Around the world, people seem dissatisfied with their leaders. This is particularly visible in the current era of anti-incumbency, which has taken hold in places as far-flung and different from one another as the United Kingdom to Botswana, India to South Kore... More »
The public perceives recessions simply as a sign that the economy is “bad.” However, many policymakers continue to define recessions as “two-quarters of negative gross domestic product.” This outdated definition implies that policy responses could take more th... More »
To students and families who transitioned back to in-person schooling after the COVID-19 lockdown, it’s clear that the pandemic significantly impacted student mental health. For some, this may have been worsened by a range of other factors, such as eco-anxiety... More »
In 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), a $1.2 trillion initiative aimed at overhauling the nation’s infrastructure. The bill was historic not just in scale but for its inclusion of a climate change mandate. This mand... More »
In a stark demonstration of technological manipulation, the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) recently faced a sophisticated deepfake scheme targeting its top leadership. CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan unwittingly became the subject of AI-generated videos meant ... More »
There are countless examples of economists disregarding survey data in which a representative sample concludes that the American economy is concerning, generally countering with some favorable economic figure. Although the data can be noisy, metrics poorly cal... More »
In the US, the car is an unkind king to its citizens. Cars mobilize, but also blast out pollutants and promote a sedentary and lonelier lifestyle. Conversely, walkable cities—where reaching local amenities on foot is both feasible and pleasant—bring myriad hea... More »
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is altering our business practices through advanced technologies. These changes encompass market disruptions caused by artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, big data, and similar technologies across nearly every secto... More »
In the parts of America that will decide the election, the presidency is won or lost with policy and not in courts, brokered conventions, or headlines. With a high-stakes and volatile election, mired in early controversy, the focus on economic policy remains t... More »
On November 2, 2023, the Chicago Department of Public Health launched its first Public Health Vending Machine at Harold Washington Library as part of a one-year pilot program aimed at providing harm reduction and opioid overdose prevention supplies. This pilot... More »
As climate change proliferates, companies are looking to decarbonize, fueling investments in clean technologies. Venture capital investors (VCs) poured over $12 billion into clean energy start-ups in 2022, a six-fold growth from 2019 when the broader VC fundin... More »
With her poll numbers falling in the lead-up to the Chicago Mayoral election in 2021, an embattled Lori Lightfoot sought to appear “tough on crime” by proposing the Victims’ Justice Ordinance, one of the most controversial civil asset forfeiture laws ever put ... More »