Research

Across three studies, Jana Friedrichsen, Julia Schwarz, and Michel Clement explore how generative AI will change the music industry. They find that while consumers enjoy and even prefer AI-generated music, preferences shift upon learning that the song was AI-generated.

Summary Teaser: In new research, Jitendra Aswani and William W. Xiong show that countries facing greater risks to their natural assets, from overfishing to deforestation, pay more to borrow, as investors discount their long-run growth prospects. Governments can reduce that premium by implementing green projects that address the risks they actually face, but announcing an intention to do so is not enough.

In new research, Saharsh Agarwal and Ananya Sen study how Google AI Overviews reduce traffic to content publishers, their impact on consumer experience, and the implications of these findings for platform regulation and copyright and competition law.

For its entire 15-year life as a regional bank, SVB held the same risky bet. The risks were visible the whole time, yet supervisors reacted only once losses had materialized. SVB's collapse is less a story of hidden danger than of a supervisory system that polices process rather than risk.

In new research, Raymond Fisman, Aron Malatinszky, and Eyüb Yegen find that states with higher levels of corruption are more likely to delay or reject requests for government data required by freedom of information laws in the leadup to elections.

In new research, Reilly S. Steel finds that corporate leaders’ individual political preferences are shifting left, but their aggregate spending remains skewed to the right. 

In new research, Luna Bellani, Anselm Hager, and Stephan Maurer examine how the abolition of slavery after the American Civil War affected the political influence of former slaveholders. Despite the blow to their economic standing, former slaveholders maintained their electoral success, and once in office, their influence actually grew.

Following a decade of declining youth mental health, many states have attempted to limit children’s access to social media and the internet by banning smartphones in schools. In new research, Henry Saffer finds no evidence that in-school smartphone bans have any effect on the screentime or mental well-being of young Americans.

In new research, Patrick Crawford and Vincent Geloso find that areas in Lower Canada with more newspaper competition were more likely to rebel in Quebec’s 1837 Rebellion. Irrespective of political leaning, newspapers in more competitive markets helped citizens to share grievances and coordinate their actions.

In new research, evidence from a land titling campaign in the Democratic Republic of Congo shows that formal property rights can do more than secure land: they can give citizens an exit from costly informal obligations, writes Pablo Balán.