The manifestation of terrorism in a given country is typically a function of the country’s institutional mechanisms and internal stability. These, in turn, are directly influenced by the political institutions that govern the country. In a recent paper, econom... More »
Do politicians truly represent the populations they serve? Recent research may provide an answer. David E. Broockman and Christopher Skovron’s recent paper asserts that there is a systemic incongruity between true public opinion and elected officials’ percepti... More »
This article was originally published on February 25, 2013. Link to original article here.Gun sales in the United States are a huge business; the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) ran 19.5 million firearm background checks in 2012 alone. The recent tragedy... More »
Es tentador ser escépticos sobre la relación causal entre democracia y crecimiento económico, especialmente con ejemplos como China, el eclipse de la primavera árabe o el aumento del populismo en Europa y Estados Unidos. Sin embargo, nueva evidencia empírica m... More »
The increase in undocumented immigration into the United States over the past two decades has fueled controversies about public safety impacts. President Trump has stated explicitly, both during his campaign and as president, that undocumented immigrants, spec... More »
With the rise of the #MeToo movement, issues of workplace sexual harassment have come to the forefront. While the allegations from women in Hollywood and Washington have received the most public attention, sexual harassment occurs in nearly every industry. In ... More »
Today, many developing countries need infrastructure financing to accommodate massive influxes of rural populations to metropolitan areas. Between 2010 and 2030, there will be demand for $15.8 trillion in infrastructure in Asia, $1.3 trillion in emerging Europ... More »
At one of #MeToo founder Tarana Burke’s first workshops, 30 high-school girls were asked to write “Me Too” on a sheet of paper if they wanted to anonymously record their experience of sexual harassment. Burke was stunned by how many sheets she counted; two-thi... More »
If every square block of abandoned land in American cities were placed side-by-side, the area would be larger than the state of Maryland. In fact, nearly 15 percent of all urban land is either vacant or barren. This limits the economic vitality of communities ... More »
In 1938, Alvin Hansen—the “American Keynes”—introduced a phrase that would form the basis of worry for policymakers in developed nations the world over. In the face of plunging birth rates and ever-increasing life expectancies, OECD nations were soon to face a... More »
Many economies in the developing world exhibit a dual structure: the formal sector and the informal sector. While large firms operate in the formal sphere, a majority of small- to medium-size firms operate informally. Estimates of the size of the informal econ... More »
When thinking about “dangerous drugs,” illicit substances such as heroin and cocaine usually come to mind. However, there is compelling evidence that alcohol is substantially more harmful to society than illegal drugs; alcohol is the third leading cause of pre... More »