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All Insights Articles

  • The Art World in the Age of COVID

    COVID created a crisis for the art world when museums, galleries, and art fairs were closed down. Is there reason for hope about what will emerge after the pandemic ends?

    Visitors at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City in September 2020. Photo: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
  • A Passionate Startup Pitch Is Powerful—But Can Be Misleading

    According to a new study co-authored by Yale SOM’s Song Ma, those with cheerful and enthusiastic presentations are more likely to get venture capital funding—and less likely to build successful ventures.

    An illustration of an entrepreneur leaping in the air and wearing pom-poms while presenting
  • In Defense of (Mathematical) Models

    Epidemiological models have played an influential role in governments’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yale SOM’s Edieal Pinker takes a look back at one of the most influential models and argues that such rigorous efforts at understanding the likely course of the disease, while imperfect, are critical to good decision making.

    A chart of ICU occupancy under various scenarios from Imperial College London
  • How Is the Airline Industry Adapting to COVID?

    Debilitated by COVID-19, airlines are preparing to cut more than 30,000 jobs as soon as next month. We asked Prof. Kevin Williams to explain some of the economics of air travel and how the industry can survive in an age of stay-at-home orders.

    A contractor disinfecting a Frontier airplane at Denver International Airport in May 2020. Photo: AAron Ontiveroz/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images.
  • What’s the Danger from TikTok?

    In September, under pressure from the Trump administration to sell its U.S. operations, the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok tentatively agreed to partner with Oracle. We asked Prof. Paul Bracken, an expert on strategy and technology, about the security threat from Chinese technology companies and how the conflict might play out.

    A shadow of a person walking in front of a TikTok sign
  • Adapting in India

    Bikram Sohal ’97, who began the year leading the Indian office of a global ad-tech company, describes the impact of COVID-19 in India, a country with deep ties to the global economy but where much of the economy is still informal.

    An illustration of people lined up for COVID checks in India
  • Transforming Energy Infrastructure

    We talked to Elliott Mainzer ’98, who recently began a role overseeing California’s electrical grid, about the progress he’s witnessed and the challenges that remain in creating a fully sustainable energy network.

    Power lines carrying electricity from the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River in Oregon. Photo: Natalie Behring/Getty Images.
  • What’s the Path to Equity in Health?

    We talked to Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, a Yale internist and an expert on the structural barriers to equitable treatment and health outcomes for people of color and other vulnerable populations.

    Doctors gathered around an x-ray on a computer screen
  • Seeking Scalable Solutions to Poverty

    Prof. Mushfiq Mobarak describes the arc of his research on scalable, evidence-based policy responses to poverty and how existing research tools have been applied to fight COVID.

    Garment workers demonstrating in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on September 20, 2020. Photo: Mamunur Rashid/NurPhoto via Getty Images.
  • Can Religious Teachings Help Lift People Out of Poverty?

    A study in the Philippines, co-authored by Yale SOM’s James Choi, suggests that learning Protestant Christian values and theology can boost poor families’ income.

    A speaker in front of a whiteboard in the Philippines