Society is accruing a large economic benefit from the shale gas boom. While more evidence is needed to calculate the costs of the externalities associated with techniques such as fracking, those costs would need to be very large to justify preventing this new ... More »
A new NBER working paper shows how many Career Technical Education programs in California’s community college system increase earnings by larger amounts. More »
A new study finds occupational licenses increase wages, employment, and benefits of those with licenses. While good for entrenched workers, these licenses could be problematic for consumers and non-licensed workers. More »
Firm-level data across 36 countries suggests that shareholder protection laws do mitigate the adverse consequences of banking crises by allowing stock markets to act as an alternative source of financing. More »
A new study analyzes the effects of a new grandchild on a grandmother’s labor force participation and attempts to connect caring for grandchildren with retirement choices. More »
After being randomly assigned to a performance-based incentive structure, tax officials in Pakistan had significantly higher levels of revenue collection. This result suggests a potential solution to the widespread corruption and low collection rates of tax au... More »
A new study finds that individuals increase the age in which they intend to claim Social Security benefits when they are offered lump sums instead of and equal to their future benefit increases. More »
New research finds that misinformation plays a significant role in the brand choices of consumers for most healthcare items and pantry staples, concluding that marketing and advertising campaigns have a negative impact on consumer welfare. More »
Federal Reserve announcements about “tapering,” or reducing the level of quantitative easing, had significant negative impacts on financial asset prices in otherwise robust emerging market economies. More »