Ville Rantala
Rent seeking
A Change to Policy on All-Cash Housing Purchases Reveals How Anonymous Capital Can Distort Markets
Until 2016, anonymous buyers could purchase US real estate in cash through shell companies without reporting their real identities. But that year a new...
Latest news
News
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...
News
“Alberto Alesina Always Knew Where The Big Ideas Were”
Harvard economist Alberto Alesina passed away at 63. Paola Giuliano, UCLA professor and Alesina's co-author, recalls his intellectual and human legacy: "He...
Media
Bethany McLean’s Weekend Reading List: Fracking, Germs, and the Global Financial Crisis
Corruption, lobbying, corporate malfeasance, and frauds: a weekly unconventional selection of must-read articles by investigative journalist Bethany McLean.
News
We Need More Respectful and Inclusive Experiments in Development Economics: A Proposal
After many years of field research in Uganda, three economists outline how to prevent a powerful research tool such as randomized...
Inequality
Indecent Proposals in Economics: The Moral Problem With Randomized Trial Experiments
The advent of field Randomised Control Trials (RCTs) has made it more acceptable for applied economists to collect data in developing countries....
Coronavirus
When and How the US Should Reopen Is a Matter of Politics, Trust in Institutions and Media, Survey Says
A new survey from the Rustandy Center and the Poverty Lab at the University of Chicago finds that political party affiliation and...
Coronavirus
Why Social Distancing Measures Seem Less Effective in the US
Guidelines assume that the less people move around, the less likely they are to be in contact. However, phone location data show...
