Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR)

Retirement planning is a daunting exercise for most Americans, who are exhorted to save as much as possible for their golden years. But there's another essential piece to retirement that most people struggle to understand and that threatens their long-term financial security: Understanding how long you're likely to live once you hit retirement age. SIEPR Senior Fellow Annamaria Lusardi, an expert on financial literacy, weighs in via CBS News: https://cbsn.ws/453wKNq.

There's a good chance you're not planning for retirement correctly. Here's why. Only about 1 in 10 Americans understands the basics of longevity, or how long they'll live in retirement. Can you pass the test?

Tear it down, start over. That’s the recommendation from SIEPR's Liran Einav and MIT's Amy Finkelstein for how to fix the $4T apparatus that is U.S. health care, and it’s detailed in their new book, "We've Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care." Read the Q&A: https://stanford.io/3OBrEml.

Research by SIEPR's Ran Abramitzky & co-authors uncovers extensive evidence that immigrants are less likely to be imprisoned than U.S.-born individuals. “From Henry Cabot Lodge in the late 19th century to Donald Trump, anti-immigration politicians have repeatedly tried to link immigrants to crime, but our research confirms that this is a myth and not based on fact," Abramitzky says.

Read a synopsis of the research:
https://stanford.io/3OpgelM

Welcome to "Zoomtown," where the remote work is plenty, and the wages are cheap. Amid labor shortages and the rising cost of living, SIEPR's Nick Bloom explains why companies are stretching their location requirements. More via CNBC:

Remote jobs are moving overseas and to smaller U.S. cities: ‘The same skills for 60% of the cost' Remote hiring is expanding beyond its traditional strongholds, like India, creating new "Zoomtowns" overseas and in pockets of the U.S. Midwest.

“Everybody I talk to, supersmart people, doctors, lawyers, C.E.O.s, economists, your brain just first goes to, ‘Oh, how can generative A.I. replace this thing that humans are doing?’” SIEPR/Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence's Erik Brynjolfsson says. But that’s not the only option…

The Optimist’s Guide to Artificial Intelligence and Work The focus of much discussion is on how it will replace jobs, but nothing is inevitable.

Public health officials who took to social media to push people to get the COVID-19 vaccine may have wondered if they were screaming into a void. Harvard Business School asks, "Was the public listening?" Research by SIEPR/Stanford Graduate School of Business' Susan Athey says, "To a large degree, yes."

COVID-19 Lessons: Social Media Can Nudge More People to Get Vaccinated Social networks have been criticized for spreading COVID-19 misinformation, but the platforms have also helped public health agencies spread the word on vaccines, says research by Michael Luca and colleagues. What does this mean for the next pandemic?

JOURNAL OF WINE ECONOMICS: “The economics of saignée in winemaking“ by Christopher Costello, Olivier Deschênes, Charles Kolstad, Andrew J. Plantinga and Tyler Thomas (of
Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR)
and UCSB Bren School, Star Lane Winery). FirstView article: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-wine-economics/article/economics-of-saignee-in-winemaking/86A33FA7D085A015D8F0EFE2E68E0551/share/aed5187c15071d5870ad44cbb552d50df88fcc65

SIEPR Senior Fellow Nick Bloom is named on Bloomberg News' list of top 50 people who defined global business in 2022. Last year alone, Bloom met with 100+ institutions, including the International Monetary Fund, Wall Street banks and tech startups to share his insight on : https://bloom.bg/3FEpZXC.

Research by SIEPR's Nick Bloom demonstrates strong economic incentives for both corporations and their employees to continue the work-from-home revolution if their jobs allow it. Read more:

Opinion | How a ‘Golden Era for Large Cities’ Might Be Turning Into an ‘Urban Doom Loop’ What seemed like a transitory step to avoid infection has become a major force driving the future direction of urban America.

SIEPR health economists Petra Persson and Maya Rossin-Slater show the risks of dying after giving birth are much greater for Black people of all income levels and low-income people. Policymakers are grappling with how to change that, says POLITICO:

There's hope for combating maternal mortality By signing up you agree to allow POLITICO to collect your user information and use it to better recommend content to you, send you email newsletters or updates from POLITICO, and share insights based on aggregated user information. You further agree to our privacy policy and terms of service. You ca...

Today's workers are trading 60m commuting hours for more rest & time w/ family. Although many companies are asking workers to return to the office post-pandemic, research by SIEPR’s Nick Bloom shows 15% of workers are remote, while 30% are hybrid: https://bloom.bg/3EgRk2y

Homing in on Uganda and its expanding electricity grid, SIEPR Senior Fellow/ Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability Professor Marshall Burke and co-authors saw that financial conditions for populations that gained access to electricity nearly doubled in comparison to those that lacked power. More via The Hill:

Electricity access is critical to tackling global poverty, scientists say Access to electricity may play a much more significant role in improving economic livelihoods than previously assumed, a new study has found. Stanford University scientists harnessed the power of s…

In the first real-world test of a tool pioneered at Stanford University to better evaluate anti-poverty policies, a new study by SIEPR Senior Fellow/ Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability professor Marshall Burke and co-authors shows the economic benefits of expanded electricity access.

