This study evaluates whether taxing top wealth triggers a mass exodus of wealthy business owners and quantifies the actual "trickle-down" damage that their international departure inflicts on the broader economy. Takeaway: While wealth taxes induce a small fraction of rich entrepreneurs to move abroad and hurt the specific businesses they leave behind, the overall fallout on national employment and economic growth is surprisingly small. Key Points A 1 percentage point increas

A new report examines why birthrates have dropped below replacement levels in almost every wealthy nation. This global shift reflects evolving societal norms and lifestyle choices among younger generations rather than temporary policy changes or high costs alone. Takeaway: Falling birthrates across high-income nations are driven less by short-term financial costs and more by broad, generational shifts in how young adults prioritize career, leisure, and family life. Key Points

This study investigates how public announcements of mass layoffs under the federal WARN Act influence voter turnout, political party performance, and election outcomes across United States counties. Takeaway: Major layoff announcements increase Democratic vote margins over Republicans primarily by discouraging Republican-leaning voters from turning out, rather than by convincing voters to switch political parties. Key Points Shift in Vote Margins: Sizable mass-layoff notices

This study evaluates the OpenResearch Unconditional Income Study to determine how a guaranteed income affects labor market participation, job quality, time use, and overall well-being among low-income adults in the United States. Takeaway: Receiving an unconditional $1,000 monthly cash transfer for three years led low-income adults to modestly reduce their work hours and earned income, allocating their additional free time primarily to leisure rather than higher-paying jobs o

Takeaway: Outsourcing public hospital management to private non-profit organizations in Brazil boosted admissions and operational efficiency while maintaining care quality and expanding access for local communities. Key Points Handing the management of public hospitals to private non-profits increased annual admissions by 40% and improved bed turnover without increasing patient mortality or readmissions. Efficiency gains were driven by managerial flexibility—specifically perf

Takeaway: By tracing suburban Chicago’s zoning codes and land subdivision records from 1921 to 1980, researchers demonstrate that local zoning laws played a decisive role in shaping the modern suburb—drastically cutting the supply of apartments and commercial shops while inflating lot sizes decades earlier than previously assumed. Key Points Zoning crowded out mixed uses: Areas developed under zoning dedicated over 80% of their land to detached single-family homes and only 5%

Takeaway: When intensifying climate disasters lead insurers to drop homeowners' policies rather than raise prices, standard mortgage rules can trigger a cascade of "technical defaults," driving up foreclosures, depressing home values, and weakening local economies. Key Points The Insurance-Mortgage Link: Mortgages require hazard insurance. When insurers refuse to renew policies, homeowners who cannot secure expensive replacement coverage risk technical default and foreclosure

Takeaway: Paying generous bonuses to top-rated educators in low-performing public schools dramatically raises student achievement and, those gains disappear if the financial incentives are removed. Key Points Dramatic Learning Gains: Offering annual stipends of $6,000 to $10,000 to highly effective teachers nearly eliminated the math and reading achievement gap between Dallas’s lowest-performing elementary schools and the district average. Persistent Benefits: Students expose

Takeaway: Conventional economic wisdom holds that when a central bank cuts interest rates, commercial banks lower their own lending rates to encourage borrowing. However, new research shows that because of how central banks shift market liquidity, rate cuts can actually cause heavily constrained banks to raise loan rates and reduce lending. Key Points Policy Mechanism: Central banks change interbank interest rates by buying or selling government bonds, which directly alters t

An underground coal mine Takeaway: Traditional regulatory rules give monopoly electric utilities strong financial incentives to keep running old coal plants, substantially delaying the transition to cleaner energy. Key Points Slow Retirements: Regulated electric utilities retire coal-fired power plants far more slowly than power producers operating in competitive wholesale electricity markets. Perverse Operating Incentives: To earn guaranteed profits on past investments, util

How Policy Choices Shape Prices, Battery Range, and Charging Networks Takeaway: Government cash rebates for electric vehicle purchases prompt automakers to lower prices but also trim driving ranges, creating a sharp trade-off for policymakers between maximizing total vehicle sales and maximizing overall consumer welfare. Key Points Unexpected Adjustments: Direct cash rebates for electric vehicles (EVs) led carmakers to produce cheaper, lower-range models rather than simply di

Takeaway: Giving one-time cash grants to extremely poor agricultural families leads to lasting improvements in food security and farm profits, even after initial consumer spending sprees fade. Section 3 - Key Points Fleeting spending, persistent food security: Initial surges in retail purchases vanished within six months, but families maintained higher food security for up to two years. Farming as an investment: Families sustained these long-term gains by investing cash in se

Takeaway: A sharp pullback in U.S. military funding for university research in the 1970s led to persistent declines in academic faculty size, doctoral student training, and scientific publications, ultimately dampening long-run technological innovation. The study explores the systemic consequences of a major contraction in public research funding to assess whether scientific capacity is significantly easier to dismantle than to rebuild. Key Points Academic Shrinkage: Academic

Takeaway: Evidence comparing jurisdictions with and without three‑strikes laws is mixed: some state‑level and quasi‑experimental studies find deterrent effects for targeted offender classes, while several multi‑jurisdiction analyses report increased homicides or little incapacitation benefit. Policy conclusions stress heterogeneous effects and important identification challenges. Crime and the fear of crime have lead many states to adopt so called "three strikes" laws. These

This study uses randomized admissions lotteries to examine how different types of charter schools affect students' long-term educational paths, revealing that state test scores do not always predict whether a school helps its students earn a college degree.

A sharp increase in federal pandemic relief funds for relatively affluent school districts did not improve student test scores, primarily because districts used the windfall to lower local property taxes rather than increase overall school spending.