The Information Economy

In new research, Pranjal Drall and Andrew Granato argue that the move of private equity firms into life insurance has increased the probability that insurers will go insolvent. If they do, under an obscure system of insurance guaranty funds, the losses will spread out beyond the insolvent insurer’s creditors to other insurers and, ultimately, taxpayers. 

In new research, Andrey Simonov, Daniil Mikhailov, Ruben Enikolopov, and Ruben Durante estimate that when a 2016 law pushed Russia’s leading news aggregator Yandex to reduce its references to independent outlets, readers kept following its recommended news stories as before, reducing traffic to the excluded outlets. In response, excluded outlets changed the news they produced.

In new research, James Flynn, David Munro, and Caitlin Myers document how sexual behavior has changed in light of total abortion bans enacted after Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health. They find that abortion bans reduced sexual activity and increased contraceptive use, motivated by individuals having an increased awareness of state policy.

In new research, Raymond Fisman, Aron Malatinszky, and Eyüb Yegen find that states with higher levels of corruption are more likely to delay or reject requests for government data required by freedom of information laws in the leadup to elections.

In new research, Patrick Crawford and Vincent Geloso find that areas in Lower Canada with more newspaper competition were more likely to rebel in Quebec’s 1837 Rebellion. Irrespective of political leaning, newspapers in more competitive markets helped citizens to share grievances and coordinate their actions.

In new research for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, David M. Primo uses campaign contribution data to show that professors at leading universities are more politically active than the average American and skew heavily to the left politically, raising concerns about the diversity of perspectives on college campuses.    

In new research, Grace Fan, Trung Nguyen, and Xi Wu show how improvements in government data transparency and disclosure through the public rollout of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool enabled civil society to identify and hold polluters responsible and improve overall environmental justice.

Digital marketplaces make comparing credit lending options easier for potential borrowers. However, Jeromee "JJ" Johnson cautions that online platforms may be turning comparison itself into a signal to lenders—at a cost to applicants.

In new research, Marco Battaglini, Valerio Leone Sciabolazza, Mengwei Lin and Eleonora Patacchini study how the deaths of large donors change candidates’ electoral results and congressional activity in a new measure of donors’ influence in American politics.

In new research, Yoan Hermstrüwer and David Imhof analyze how AI can help antitrust authorities predict cartels by assessing international bidding data in countries with similar legal and market structures.