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Economics

Free Pre-K Gives Parents’ Income a Long-Lasting Boost‌‌

Prof. Seth Zimmerman and his co-authors found that parents with kids in New Haven’s lottery-based pre-K program earn thousands of dollars more per year than their peers, likely because they are able to work longer hours and make more progress in their careers.

A four-year-old and her parents arriving at school
  • Why Making Banking Data Portable Isn’t Always Good for Borrowers

    In theory, rules requiring banks to share consumer data with third parties increase competition and help consumers. In practice, it’s not so simple, according to a new study co-authored by Yale SOM’s Jidong Zhou.

    An illustration of banks connected with cables
  • The Rise of the Mutual Fund Is Reducing Corporate Competition and Hurting Consumers

    Mutual funds have become large shareholders in most public U.S. firms. The resulting overlaps in ownership are boosting corporate profits but harming consumers, according to a new study co-authored by Florian Ederer of Yale SOM.

    A balloon tethered to the ground with sandbags labeled with the names of mutual fund companies
  • Real-Time Placement Odds Can Smooth the School Choice Process

    Some families going through the school placement process overestimate their chances of getting into their top choices, and fail to match at any school as a result. Warnings about the placement odds at top schools can dramatically reduce non-placements.

    Kindergarteners lined up on the first day of school
  • Multinationals Can Have a Positive Local Impact—If They Face Enough Competition for Labor

    The United Fruit Company had a reputation for manipulating governments and exploiting workers in Latin America. But Yale SOM’s Diana Van Patten found that in some areas, competition for workers led it to invest in local infrastructure, with long-lasting positive impacts.

    Bananas being loaded onto the United Fruit Company's Northern Railway in Costa Rica, circa 1915.
  • Competition from China Contributed to Decline in Union Organizing

    New research co-authored by Yale SOM Dean Kerwin K. Charles shows that the rise in imports from China at the beginning of this century accelerated a long decline in union elections, by diminishing the benefits of unionization and increasing the risk.

    A rally supporting unionization for Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, in February 2022.
  • A Better Way to Divide the Pie 

    In his new book, Prof. Barry Nalebuff proposes a fairer, more principled way to negotiate: splitting the additional value created by reaching an agreement. In this excerpt, he explains the concept through a visit to one of New Haven’s iconic pizza spots.

    A pizza divided into slices
  • The Unexpected Impacts of Innovation

    Prof. Judith Chevalier’s research has unraveled implicit incentives driving risk taking by mutual fund managers, the ways online reviews shift business strategy and consumer decisions, and the consequences of nursing home workers’ movement between facilities in spreading COVID-19.

    Judith Chevalier teaching
  • The Digital Tool That Helps Robert Shiller Understand the Past

    We asked the Nobel Prize-winning Yale economist to reflect on an unexpected source of research information and inspiration. He writes that Google Ngram Viewer can provide important insights about how people saw economic events as they unfolded.

    A nineteenth-century poster advertising land sales in Iowa and Nebraska
  • Medicare Helps Close Racial Gaps in Access to Healthcare

    In a new study, Yale SOM’s Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham and his co-authors use the transition to Medicare eligibility to test whether universal health coverage can help reduce racial disparities in health.

    An elderly Black man in conversation with a doctor
  • Controlling the Virus Is the Key to Reducing Inflation

    Yale SOM’s William English, a former economist at the Federal Reserve, explains the role of COVID-19 in the spike in prices, considers how policymakers can respond, and confronts the sheer uncertainty of the times.

    Groceries at the register at a supermarket