“This insight would not have possible just a few years ago. And it’s because we now have this technique to give local-level measurements of key economic outcomes at broad, spatial scale and over time," Burke says.

Research recap here: https://stanford.io/3UGlbqY

Improving student outcomes starts w/ better teachers. In this month's Policy Brief, SIEPR's Eric Hanushek makes the case for teacher-centered reforms that would boost college attendance, workforce preparedness and future salaries for students.

"Replacing a bottom 5 percent teacher with a teacher of average effectiveness would increase the present value of lifetime income for students in her classroom by approximately $250,000," Hanushek says.

Read the Policy Brief here:
https://stanford.io/3EuT08F

Coffee break on the engineering quad.

Danielle Amir-Lobel, ’24, a double major in symbolic systems and economics, is on campus this summer immersed in full-time research in the Vision and Perception Neuroscience Lab, at the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford University. As a research assistant, she works on a project studying spatiotemporal processing of facial images in the human visual cortex.

“This year, I’m looking forward to taking more upper-division classes in my majors and homing in on my specific areas of interest. Outside of classes, I’ll be working on conducting research at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) into campus safety metrics and policies, continuing my neuroscience research at VPNL and the baby and brain lab, and looking into graduate PhD programs.”

📸: Andrew Brodhead

Homelessness in California: "It's not normal the level of homelessness we have here." Video 2/3: In this SIEPR video series, Stanford Research Scholar Jialu Streeter leads policymakers, academics, and homeless individuals in a discussion about...

In a new book, "An Economist Goes to the Game," SIEPR's Paul Oyer intertwines economic principles with real-life sports scenarios.

🏀 Michael Jordan? Great grasp of game theory.
🎟️ Ticket scalpers? Believe it or not, fans should love them.

Read more ⤵️
https://stanford.io/3o1rPtd

Research by SIEPR/ Stanford University Woods Institute for the Environment's David Lobell finds that areas around the globe with high amounts of a common air pollutant see significant declines in crop yields. And reducing those nitrogen oxides improves climate, health, & food security. https://stanford.io/3OhFXcS

Pollution and crops | Stanford News New analysis shows crop yields could increase by about 25% in China and up to 10% in other parts of the world if emissions of a common air pollutant decreased by about half.

is a crisis of many causes. In our latest video series, SIEPR's Mark Duggan and Jialu Streeter shine a light on the data, collaboration, and analysis required to inform policies to address this issue in California. Watch the series: https://bit.ly/3Og0deZ

www.youtube.com

Research by SIEPR/Stanford Graduate School of Education's Tom Dee highlights the promising outcomes (📉 34% dip in crime) of Denver's community response approach to in nonviolent 911 calls. More via NBC News:
https://nbcnews.to/3zwoDwM

Denver's mental health approach to low-level 911 calls helped reduce minor crimes, researchers find The Support Team Assistance Response program, which dispatches crisis intervention specialists to nonviolent incidents, showed a 34 percent decrease in crime, a new report shows.

“It’s not just cost-effective. It’s humane to provide people in health care distress with health care," SIEPR's Tom Dee says. Read Scientific American's coverage and learn how non-police responses in nonviolent emergencies are cutting crime & costs in Denver: https://bit.ly/3ttbUXY

Sending Health Care Workers instead of Cops Can Reduce Crime A study shows that first responders who are not police can be more effective for low-level incidents

Are you a current California State University undergraduate curious to learn about pathways toward a career in economics or business-related research? If so, SIEPR and Stanford Graduate School of Business invite you to attend a virtual info session on pre-doctoral research fellowships, happening this Wednesday, 4/27.

Register here ➡️ https://bit.ly/3r9u1AV

Stanford University Pre-Doc Info Session Pre-Doc Info Session is being held virtually!

“The number of person-days in the office is never going back to pre-pandemic average, ever," says SIEPR's Nick Bloom. Read more about the implications of today’s remote work revolution via The Atlantic.

https://bit.ly/3JYSyiX

The Five-Day Workweek Is Dying And the implications for work and cities are going to be fascinating.

“Rent control appears to help affordability in the short run for current tenants, but in the long-run decreases affordability & fuels gentrification," says SIEPR's Rebecca Diamond.

⛽ Read more about remedies for high gas prices & rents: https://bit.ly/3ucAY4O

Steve Chapman: The wrong remedies for high gas prices and rents Steve Chapman: The wrong approach to curb high gas prices and soaring rents.

