Opt-in choice deters high-return students, leaving effective schools underfilled; shifting the participation architecture produces large achievement gains, from Christopher Campos, Jesse Bruhn, Eric Chy, and Antonia Vazquez www.nber.org/papers/w34581

Exporters allow their workers to grow on-the-job skills more rapidly, especially when exporting to high-income economies, and the benefits further raise gains from trade, from Xiao Ma, Marc-Andreas Muendler, and Alejandro Nakab www.nber.org/papers/w34580

Measuring worker preparedness to identify who is ready for accelerating AI-driven change—and who isn't, from Andrew Caplin, Søren Leth-Petersen, Victoria Gregory, Ida Maria Hartmann, Eungik Lee, and Johan Sæverud www.nber.org/papers/w34570

Featured in the latest Digest: Consequences of Organ Procurement Reform www.nber.org/digest/20251...

Exploring the effect of past reforms on inequality in old age in Belgium, from Giulia Klinges, Alain Jousten, and Mathieu Lefebvre www.nber.org/papers/w34579

Lasting change requires more than cash—interventions adding information meetings and home visits produce real, sustained gains for mothers and children, from Richard Akresh, Damien de Walque, Harounan Kazianga, and Abigail Stocker www.nber.org/papers/w34578

Spanish pension reforms since 1985 raised average Social Security wealth, with gains concentrated among higher earners, from @cristina-belles.bsky.social, @manuelflores.bsky.social, García-Gómez, Jimenez-Martin, and @juditvall.bsky.social www.nber.org/papers/w34577

Analyzing the distributional effects of French pension reforms from 1993 to 2014 across different socioeconomic groups, from Antoine Bozio, Maxime Tô, and Julie Tréguier www.nber.org/papers/w34576

Private equity is transforming a cornerstone profession: accounting firms consolidate, labor markets tighten, and prices rise. Private equity reshapes how public-facing professions operate, from Inna Abramova and John M. Barrios www.nber.org/papers/w34575

Examining the heterogeneous impacts of social security reforms in Japan over the past 40 years, from Takashi Oshio, Satoshi Shimizutani, and Akiko S. Oishi www.nber.org/papers/w34574

Examination of empirical properties of firm productivity and distortions across countries using World Bank data. Firm size is not commensurate with productivity in developing countries, from Diego Restuccia www.nber.org/papers/w34573

Reviewing how antitrust is beginning to be used in labor markets, the evidence for and against its use, and the remaining evidence gaps standing in the way of more effective use, from Elena Prager www.nber.org/papers/w34572

A study of why divorced men's interstate migration rate converged to married men's rates since 1980 finds evidence that points to joint custody laws, with implications for spatial labor allocation, from @abicadams.bsky.social, Bayraktar, Jørgensen, Low, and Voena www.nber.org/papers/w34571

While inequality in old-age social security wealth has increased after 2015 for non-retirees in the Netherlands, it is not because of an increase in state pension age, from Adriaan Kalwij and Arie Kapteyn www.nber.org/papers/w34569

Investigating the effect of the Istanbul Convention on attitudes toward violence against women in Europe, from Naci H. Mocan and Nur Orak www.nber.org/papers/w34568

Examining whether weak enforcement of the minimum legal sales age for cannabis helps explain inconsistency in the effect of legalization on adult and youth cannabis use, from Rahi Abouk, Johanna Catherine Maclean, and Rosalie Liccardo Pacula www.nber.org/papers/w34567

Arguing that recent trends in party seat margins and election vote margins result from structural changes in the nature of US political competition, from Clemence Tricaud and Romain Wacziarg www.nber.org/papers/w34566

Exploring the effectiveness of statewide restrictions on online sales of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) on teen and young adult ENDS use, from Aksu, Courtemanche, Dave, Dench, Grossman, Kim, Ozdogan, Rajendra, Sabia, and Saffer www.nber.org/papers/w34565

Open call for applications, Fiscal and Monetary Policy Boot Camp for Doctoral Students. Boot Camp to be held in Cambridge, MA on May 7–8, 2026. Submit applications by 11:59pm EDT on February 4, 2026. More information: www.nber.org/calls-papers...

Open call for papers, Investments in Early Career Scientists: The Role of Policy in Careers and Productivity. Conference to be held in Cambridge, MA on April 23, 2026. Submit papers by 11:59pm EDT on January 27, 2026. More information: www.nber.org/investments-...

An analysis of novel data from hundreds of thousands of online auctions on a large platform operating in the Netherlands uncovers a tendency to bid round numbers, from Mark van Oldeniel, Christopher M. Snyder, and @asoetevent.bsky.social www.nber.org/papers/w34564

Documenting substantial monthly earnings volatility in administrative earnings data from Norway. Household volatility is lower due to pooling, not sorting or spousal insurance, from Andresen, Kostøl, Milton, @corinamommaerts.bsky.social, and @lwallossek.bsky.social www.nber.org/papers/w34563

Evaluating a soft-skills course implemented in Ugandan and Kenyan primary schools that replaced academic review time with lessons on goal-setting and related skills as students prepared for primary school-leaving exams, from Dam, Gray-Lobe, Kremer, de Laat, and Morsink www.nber.org/papers/w34562

Who your health insurer is has a big causal impact on the health care that you receive, from Benjamin R. Handel, Jonathan A. Holmes, Jonathan T. Kolstad, and Kurt J. Lavetti www.nber.org/papers/w34561

In-situ upgrading of slums improves housing quality and socioeconomic status and produces positive spillovers in nearby neighborhoods, increasing housing investment and lowering crime, from Paul Gertler, Marco Gonzalez-Navarro, Raimundo Undurraga, and Joaquin A. Urrego www.nber.org/papers/w34560

Examining how opposition to carbon pricing in the state of Washington turned into support after voters experienced a cap-and-trade policy with revenues earmarked for environmental purposes, from Carattini, Fletcher, Kendall, Price, and Vu www.nber.org/papers/w34559

Featured in the latest Digest: School Cell Phone Bans and Student Achievement www.nber.org/digest/20251...

