Finance & Economy
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Feel It in the Air: Pollution and Crime in Chicago
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A recent study provides the first quasi-experimental evidence of a link between air pollution and criminal behavior. Researchers estimate the cost of pollution-induced crime and make a case for environmental sustainability policies that consider the impact of pollution and crime on communities.
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Testing vs. Discretion: How Should Firms Hire Their Employees?
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New research analyzes how hiring decisions made using job assessments versus manager discretion impact employee retention and productivity.
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The Interaction between Family Networks and Labor Markets: Evidence from West Africa
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Research exposes the significant impact of family networks on labor market dynamics in developing countries.
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Spend or Save? What to Decide When Faced with Financial Emergencies
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Behavioral interventions aimed at promoting savings may lead to counterproductive consequences. Researchers find that consumers may borrow high-interest debt in favor of preserving low-interest savings. Policies encouraging savings should be coupled with efforts that promote education on appropriate spending of savings.
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How Does Consumption Spending Respond to Housing Prices?
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New research explores the complex relationship between housing prices and consumer spending. The magnitude of this relationship can vary considerably over time and across households.
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Higher Savings, Lower Returns: The Unacknowledged Externalities of Financial Innovation
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New research shows how innovation in finance may increase the aggregate demand for investments over time, yet lower the expected return on assets.
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China’s Official Unemployment Rate: An Unusual Outlier or a Lie?
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As a result of mismeasurement, the official unemployment rate series for China is implausible and is an outlier in the distribution of unemployment rates across countries ranked by their stages of development.
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Getting a Job: How Certain Characteristics Do (or Don’t) Influence Receiving a Callback
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How does unemployment duration, age, or holding a low-level “interim” job affect the likelihood of receiving a callback from a potential employer?
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Does Merit-Based Financial Aid Reduce the Number of STEM Graduates?
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Although ensuring access of talented individuals to higher education is of great importance, there is evidence that suggests that merit-based financial aid reduces the number of graduates in STEM fields, one of the main drivers of innovation and, thus, of economic growth.
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Economic downturns: Bad for your wallet, good for your health?
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A recent study confirms the finding that mortality rates decrease during recessions and that severe recessions produce even larger reductions in mortality rates.
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Social Skills: The New Employment Requirement?
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Deming theorizes that, as manufacturing and other jobs have become more easily automated, the human ability to empathize and to be an effective “team player” has become more essential.