Mario Draghi PhD ’76 has been invited to form a new government by Italian President Sergio Mattarella, writes Colleen Barry and David McHugh for the AP. Draghi, the former European Central Bank chief, “is credited with helping to save the euro has now been tapped to lead Italy, the eurozone’s third-largest economy, out of the pandemic and the worst recession since World War II.”
Writing for STAT, Prof. Emeritus Jeffrey Harris explores how community health centers “can play a crucial role in reducing the burden of the Covid-19 epidemic in the difficult winter months to come. They can serve as critical safety valves at a time when acute care hospitals and emergency rooms are saturated with patients.”
Writing for The New York Times, Prof. Amy Finkelstein examines the difficulties posed by trying to reduce waste in health care spending. “If something becomes more expensive, people will buy less of it,” writes Finkelstein. “And the empirical evidence is overwhelming: When patients have to pay more, they use less medical care. The problem is they use less of all types of care.”
The Economist highlights research by Prof. Daron Acemoglu that finds “networks of influential individuals seem also to have contributed to Italy’s descent into fascism” after WWI.
Prof. Daron Acemoglu speaks with Greg Rosalsky of NPR’s Planet Money about his book, “Why Nations Fail,” whether the attack on the U.S. Capitol signals difficulties for U.S. institutions, and how politicians can create more shared prosperity through a “good jobs” agenda. "We are still at a point where we can reverse things," Acemoglu says. "But I think if we paper over these issues, we will most likely see a huge deterioration in institutions. And it can happen very rapidly."
Bloomberg reporters Benjamin Bain, Jennifer Epstein and Robert Schmidt spotlight the work Prof. Gary Gensler, who has been nominated as the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Gensler “not only knows how to mobilize a bureaucratic federal agency but also understands the often impenetrable ways that Wall Street makes money -- and how firms use that complexity to turn regulation in their favor.”
President-elect Joe Biden has selected Prof. Gary Gensler to serve as the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, reports Marcy Gordon and Zeke Miller for the AP. Gensler “was an assistant Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration and later headed the CFTC during Barack Obama’s term. With a background of having worked for nearly 20 years at Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs, Gensler surprised many by being a tough regulator of big banks as CFTC chairman.”
NBC News reporter Martha White writes that Prof. Gary Gensler has been selected as President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. “Gensler is a terrific choice to head the agency," said Barbara Roper, director of investor protection at the Consumer Federation of America. "He’s as knowledgeable about the markets as anyone on Wall Street, so he can’t be intimidated. He’s a seasoned regulator who knows how to get things done.”
Prof. Gary Gensler will be the Biden administration’s pick to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, reports Matthew Goldstein, Lauren Hirsch and Andrew Ross Sorkin for The New York Times. “Mr. Gensler is a veteran regulator who played a central role in bringing the big banks to heel in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, giving new teeth to a watchdog agency.”
The Economist spotlights research by Professors Daron Acemoglu and David Autor examining how companies are adopting AI technologies, and the impact on the workforce and productivity. The researchers found, “machines are not yet depressing labour demand across the economy as a whole. As machines become cleverer, however, that could change.”
Forbes contributor Adi Gaskell spotlights how the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future recently released a comprehensive report examining the future of work. Gaskell writes that the Task Force's report emphasizes the “pressing issues of our time as one of improving the quality of jobs to ensure that prosperity is shared across the economy.”
Visiting Prof. Jordan Nickerson speaks with Stephen Duber of Freakonomics about his new study that explores whether car seat laws have contributed to declining birth rates. “The prediction would be that when I have two children that are both required to be put in car seats, it’s going to make it more difficult to have a third child,” Nickerson explains.
Prof. Emeritus Henry Jacoby writes for The Guardian about how economic incentives such as carbon dividends could be used to help tackle climate change. “Marshaling the power of the price system to rebalance the whole economy away from carbon-intensive industries – while supporting those on lower incomes – seems like a wonderful place to start,” writes Jacoby.
New York Times reporter David Leonhardt spotlights Prof. Jonathan Gruber and Prof. Simon Johnson’s book, “Jump-Starting America,” which explores how collaboration between the federal government and private companies has led to some of the biggest scientific breakthroughs.
Writing for the Financial Times, Ryosuke Harada highlights a new MIT report that emphasizes the “importance of education and investment in human resources and warns that in the absence of a strategy, jobs will be lost and divisions in society will widen.”