96 percent of US income inequality is within ethnic groups and only 4 percent between them, a pattern that persists across time and regions, from Oded Galor and Daniel C. Wainstock www.nber.org/papers/w34558

Estimating the short-term cognitive effects of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure in Kenya, from Xuqian Ma, Michelle N. Layvant, Edward Miguel, Eric Ochieng, Ajay Pillarisetti, and Michael W. Walker www.nber.org/papers/w34557

Reducing low-risk c-sections appears to boost moms’ short-term return to pre-birth jobs—without harming health—and lowers c-section risk in later births, from Sarah Miller, Petra Persson, Maya Rossin-Slater, and @laurawherryr.bsky.social www.nber.org/papers/w34556

A study of US interest rate shocks and sovereign defaults finds that a jump in rate increases lenders’ opportunity cost of holding delinquent debt, and government expects larger haircuts, from Victor Almeida, Carlos Esquivel, @tkehoe.bsky.social, and Juan Pablo Nicolini www.nber.org/papers/w34555

Governments often deploy multiple policies with similar objectives. A study of policy interactions shows that coordinating related policies can improve overall impact, from Liran Einav, Amy Finkelstein, Yunan Ji, and @nealemahoney.bsky.social www.nber.org/papers/w34554

Smoking behaviors play a central role in explaining the widening gaps between midlife mortality for college graduates and everyone else, from Christopher L. Foote, @ermeara.bsky.social, Jonathan S. Skinner, and Luke R. Stewart www.nber.org/papers/w34553

Studying the long-run effects of a large public expansion of pre-primary education in Argentina, from Samuel Berlinski, Guillermo Cruces, Sebastian Galiani, Paul Gertler, and Fabian Gonzalez www.nber.org/papers/w34552

Fiscal multipliers hinge on both financing method and debt level. Debt-financed stimulus weakens as debt rises, while tax-financed effects remain stable, from Jing Cynthia Wu, Shihan Xie, Yinxi Xie, and Ji Zhang www.nber.org/papers/w34551

Featured in the latest Digest: Consumer Response to a Tax on Sweetened Beverages www.nber.org/digest/20251...

Surveying econometric innovations related to differences-in-differences estimators and event-study models with time-varying treatment effects, from Alberto Abadie, Joshua Angrist, Brigham Frandsen, and Jörn-Steffen Pischke www.nber.org/papers/w34550

Trade raises workers' efficiency, ss globalized employers reorganize tasks, but also increases pay disparity within occupations at these employers, from Sascha O. Becker, Hartmut Egger, Michael Koch, and Marc-Andreas Muendler www.nber.org/papers/w34549

The 1976 Hyde Amendment increased fertility among non-white young women as well as their welfare participation. This reliance on welfare extends to the next generation, from Lauren Hoehn-Velasco, Nikita Dhingra, and Mayra Pineda-Torres www.nber.org/papers/w34548

Nursing home effort fluctuates with the inspection cycle, affecting patient survival. Unpredictable inspection schedules may boost effort and save lives, from Ashvin Gandhi, Andrew Olenski, and Maggie Shi www.nber.org/papers/w34491

Studying whether guaranteed basic income reduces crime finds that a two-year nationwide randomized controlled trial in Finland shows no effect on crime perpetration or victimization despite high baseline rates of both, from Mikko Aaltonen, Martti Kaila, and Emily E. Nix www.nber.org/papers/w34547

An argument that the political history of Africa is a surprising success story as Africans achieved what they set out to accomplish, from Soeren J. Henn and James A. Robinson www.nber.org/papers/w34546

A task-level minimum pay standard for gig delivery work did not increase drivers' monthly earnings. Higher pay rates were offset by lower tips and more competition for scarce tasks, from Yuan An, Andrew Garin, and Brian K. Kovak www.nber.org/papers/w34545

Exploring how the effectiveness of e-cigarette taxation as an anti-vaping policy tool has evolved over time, from Dhaval M. Dave, @econtess.bsky.social, Yang Liang, and Joseph J. Sabia www.nber.org/papers/w34544

Examining whether the gradual, exogenous revelation of sellers’ private information influences the occurrence of trades in a bilateral bargaining setting with a static lemon condition, from Tingting Ding and Steven F. Lehrer www.nber.org/papers/w34543

Exploring the effects of paid sick leave adoption on participation in the Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance programs, as well as the health of persons with disabilities, from Assamidanov, Dave, Kim, Lipton, Qian, and Sabia www.nber.org/papers/w34542

Comparing postpartum medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) continuity between Medicaid- and commercially-insured parents with a prenatal history of MOUD use, from Sumedha Gupta, Yimin Ge, Johanna Catherine Maclean, and Matthew D. Eisenberg www.nber.org/papers/w34541

Four Indonesian policy experiments show how state actions can both foster unity and deepen divisions in diverse societies, from Samuel Bazzi www.nber.org/papers/w34540

Moral regulation reshapes culture as the Hays Code brought fewer female and working-class leads, more conservative tones, and shifts toward safer genres such as Westerns, from Ruixue Jia and David Strömberg www.nber.org/papers/w34539

Peer effects between nursing home roommates are comparable to across-facility quality variations. Better room assignments may reduce mortality by 5.4 percent without added staffing, from Alden Cheng and Martin B. Hackmann www.nber.org/papers/w34538