Economic Inquiry

Single-factor metrics like income or wealth can paint an incomplete picture of well-being. @cynamon.bsky.social and coauthors propose "sustainable consumption", a unifying metric integrating lifetime resources, taxes, and asset returns to map household economic health. Read: tinyurl.com/sp2e38a4

Extending Blair & Kaserman (1978): This paper shows that tying and Full Integration are not always equivalent. The authors derive the necessary & sufficient conditions for their equivalence and explore Partial Integration under general production tech. tinyurl.com/4ph6cw2u #econbluesky

How do post-Dobbs abortion bans affect social safety nets? Using synthetic DiD, this paper finds total bans led to a 1.57% increase in monthly birth rates and a 4.3% jump in postpartum WIC participation in 2023, resulting in an extra $6.9M in food costs. tinyurl.com/ydb82fyj #EconSky

How do proxy methods alter findings on racial disparities? This paper compares HMDA, voter rolls & name algorithms. The authors finds that matching choices can change empirical conclusions about racial/ethnic disparities depending on which method is used. tinyurl.com/58pjczdh #EconSky

Many fiscal models lack micro-validity. This study shows how partial insurance on unemployment and firm entry jointly can drive a positive consumption multiplier. It reconciles theory with data using parameters consistent with micro evidence on job loss and markups. tinyurl.com/56c7xk7c #EconSky

Does the pain of paying limit our generosity? While cash is physical and painful to give away, this study finds that mobile payments lead to significantly higher donations. This gap emerged after the COVID-19 lockdown accelerated our familiarity with digital wallets. tinyurl.com/bddsu6x2 #EconSky

Should we tax AI or use trade tariffs to protect workers? This study finds that tariffs on AI-using goods actually exacerbate the fall in skilled wages. However, a direct AI tax can neutralize task loss and income distortions if the price of AI is sufficiently low. tinyurl.com/2u6eb8n9 #EconSky

What is the role of global shocks on the debt-growth relationship? @ysleibi.bsky.social and coauthors find that household debt's effect on growth disappears after filtering for global noise, while public & corporate debt exert a persistent and negative effect. tinyurl.com/mv67uyx5 #EconSky

Is union decline just about a lack of worker demand? This paper shows that new union locals enter with higher TFP and lower prices, yet this doesn't force incumbents to improve. Moreover entry rates of union locals are low, with high exit rates. tinyurl.com/488e638s #econsky

Do religious beliefs affect responses to fertility incentives? This paper examines the 1982 Soviet Baltic expansion of maternity benefits. The authors find a 24.2% increase in birth probability, with the effect being driven entirely by women from religious childhoods. tinyurl.com/ucrz5n66 #econsky

While inequality rises in the West, Taiwan’s fell by 8.4%. This paper documents that this drop was likely driven by minimum wage hikes. Most of the reduction happened within firms, compressing the lower tail of the distribution while the upper tail remained stable. tinyurl.com/4bdwjnzy #EconSky

Does the average EITC effect hide the truth? This paper shows policy impact shifts by income: while credits boost work for low earners, they decrease hours near the phase-out. This heterogeneity across the income distribution proves average effects miss the story. tinyurl.com/yt9vbhzz #EconSky

Can tax news influence business cycles? This paper shows that anticipated tax cuts can actually hinder recovery. In supply-driven recessions, they trigger a sharper contraction than in demand-driven ones. Moreover, higher macro uncertainty causes a bigger contraction. tinyurl.com/3rtucnph #econsky

Is remote work a cultural choice? This paper finds that individualism significantly boosts WFH. Using an epidemiological approach, comparing immigrants in the same labor markets, the authors find that a 10-point index increase raises WFH likelihood by ~4pp. tinyurl.com/47tkd2dn #EconSky

Does political conflict hurt local tourism? This study on the 2012 China-Japan boycott shows that high-dependency prefectures lost over 27% of Chinese visitor nights. Effects remained significant even 24 months later, highlighting a need for market diversification. tinyurl.com/3j45n435 #EconSky

Is "generational wealth" the main driver of the racial gap? This study shows White families' wealth is 6.8x that of Black families, but including DB pensions narrows the gap to 4.4x. However, intergenerational transfers explain little of the disparity. tinyurl.com/3wr8rhdz #EconSky

Would a manager hire a firing consultant to let go of a friend? This study finds that social distance significantly shapes delegation decisions. Strengthening workplace ties reduces the likelihood of managers exploiting moral wiggle room to avoid direct responsibility. tinyurl.com/2smvre5r #EconSky

Do labor market frictions matter for monetary policy? This paper shows that frictions can amplify the effect of inflation target shocks but play a minor role in temporary nominal interest shocks. Evidence from the U.S. and the Euro Area corroborates the findings. tinyurl.com/u3x8b5sr #econsky

Do attitudes toward immigration spread? @ofirsin.bsky.social uses the 2013 AP ban on the term "illegal immigrant" and Facebook data to show that attitude changes causally reverberate through social networks. Social ties to ban areas improved immigration attitudes. tinyurl.com/ycxknu4w #econsky

Are women more cooperative in Congress? Building on previous literature, this paper finds that while bipartisan cooperation depends on ideology, in the last decade, women recruited 15% more total co-sponsors than their male colleagues across both parties. tinyurl.com/357zjcjw #econsky #polisci

Why does household investment (HI) lead the business cycle? This paper finds that the Index of Consumer Expectations (ICE) leads HI by two quarters. Using VAR and Granger causality, the authors show HI transmits these confidence shocks to the broader economy. Read: tinyurl.com/3azvzb8h #econsky

Has the weakening of oil price pass-through to inflation reversed? This paper shows a reversal in pass-through dynamics, finding that second-round effects operating through inflation expectations are an important driver of U.S. core inflation. Read more: tinyurl.com/2vpr3tuw #econsky

Does federal investment in broadband programs actually pay off? This paper analyzes the $2.5B Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) to measure its economic impact, finding through real estate data that the capitalized benefits are 2.8 times the investment costs. Read: tinyurl.com/5xhvnkey #econsky

Does the "poor stay poor" conclusion still hold? This paper uses Markov chains and dynamic development accounting to test relative GDP persistence. The findings confirm that relative income traps remain a robust feature of the cross-country distribution. tinyurl.com/m2hh3xnu #econsky

From NATO Article 5 to regional R&D, government spending is deeply interdependent. @economicsgamer.bsky.social and coauthors model these fiscal externalities with an extended Barro growth model. Data from 30 nations shows how these spillovers drive under-investment. tinyurl.com/dyxhbr6c #econsky

How robust is the link between de-prosecution and crime? This paper revisits the Philadelphia case study (Hogan 2022) to explore how different SCM specifications (including donor pool composition and pre-period length) impact the estimated effects on homicide. Read more here: tinyurl.com/mtfy5thd

Why does performance pay often fail for teachers and doctors? This paper models production uncertainty where workers don't know which efforts actually drive results. They show that even with perfect measurement, output-based incentives can backfire. Read more: tinyurl.com/ykx4w83p #econsky

Announcing the Economic Inquiry 2025 Best Article Award! This year’s standout, chosen by our editors: “Is economics self-correcting? Replications in the American Economic Review.” from Jörg Ankel-Peters, Nathan Fiala & Florian Neubauer. Read the open access article here: https://ow.ly/Getp50YAXAk

What happens to fan interest when a football league champion is decided weeks early? Using 20 years of Google search data, this paper tests the Uncertainty of Outcome Hypothesis in European football. Does early crowning kill attention? Read more: tinyurl.com/7rufnvhk #econsky #football