Join our partners at California 100 as they announce the initiative's first round of issue/future scenario reports on policy areas involving California's future.

🗓️ Save the date for 3/29 at 5:30pm & register here to attend virtually: https://bit.ly/3CTg5j2

California 100 Presents: Scenarios for California's Infrastructure Future California 100 to Release First Round of Reports on Policies and Future Scenarios

Broken links in the supply chain.
Gaps in education.
Disparities in income. A deep deficit.

This year's SIEPR Economic Summit shined a light on these issues while galvanizing policy efforts to improve them. Get the scoop: https://stanford.io/3KB6cta

The impact of the Affordable Care Act on hospital revenue How did the Medicaid expansion affect the finances of health care facilities in California?

As City of Oakland - Local Government closes schools due to declining enrollment, SIEPR's Tom Dee weighs in: "School districts are between a rock and a hard place. I don’t envy the difficult choices they’re facing right now,” he says. Learn more:
https://bit.ly/34TD0Ob

Oakland Is Closing Schools Due to Declining Enrollment. Other Cities Could Be Next Public school enrollment dropped 3% in the 2020-21 academic year compared with 2019-20, in part because of upheavals arising from the COVID-19 pandemic

"The pandemic is the biggest shock to American working life since the shift to military production during WWII. Employees are driving this revolution," writes SIEPR's Nick Bloom. Learn more: https://lat.ms/3JeoOya

Op-Ed: Work life will never be the same. We need some in-person days and some remote The pandemic disruption is crystallizing priorities for employees and employers alike.

Research by SIEPR's in-house productivity expert, Nick Bloom, suggests we can predict exactly how the big, pandemic-induced workplace changes we've seen over the past two years will settle in 2022. Learn more via Inc. Magazine:
https://bit.ly/337Ee7L

A Stanford Economist Who Studies Remote Work Says Half of All Workers Will Make This Big Change In 2022 It will be nice to feel settled, won't it?

Bloomberg asks: Will decelerate as much as central bankers are forecasting? SIEPR/ Hoover Institution Senior Fellow John Taylor, whose monetary-policy rule remains a guidepost for central banks worldwide, says the Fed is “way behind” the curve: https://bloom.bg/3FkOlnc

According to CNBC, flexible work arrangements are as valuable to America's workforce as a 10% pay increase. The push to work from home might be “the most positive thing to come out of this horrible pandemic,” SIEPR's Nick Bloom, says. Get the scoop: https://cnb.cx/3qrcmox

Expect ‘huge battles’ over working from home between employees and bosses soon, says Stanford professor who’s studied remote work for 20 years Large shares of people prefer remote or hybrid work, but Stanford professor Nicholas Bloom expects "huge battles" over remote work in coming months.

Concrete return-to-office dates are being subbed with “we’ll get back to you," reports The New York Times. “The only companies being dishonest are the ones giving employees certainty,” SIEPR's Nick Bloom says.

Get the scoop:
https://nyti.ms/3maWuny

The End of a Return-to-Office Date More and more companies are saying: We’ll get back to you.

As 2021 comes to a close, we pause to wish you and yours a happy, healthy holiday season. Your time, attention, and interest in SIEPR's mission energize our faculty, students, and staff to inform better economic policymaking through nonpartisan research.

Can the field of help us better understand evolving attitudes around holiday celebrations? If you ask SIEPR's Liran Einav & Ran Abramitzky, the answer is yes. Get in the holiday spirit by examining & through an economic lens: https://stanford.io/3mevLXa

By presenting an "enormous data set that dives into the day-to-day finances of 3m American households,” NPR reports on the best and worst places to live in the U.S. with help from research by SIEPR’s Rebecca Diamond:
https://n.pr/3IWnlgB

The best and worst places to live if you only care about money A new study looks at the finances of 3 million households over the course of a year. It finds significant differences in the standard of living across America.

This month's policy brief highlights research by SIEPR's Carolyn Stein and
BYU's Ryan Reed Hill about how the competition to publish first may degrade scientific research quality.

💡 Learn more: https://stanford.io/3q3k5Yp

"Dollar Tree is officially breaking the buck," reports Business Insider. Get the scoop on the $0.25 increase and learn more about the inflation bugaboo from SIEPR's Monika Piazzesi:
https://bit.ly/30SX9lC
https://stanford.io/2UVPq3t

New research by SIEPR’s Rebecca Diamond explores how seemingly small purchases—like a cup of coffee or a movie ticket—exacerbate inequality & demonstrate the gentrification of entire U.S. cities.

📰 Learn more: http://stanford.io/31BOeFP
📄 Read the working paper: http://stanford.io/3oud3fJ

Today, we give thanks for the research of our scholars and the hard work and dedication of our staff. Together, we are catalyzing a future where policies are underpinned by sound economic principles and generate measurable improvements in the lives of all people.