Tax data suggest that while inequality between countries has fallen dramatically, inequality within countries has risen. Household surveys point to much lower within-country inequality, but may suffer from underreporting of income. This column uses a new method to estimate the degree to which the rich report a lower fraction of income than the poor do, […]
Industrial robots can have a transformative effect on employment and wages. This column studies how the rise of robot capital has influenced wage polarisation across different occupations in the US. It finds that the substitutability between robots and labour is heterogeneous across occupations, and particularly strong in production and material-moving jobs. Robotisation has led to […]
The prospect of stricter climate regulations may prompt some firms to scale back operations due to expected declines in demand and rising production costs from carbon taxes, while others might ramp up investment to exploit resources and secure profits before the regulations hit. This column leverages variation in climate change exposure within the industry to […]
It is increasingly popular for cities to exempt clean cars from congestion pricing tolls. This column uses data from Stockholm to show that congestion pricing with exemptions for alternative vehicles can reduce traffic while incentivising green vehicle adoption, However, these exemptions are best employed when there are few existing electric vehicles on the road. Road […]
With Big Data and artificial intelligence fuelling a growing market in the supply of algorithms by software and data analytic companies to assist firms in the pricing of their products and services, there are concerns that competitors contracting with the same third party could coordinate price increases. This column summarises a new approach for uncovering […]
Style choices are an important dimension of culture and are often used to demonstrate individualism or belonging to a group. This column uses over 14 million images from high school yearbooks to track cultural change in the US over space and time. Style characteristics of men and women converged from the 1960s onwards, driven by […]
Fertility rates have been declining in high-income countries for decades. This trend, along with increasing human longevity, poses a challenge for advanced economies. This column argues that a holistic set of policies can be implemented to address the economic risks. These policies should stimulate human capital accumulation and education, which are more important than population […]
Harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence has become one of the top priorities for policymakers around the world. Yet, doing so first requires a thorough understanding of the effects of these technologies on labour markets. Using data across US commuting zones over the period 2000-2020, this column presents evidence that AI adoption has reduced employment, […]
Demographic ageing is putting considerable pressure on the economic and social systems of industrialised countries. This column highlights that although the US is in a more favourable position than other OECD countries with respect to the expected future change in old-age dependency ratios, it is also characterised by large differences in labour market outcomes across […]
Raising the legal age for purchasing tobacco products to 21 has emerged as a preferred strategy to reduce the rates of youth smoking and vaping in the US. This column uses both self-reported and biomarker measures to assess the impact of implementing such policies. The authors find that self-reported smoking rates decline markedly upon introduction […]
