AN NBER PUBLICATION
ISSUE: No. 9, September 2011
The Digest
A free monthly publication featuring non-technical summaries of research on topics of broad public interest
Mean duration of unemployment ... hit a new high in the Great Recession: a seasonally adjusted 35 weeks versus about 20 weeks at the peak of each of the previous three downturns.
In Job Loss in the Great Recession: Historical Perspective from the Displaced Workers Survey, 1984-2010 (NBER Working Paper No. 17040), Henry Farber notes that the extent of unemployment, the difficulty in finding a new job, and lost earnings for the unemployed were all especially high during...
Article
The stock market performance of a bank in the recent crisis is positively correlated with the performance of that same bank in the 1998 crisis.
When Russia defaulted on its debt in 1998, a number of investors worldwide experienced large losses. Many were forced to sell securities across markets, and as security prices fell, the capital of investors and financial firms was eroded. Further, market volatility increased. These developments taken together led investors and...
Article
Variation in ozone concentrations at ozone levels well below federal air quality standards have a significant impact on productivity.
Ozone pollution is a pervasive environmental issue throughout much of the world. Debates over the optimal level of ozone have been ongoing for many years, and current efforts to strengthen environmental regulations affecting ozone concentrations remain contentious. Defining regulatory thresholds depends, in part, on the benefits...
Article
Cars with odometer values between 79,900 and 79,999 miles on average are sold for approximately $210 more than cars with odometer values between 80,000 and 80,100 miles, but for only $10 less than cars with odometer readings between 79,800 and 79,899.
People often use simple cognitive shortcuts when processing information, which leads to systematic biases in their decision making. These biases can persist in and affect the functioning of markets that are highly...
Article
As trade barriers are lifted and economies opened, financial sectors surge to fund the wave of new economic activity.
Both financial liberalization and trade may affect economic growth. Expanding trade may have a direct effect on growth, as well as an indirect effect through the financial sector. These effects also may vary with the stages of a country's development.
In Historical Evidence on the Finance-Trade-Growth Nexus (NBER Working Paper No. 17024), co-authors...
Article
The Medicare Advantage program both increased total Medicare spending and transferred Medicare resources from the relatively sick to the relatively healthy.
Since the 1980s, people eligible for Medicare have been able to choose between the regular fee-for-service plan, under which the federal government pays a set fee to health care providers for each service provided, and Medicare Advantage (MA), whereby the government pays private health plans a fee for each...