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The Digest

Among Umpires, Calls Improve When the Stakes Are High
Article
The probability of an accurate ball or strike call rises when the pitch is more likely to affect the outcome of the game. Umpires devote less attention, however, to calls made after or in anticipation of high-stakes decisions. Do individuals prioritize their limited supply of attention and focus more on important than on less-important decisions? In The Dynamics of Inattention in the (Baseball) Field (NBER Working Paper 28922) James E. Archsmith, Anthony Heyes,...

Intergenerational Impacts of the Perry Preschool Project
Article
The program had long-lasting effects on cognition, and first-generation treatment group members also have more stable home lives and higher incomes in their child-rearing years. Using newly collected late midlife measures of skills and life cycle panel data from surveys and administrative criminal records, Jorge Luis García, James J. Heckman, and Victor Ronda explore intergenerational impacts of the Perry Preschool Project (PPP), an early childhood education...

The Reporter

Wealth Inequality in the United States
Article
Author(s): Edward N. Wolff
Much attention has focused in the last few years on the issue of inequality. With recent proposals for a direct wealth tax, particular attention has been given to wealth inequality. My work also focuses on this issue. Here, I summarize studies of four different aspects. First, what are the general trends in wealth and wealth inequality over the last 60 years or so in the United States? I pay particular attention to the role of leverage and asset price movements in...

New Approaches to Understanding Choice of Major
Article
Author(s): Matthew J. Wiswall & Basit Zafar
College major choice and its relationship to labor market outcomes has long been a topic of study for social scientists. Stretching back at least to the 1970s, researchers have recognized that the particular field, and not just the level of education, deserves attention. A number of studies have demonstrated that the choice of post-secondary field is a key correlate of future earnings, and that choice of college major may be an important factor in explaining earnings...

The Bulletin on Retirement & Disability

Panel on Social Security and COVID-19 Labor Market Effects
Article
The 2021 NBER Summer Institute's Economics of Social Security meeting featured a panel discussion on the implications of COVID-19 related disruptions in the US labor market for Social Security. NBER President James Poterba introduced the panel by noting that the pandemic could affect Social Security in many ways, including through effects on economic growth, long-term fertility, and mortality, as well as on labor market outcomes such as labor force participation and wages...

The Effect of Changes in Social Security’s Delayed Retirement Credit
Article
Social Security is the primary source of income for most individuals aged 65 and up. Benefits depend on the worker’s earning history and on the age at which benefits are claimed, which may be as early as age 62. For each month beyond the Full Retirement Age (FRA) that the worker delays claiming (up to age 70), the monthly benefit amount is increased by the Delayed Retirement Credit (DRC). The DRC has increased substantially over time, from 3 percent per year of delay for...

The Bulletin on Health

Higher Prescription Drug Cost-Sharing Raises Mortality among Medicare Beneficiaries
Article
What are the health consequences when patients reduce their use of prescribed medications in response to higher out-of-pocket costs? In The Health Costs of Cost-Sharing (NBER Working Paper 28439), researchers Amitabh Chandra, Evan Flack and Ziad Obermeyer use the distinctive out-of-pocket cost-sharing features of Medicare Part D to demonstrate that such reductions can increase mortality. Their analysis makes use of the fact that two 65-year-old Medicare enrollees with...

Malpractice Allegations Alter Practice Patterns of Emergency Department Doctors
Article
When physicians are accused of malpractice, how does this experience affect their practice of medicine? Researchers Caitlin Carroll, David M. Cutler and Anupam Jena use administrative data on all emergency medicine physicians in Florida to answer this question in How Do Physicians Respond to Malpractice Allegations? Evidence from Florida Emergency Departments (NBER Working Paper 28330). During the 2005 to 2013 study period, 25 percent of emergency medicine physicians...

The Bulletin on Entrepreneurship

Measuring the Employment Impact of Immigrant Entrepreneurs
Article
Analysis of a million firms founded between 2005 and 2010 finds that immigrants are more likely than native-born Americans to launch new enterprises of all sizes. In "Immigration and Entrepreneurship in the United States" (NBER Working Paper 27778), Pierre Azoulay, Benjamin Jones, J. Daniel Kim, and Javier Miranda show that compared with native-born Americans, immigrants play a larger role as employers than as employees. The researchers analyze data on more...

How the Gig Economy Supports Entrepreneurial Activity
Article
Jobs in which self-employed individuals can regulate their working hours reduce the risk of launching new businesses by providing an income fallback. In the gig economy, software platforms provide self-employed individuals with easy access to flexible work opportunities. Gig workers contract with platform owners to provide on-demand services to their clients on a per-task basis. As independent contractors, these workers can determine how much they will work by...