elections

Elections Hinder Companies’ Access to Credit

A large body of literature has produced uncertain conclusions about how elections affect firms’ access to credit. In a wide-ranging analysis of...

What Citizens United Did Not Predict and Why It’s Time To Reconsider

Citizens United v. FEC stands in the public eye as the U.S. Supreme Court case that flooded U.S. elections with “dark money”...

Electoral College Reform: New Problems or Real Solutions?

Each electoral system creates specific incentives to (mis)allocate government resources. Would putting the National Popular Vote (NPV) in lieu of the Electoral...

What Saved American Democracy from Donald Trump?

Despite President Donald Trump's attempts to undermine it, the American democracy seems to have survived. We now need to analyze more closely...

How Pfizer’s Vaccine Announcement Demonstrates the Political Power of Firms

By timing the disclosure of the results of its vaccine trial, Pfizer could have influenced the 2020 presidential election. This is worrisome...

The Pandemic Has Revealed America’s Impatience. But America Will Need Patience in the 2020 Election

The proliferation of mail-in voting is likely to make knowing who won the election take much longer than Americans are used to....

How Political Conflict Shapes Macroeconomics: Alberto Alesina’s Intellectual Legacy

One of the most respected economists of his generation, Harvard professor Alberto Alesina suddenly died at 63. His friend and colleague Guido...

The Electoral Effect of the Virus: How the Coronavirus Is Impacting Democratic Primaries

Compared to 2016, turnout was 22 percent higher (on average) for states voting on Super Tuesday, before Covid-19 emergency measures in the United States....

Many Republicans Are Skeptical About Coronavirus. Research Suggests That Republican Politicians Could Change That

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is skeptical of climate change, supports teaching creationism in public schools, and opposes stem cell research. That's exactly why...

What’s Really at Stake in Poland’s Elections: Nativists Want to Impose a New, Anti-Liberal Notion of Normalcy

Religion is the new priority for anti-liberal, anti-free-trade populist parties in Europe. A victory by Poland’s nativist Law and Justice (PiS) party will pose a...

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Development

Mobile Internet Is Changing Employment in Developing Countries, but Not Always as Expected

Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg, Gaurav Chiplunkar

Scholars and policymakers have put much faith into the prospect of internet connectivity catalyzing development in low- and middle-income countries. In new...

Fiscal Policy

Biden’s Second-Best Economic Agenda

Walter Frick

Efficiency is out and political economy is in. But what does that imply about making good policy?

Monetary Policy

The Fed and Bank Failures

Raghuram Rajan, Viral V Acharya

Viral Acharya and Raghuram Rajan explain how quantitative easing contributed to the problems underlying the recent bank failures such as that of...

Antitrust and Competition

Self-Preferencing Theories Need To Account for Exploitative Abuse

Patrice Bougette, Oliver Budzinski, Frédéric Marty

Patrice Bougette, Oliver Budzinski, and Frédéric Marty argue in their research that antitrust authorities on both sides of the Atlantic must take...

Antitrust and Competition

Startup Acquisitions Have Undecided Effects on Innovation and Economic Growth

Christian Fons-Rosen, Pau Roldan-Blanco, Tom Schmitz

Startups are a major driver of innovation, but many startups are acquired by large incumbents. Do these acquisitions stifle innovation or promote...