Race

Discrimination in the Formation of Academic Networks at #EconTwitter

In a field experiment conducted with economists on Twitter, the authors find that users who are identifiable as white, women, and PhD students affiliated with “top-ten” universities are more likely to receive follow-backs.

Race and the Consumer Welfare Standard

The consumer welfare standard employs a collective consumer in its model when evaluating possibly anticompetitive behavior. This aggregated approach fails to recognize...

To Build an Equitable Economy, We Must Understand Capitalism’s Racist Heritage

American capitalism was built on racial exploitation, from the enslavement of Black people to institutionalized discrimination and its structural impact on our...

More than Economics, Ideology Determines US Voters’ Preferences for Redistribution

The US stands out among developed economies for its comparatively low level of redistribution as a percentage of GDP. Gustavo de Souza...

How Sadie Alexander, the First Black Economics PhD, Became a Voice for Black Workers

A whole century has passed since Sadie Alexander became the first African American to receive a PhD in economics in the United...

Three Ways Tax Policies Increase the Black-White Racial Wealth Gap

Dorothy Brown, the author of The Whiteness of Wealth, explains how tax breaks for marriage, college, and gifts and inheritance contribute to...

Covid-19 Aggravates Existing Income, Gender, and Race Inequalities, and Further Increases Political Divisions

Seventy percent of Americans know someone who tested positive; one in five know someone who died from coronavirus, survey shows.

Strength in Numbers: Using Data to Track Diversity and Inclusion

Recent protests against racism and police brutality, along with the #MeToo movement, have increased pressure on businesses to measure and improve their...

Do the Sons of Rich Families Recover After a Large Wealth Shock? Evidence From the US Civil War

One striking feature of many underdeveloped societies is that economic power is concentrated in the hands of very small powerful elites. Why is it...

LATEST NEWS

Antitrust and Competition

Creation over Time in Copyright and Patent

Randy Picker

On May 18, the United States Supreme Court decided two intellectual property cases with two seemingly different results. A closer look, however, reveals a complimentary concern with the monopolistic power of first movers and how the legal system should enable innovation from second movers over time, writes Randy Picker.

Event Notes

ESG Standards’ Good, Bad and Ugly

ProMarket writers

The Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State hosted a virtual event discussing the standards, metrics and disclosures of investments focused on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals. The following is a transcript of the event.

Commentary

Reregulate.

Lee Hepner, William J. McGee

Lee Hepner and William J. McGee respond to Clifford Winston’s ProMarket piece asserting that further deregulation of the airline industry would resolve problems in the industry. Instead, the authors claim a return to regulation would produce better results for travelers.

Antitrust and Competition

A World With Far Fewer Mergers

Brooke Fox, Walter Frick

Brooke Fox and Walter Frick analyze research and ideas presented at the Stigler Center Antitrust and Competition Conference that question the value of mergers.

Commentary

The Banking Risks of Central Bank Digital Currencies

Vibhu Vikramaditya

The implementation of central bank digital currencies as the primary medium of exchange would exacerbate the flaws of our current fiat system which encourage banks to overextend credit and create liabilities that they cannot redeem. This will worsen the already recurring cycles of financial crises, writes Vibhu Vikramaditya.