Economics

Amy Glasmeier, professor of economic geography and regional planning in the School of Architecture and Planning, developed the popular Living Wage Calculator.

Putting the Living Wage Calculator into action

Corporations and nonprofits are applying the popular MIT online tool to shape policy and set wages.

August 21, 2018

J-PAL teaching assistants and program participants discuss how to design randomized evaluations in real-world settings.

Learning to evaluate social programs

Flagship J-PAL course teaches policy leaders how, why, and when to evaluate social programs ranging from antiviolence interventions to housing mobility initiatives.

August 16, 2018

The MITx MicroMasters program in Data, Economics, and Development Policy is an online series of courses designed for learners like Alan Al Yussef, who seek to have a direct impact on major social issues through an empirical, data-driven approach.

Turning an economics education into solutions with impact

MITx MicroMasters learner Alan Al Yussef is working to improve lives in the Middle East through a career in development economics.

August 14, 2018

Economics PhD student Ryan Hill, shown with daughter Norah, studies the role of risk in science. “There are a lot of projects that fail,” he notes. “And that’s a fundamental part of innovation.”

Risk, failure, and living your life: The economics of being an early-career scientist

Doctoral student Ryan Hill studies factors that influence researchers’ professional paths, while lending his voice to support student families.

August 9, 2018

"Rising inequality is highly correlated to unequal access to education," Piketty said in an address at MIT. "In the United States, 95 percent of those with parents at the highest income levels attend college, while only about 20 percent of the poorest do, research shows."

At MIT, Thomas Piketty calls for policies and collaborations to reduce income inequality

French economist was a keynote speaker at the 2018 World Economic History Congress.

August 9, 2018

MIT historian Anne McCants, vice president of the International Economic History Association (IEHA), says that research presented at the 2018 World Economic History Congress speaks "directly to the questions the whole world is asking at this moment."

Q&A: Anne McCants on "Waves of Globalization," the 2018 World Economic History Congress at MIT

Congress of leading thinkers in economic, business, and social history convenes in the US for first time in 50 years.

July 30, 2018

Meeting Turkey’s Paris Agreement emissions commitment will require a dramatic shift to low-carbon energy sources, such as this solar farm in Kastamonu, Turkey.

The price of the pledge

MIT researchers examine Turkey to assess the impact of 2015 Paris climate commitments on a national economy.

July 30, 2018

A new way to measure women’s and girls’ empowerment in impact evaluations

Guide developed by J-PAL aims to improve women’s and girls’ empowerment worldwide and reduce bias and other gender-based inequalities.

July 17, 2018

J-PAL North America’s Education, Technology, and Opportunity Innovation Competition supports education leaders in using randomized evaluations to generate evidence on how technology can improve student learning, particularly for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

J-PAL North America’s Education, Technology, and Opportunity Innovation Competition announces inaugural partners

July 6, 2018

Siqi Zheng is an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning whose work examines the dynamic connections between what she calls urban “vibrancy” — economic and job growth, for instance — and urban “amenities,” such as transit, clean air, schools, housing, and restaurants.

The city is her lab

Siqi Zheng studies the economics of China’s urban explosion.

July 3, 2018

Ken Wang ’71 rebuilt the Pound Ridge Golf Course as an 18-hole course in 2008.

Building the green

Ken Wang ’71, MIT Corporation member and former MIT Alumni Association president, developed one of America’s premier modern golf courses.

June 29, 2018

“What we discovered is, very little [Medicare] money is spent on people who we know with high probability are going to die in a short amount of time,” says Amy Finkelstein, a professor in MIT’s Department of Economics and co-author of a paper in the journal Science.

The value of late-in-life health care spending

Study debunks notion that large chunks of Medicare go to futile end-of-life care.

June 28, 2018

An MIT study estimates the impact of a trade war between the U.S. and the rest of world when the U.S. alone does not comply with the Paris Agreement. The aim of such a trade war would be to compel the U.S. to meet its Paris pledge.

What is the likely outcome of a trade war between the U.S. and the rest of the world?

Study highlights economic losses for participating countries.

June 26, 2018

“Teaching is complementary with research,” says economics professor Alberto Abadie. “When you need to explain material that you believe you understand very well, that is when the real test is."

Method man

Alberto Abadie refines the tools of economics — and gets some interesting results along the way.

June 18, 2018

Clouds of pollution float into the sky from two smoke stacks

Checking China’s pollution, by satellite

Study finds reduction in sulfur emissions from power plants.