Source: Elchin JavadovIn March 2002, under pressure from the steel industry, President George W. Bush imposed tariffs ranging from 8 to 30 percent on over 170 steel products. The policy was intended to protect American steel producers from foreign competition. In a paper in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, authors James L...
NASA engineers discuss the Apollo project.Source: NASA Glenn Research Center, Public domainThe launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union in October 1957 led to a geopolitical crisis that reshaped American science policy. Within months, Congress established NASA, and by 1961, President Kennedy committed the nation to landing a man on the moon before the decade&...
Life cycle profiles of wages help shed light on the economic progress of women relative to men.Source: casezyThe gender wage gap narrowed dramatically from the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s, with women's wages converging toward those of men across all income levels. Then progress stalled, and despite continued advances in women's education and wo...
How has women's labor force participation shaped America's business cycles?Source: David Bedard, Public domainThe Great Moderation, characterized by reduced economic volatility beginning in the 1980s, and the emergence of jobless recoveries following the 1990 recession have attracted considerable scholarly attention. Prior research h...
How did the rollout of broadcast television during the mid-twentieth century affect labor supply decisions in the United States?Source: mavoimagesShortly after its commercial debut, television began to claim a central position in American leisure time. This transformation was one of the most significant changes in American time use to occur during the twen...
Christopher Elmendorf discusses the views of the US public on the housing market.Most Americans agree that housing costs are too high, often blaming developers and landlords. Many feel that the problem can be solved with price controls, development restrictions, and mandates on providing below-market-rate units. But these ideas are at odds ...
A social media field experiment suggests that gender, race, and university affiliation influence the formation of professional relationships among economists.From boosting job prospects to gaining attention for new papers, networking has always been an important part of finding success in academia. Today, many professional networks have moved online to sit...
In the immediate aftermath of natural disasters, members of Congress become more likely to adopt the positions of special interest donors.Voters expect their elected representatives to prioritize their needs over the preferences of large campaign donors. While public scrutiny helps keep politicians accountable, it is difficult to measure the effect of publ...
Trevon Logan and John Parman discuss the meaning of segregation and how it has shaped US history.Despite decades of civil rights legislation, many Black and White Americans, as well as other minorities, continue to live in racially homogeneous neighborhoods, with significant implications for access to quality schools, jobs, healthcare, and economic opportu...
How do politicians adjust their messages based on who they're running against?Political scientists have long argued that there are good theoretical reasons for believing that politicians adjust their messages to win over centrist voters. But there is little empirical evidence that they do this in practice.In a paper in the American Economic R...
