Opaque Pricing: How Sellers Can Gather Data and Boost Revenue

Websites peddle unnamed hotels and even cities; would you pay to omit one from the list?

Research Brief / Data Analytics

Old Ways of Thinking Cause Managers to Disregard Analytics

Highlighting the right data and making it relevant can help overcome resistance

Illustration of a calendar with 15th circled Research Brief / Behavioral Decision Making

Motivation to Begin or an Excuse to Slack Off?

Fresh-start dates can serve as either — it’s a two-way nudge

City street Research Brief / Health Care

Maximizing Life Saving through Better Placement of Defibrillators

Just putting one where the last cardiac arrest occurred isn’t optimal — more calculations to get to fewer steps

A screen grab of the Volunteer Match website that reads "How do I?' on an orange and white background. Research Brief / Technology

Matching Algorithms Work Fine — Until Bypassed By External Links

How to rebalance supply and demand amid today’s chaotic internet traffic

Hospital emergency room Research Brief / Health Care

Machine Learning Can Help Reduce Post-Surgical Hospital Readmissions

A model outperformed simpler statistical approaches in predicting which patients would encounter trouble

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

Driver looking at Uber app on his smartphone Research Brief / Uber Surge Pricing

How Uber Could Avoid That Notorious $362.57 Fare

A mathematical model analyzes incentives underlying surge-pricing schemes

Illustration of a woman with reflection of line chart going up Research Brief / Investing

How an Excess of Stock Analyst Optimism Lands on Companies Least Deserving of It

Results of financially weak firms are difficult to forecast; in uncertainty, Wall Street’s views are overly generous

A family eating at the dinner table Research Brief / Politics

Holiday Meals Shortened by Political Divide

Cell phone location data and local voting records measure discord