AN NBER PUBLICATION
ISSUE: No. 1, January 2019
The Digest
A free monthly publication featuring non-technical summaries of research on topics of broad public interest
Reductions in the target interest rate are associated with sharp increases in dollar-denominated loan volumes in emerging markets relative to developed markets.
Roughly 80 percent of cross-border loans to emerging market economies are estimated to be denominated in U.S. dollars. Dollar-denominated credits make up 60 percent of Europe's emerging market economies' cross-border lending and over 90 percent of foreign banks' loans to emerging market economies in Africa...
Article
The frequency of price changes at multi-channel retailers has increased, particularly in sectors with high levels of online competition.
As online retailers such as Amazon have increased the frequency with which they adjust prices, perhaps due to their use of dynamic pricing algorithms, traditional retailers are following suit. In More Amazon Effects: Online Competition and Pricing Behaviors (NBER Working Paper 25138), Alberto Cavallo analyzes data on retail...
Article
For blue-collar male workers in Austria, an extra year of early retirement, induced by a policy change, was associated with an increase in the probability of death before age 73 of 1.85 percentage points.
Many workers dream of retiring as early as possible to pursue travel, leisure, sport, and other pursuits. But the research findings in Fatal Attraction? Extended Unemployment Benefits, Labor Force Exits, and Mortality (NBER Working Paper 25124), a study by...
Article
The share of contract dollars awarded to the five largest DoD contractors rose from 21.7 percent in 1990 to 31.3 percent in 2000.
Market concentration in the defense industry has increased in the last three decades, leading to less competitive bidding and to more contracts that require the federal government to pay the contractor for all costs incurred, plus a mark-up.
In The Impact of Industry Consolidation on Government Procurement: Evidence from Department...
Article
Growing up around adults who are employed is predictive of higher earnings when children reach adulthood, but availability of jobs in neighborhoods where children grow up is not.
Where an individual grows up can shape many aspects of life, including economic success in adulthood. To better understand the linkages between a neighborhood's attributes and the later-life outcomes of the children who live there, Raj Chetty, John N. Friedman, Nathaniel Hendren, Maggie R...
Article
A two-year delay in granting permanent residency reduces by almost 5 percentage points the fraction of Chinese STEM PhDs from U.S. universities who stay.
In some science and engineering fields, foreign students earn most of the PhDs awarded by U.S. universities. Many of these students stay in the United States and work in fields critical to the country's economic competitiveness. China and India are the leading sources of such high-skilled workers.
Since 2005,...