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Economics

Can Industrial Policy Help Revive Struggling Regions?

A new paper co-authored by Yale SOM’s Cameron LaPoint looks at an effort in 1980s Japan to narrow economic inequalities between geographic regions, in order to understand the potential impact of the similar U.S. CHIPS and Science Act, enacted in 2022.

President Joe Biden with a quantum computer during a tour of an IBM facility in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 2022.
  • To Extend Vaccines’ Reach, Distribute Them through Dollar Stores

    A new Yale study says that a partnership with the Dollar General retail chain, which is being considered by the CDC, could bring vaccination sites substantially closer to low-income, Black, and Hispanic households in many parts of the United States.

    A Dollar General Store in Selma, Alabama. Photo: Barry Lewis/InPictures via Getty Images.
  • Skilled Workers Flee from Polluted Cities, Hampering Economic Growth

    In China, highly educated people are more likely to move away from areas with poor air quality. Reducing pollution could substantially increase GDP there and in other countries, according to a new study co-authored by Yale SOM’s Mushfiq Mobarak.

    A cyclist in Beijing on a day of heavy pollution in December 2015.
  • Study: Improved Video Game Technology Contributed to Decline in Work by Younger Men

    Between the 2000s and the 2010s, weekly recreational computer use by men in their 20s rose by 2.7 hours; at the same time, working hours for this group dropped by 1.8 hours. A study co-authored by Yale SOM Dean Kerwin K. Charles concludes that improving technology caused much of the increase in gaming, and nearly half of the decline in working hours for young men.

    A young man wearing a headset playing a video game, seen from behind
  • How Firms Can Harness Internal Competition

    A new study finds that pitting teams against each other is effective in clarifying the way forward. But once a decision is made about which path to pursue, everybody must rally around the chosen idea—and not look back.

    An illustration of a CEO watching two teams building structures
  • The Practical Game Theorist

    Prof. Barry Nalebuff extracts pragmatic insights from game theory to improve the practice of innovation, strategy, and negotiation.

    Barry Nalebuff
  • Did Congress Just Fix Surprise Medical Billing?

    A new federal law prevents patients from being billed by out-of-network doctors after being treated in an in-network hospital. We asked Prof. Fiona Scott Morton, whose research helped bring the practice to light, what the new law will mean for patients and healthcare costs.

    An emergency room in Moreno Valley, California, in May 2020. Photo: Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images.
  • Weakening Unions Can Lead to Gender Gap in Wages

    In 2011, legislation in Wisconsin reduced the power of unions to negotiate teachers’ salaries. Within five years, male teachers started earning more than women did.

    Teachers protesting Wisconsin governor Scott Walker's proposal to eliminate collective bargaining for state workers, in 2010. Photo: Mark Hirsch/Getty Images.
  • What Can Smartphone Location Data Tell Us about the Pandemic?

    Yale SOM’s Kevin Williams and his co-authors used cellphone location data to create a data set tracking movement during COVID-19, which is publicly available for researchers.

    A satellite view of North America at night
  • Video: Why You Should Care about Antitrust

    We asked Prof. Fiona Scott Morton, former chief economist for the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division and the founder of the Thurman Arnold Project at Yale, to explain why antitrust violations are bad for consumers and how the government can respond.

    An illustration of a man in top hat stealing coins from birds
  • 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.