In this installment of the Goldman School of Public Policy’s “Five Questions for Faculty” series, O-Lab Faculty Director Hilary Hoynes, Associate Dean and Chancellor’s Professor of Economics and Public Policy, discusses how the upcoming general election could effect the US social safety net. Read the article here.
New open-source volume on the effects of the 2021 Expanded Child Tax Credit
Newly released in the Annals of The American Academy of Political and Social Science, “Evaluating the Effects of the 2021 Expansion of the Child Tax Credit” brings together some of the strongest research on the 2021 CTC expansion. Edited by O-Lab Faculty Director Hilary Hoynes, Megan Curran of Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University, and Zachary Parolin, the volume frames the policy change in historical and international contexts, presents the expansion’s near-term impacts, and explores the potential, long-term effects of a permanently expanded credit, in addition to alternative policy designs. Explore the full volume here.
Hadar Avivi receives Award for Excellence in Research on Economic Inequality
On May 15, Hadar Avivi was awarded the inaugural Opportunity Lab/Stone Center Award for Excellence in Research on Economic Inequality at the Department of Economics’s Commencement Ceremony.
With the goal of encouraging, rigorous, quantitative research on economic inequality and social mobility, the prize honors a graduating PhD student who has produced an exceptional dissertation on economic inequality and opportunity. Read the award-winning paper here.
O-Lab Cash Assistance Webinar featured in Spotlight on Poverty
O-Lab’s May 23 webinar on cash assistance for children featured compelling remarks from Senator Michael Bennet, insightful conversations between policy practitioners, and exciting new evidence from researchers on how income support can support socioeconomic well-being for families with children. Check out this feature in Spotlight on Poverty to learn more.
Gabe Zucman advocates for a global minimum wealth tax in the New York Times
In response to wealth taxes on the national level, billionaires often respond to relocating to low-tax countries. In this New York Times opinion piece, Gabe Zucman makes the case for a global minimum tax to address wealth inequality.
Faculty Director Hilary Hoynes inducted into National Academy of Sciences
Congratulations to O-Lab Faculty Director Hilary Hoynes on her induction to the National Academy of Sciences! Hoynes was recognized for her important work advancing the evidence base around tax and transfer programs in the United States – and how these programs can generate long-term health and human capital benefits for recipient children.
Jesse Rothstein on rising mortgage rates and economic mobility in the New York Times
Rising interest rates have reduced mobility for households with mortgages by 14%, suggest new estimates from Jesse Rothstein and Jack Liebersohn – with no comparable decline for households without mortgages. How did we get here? Learn more in this article from the New York Times.
Pat Kline + Chris Walters on employment discrimination in the New York Times
From 2019-2021, Pat Kline and Chris Walters sent 80,000+ fake resumes to Fortune 500 companies, conveying racial and gender characteristics through distinctive applicant names to understand discriminatory hiring behavior. Explore this article from the New York Times to learn more about the study’s results.
Michael Reich on California’s minimum wage increase in CalMatters
The minimum wage for California’s fast food workers increased to $20/hour, with many critics predicting that firms will respond with mass layoffs and price increases. In this CalMatters article, Michael Reich unpacks the evidence against these predictions and explains how monopsony power has allowed firms to set artificially low wages.
Ziad Senate testifies to the Senate Finance Committee on AI in medicine
Ziad Obermeyer testified to the US Senate Finance Committee on the potential hazards of applying AI to medicine, encouraging the adoption of guardrails like independent algorithm evaluation to address issues like racial bias. Read more about the testimony in this Berkeley News article.
Gabe Zucman in Equitable Growth
Despite evidence demonstrating that tax enforcement is a highly cost-effective public investment, Congress’s recent bipartisan budget deal includes a $10 billion cut to the IRS’s tax enforcement budget. Learn more in this Equitable Growth article featuring research from Gabriel Zucman.
Enrico Moretti's work on US rust belt featured in Forbes
A new working paper from Enrico Moretti & coauthors explores the ability of former manufacturing hubs to recover from economic shocks, contrasting the US Rust Belt with manufacturing regions in other countries. Featured in Forbes, their findings suggest effects of deindustrialization are influenced by worker education levels. Read the full article here.
Hilary Hoynes on the Expanded Child Tax Credit in The Hill
Programs dedicated to alleviating child poverty have been shown to generate powerful social and economic benefits - in educational performance, income, and health outcomes - over a lifetime. Take a look at this important perspective from Faculty Director Hilary Hoynes and Rita Hamad in The Hill.
Danny Yagan testifies to Senate Budget Committee
On April 18th, Danny Yagan testified to the Senate Budget Committee. Yagan explained 2 simple ways the wealthy evade taxes, and advocated for raising effective tax rates on the rich through a minimum income tax to increase federal revenues. Watch the full hearing here, or read the testimony.
Mathilde Muñoz in Le Monde
An article from LeMonde highlights the journey of new affiliate Mathilde Muñoz to Berkeley’s economics department, and how her background influences her research. Read more here.
Ziad Obermeyer in NEJM's "Not Otherwise Specified" Podcast
In a recent episode of “Not Otherwise Specified,” a podcast hosted by the New England Journal of Medicine, Ziad Obermeyer explains how machine-learning techniques can aid in establishing a diagnosis and can be a beneficial tool for predictive medicine. Listen to the episode here.
David Card lectures at Emory University
“Minimum wage is one of these super polarizing issues, and with more polarization, it’s become a super symbolic issue.” A recent article in The Emory Wheel recaps David Card’s public talk at Emory University. Read more here.
Michael Reich in Berkeley News
“A minimum wage increase doesn’t kill jobs,” says Michael Reich. A new article from Berkeley News highlights a recent working paper by Reich and coauthors at IRLE on the impact of minimum wage laws on small businesses, which finds that higher wages eases employee recruitment and retention. Read the news piece here, and check out the full working paper.
Conrad Miller on Job Suburbanization & Black Employment
In a National Bureau of Economic Research video feature, Conrad Miller breaks down his paper at the intersection of racial equity, labor, and geography: “When Work Moves: Suburbanization and Black Employment.” Miller finds that highway construction resulted in job suburbanization, increasing the employment gap between black and white workers. Watch the video here.
WTO Highlights Mathilde Muñoz
In a recent video announcing the 2023 Essay Award for Young Economists, the World Trade Organization featured O-Lab Faculty Affiliate Mathilde Muñoz, who received the award in 2022. Watch the clip here, and learn more about her award-winning work on the impact of job postings on labor market and welfare outcomes.