Bloomberg reporter Maeve Sheehey writes that a new study co-authored by MIT researchers finds that the Paycheck Protection Program helped to boost employment by 2% to 4.5%. “The research suggests that providing money directly to companies helped curb job losses during the pandemic,” writes Sheehey.
Writing for Forbes, Prof. David Mindell highlights a new report by MIT researchers that explores the future of automation. “We can imagine cities jammed with single-occupant autonomous cars, or we can imagine flexible, high-throughput mixed modal systems that benefit from autonomous technologies,” writes Mindell. “What comes to pass is up to us, and will be shaped by policy choices we make today.”
A study co-authored by MIT researchers finds that the Paycheck Protection Program saved between 1.5 and 3.5 million jobs, reports David Leonhardt for The New York Times. “The study adds to the mounting evidence about one kind of economic stimulus that seems to have worked especially well during the pandemic: direct subsidies to businesses, to keep people employed.”
Using statistical analysis, Prof. Victor Chernozhukov found that “40,000 lives would have been saved in two months if a national mask mandate for employees of public-facing businesses had gone into effect on April 1 and had been strictly obeyed,” reports Peter Coy for Bloomberg.
Wall Street Journal reporters Michelle Hackman, Melissa Korn and Andrew Restuccia report on the Trump administration’s reversal of a new policy that would have prevented thousands of foreign students from studying in the U.S. “These students make us stronger, and we hurt ourselves when we alienate them,” said MIT President L. Rafael Reif.
AP reporter Collin Binkley writes that the Department of Homeland Security rescinded a rule that would have barred foreign students from studying in the U.S. “This case also made abundantly clear that real lives are at stake in these matters, with the potential for real harm,” said MIT President L. Rafael Reif. “We need to approach policy making, especially now, with more humanity, more decency — not less.”
WBUR’s Max Larkin and Shannon Dooling report that the Department of Homeland Security has agreed to withdraw its July 6th policy. "Lawyers from across the United States had swarmed behind Harvard and MIT as they challenged the policy,” note Larkin and Dooling. “As of Tuesday morning, the docket showed over a dozen amicus briefs filed in the case’s weeklong history.”
In response to a lawsuit filed by MIT and Harvard, the Department of Homeland Security rescinded a directive that would have prevented thousands of foreign students from studying in the U.S. “It’s a huge relief,” graduate student Angie Jo told The Boston Globe. “I’ve really put down roots here. It would be like leaving home for me.”
A growing number of colleges and universities have “backed Harvard and MIT in their legal challenge to a July 6 directive from the Trump administration requiring international students to take fall classes in-person amid the COVID-19 pandemic to remain in the country, even though many schools have announced plans to hold classes online,” reports Travis Anderson forThe Boston Globe.
Axios reporter Ashley Gold writes that Google, Facebook, Microsoft and a number of other tech companies are joining the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in submitting an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit filed by MIT and Harvard. The suit challenges a new visa policy that would prevent international students from entering the U.S. if they are taking a full online course load during the Covid-19 pandemic.
More than 200 colleges and universities have backed a legal challenge by MIT and Harvard to a new visa policy that would bar thousands of foreign students from studying in the U.S., reports Collin Binkley for the Associated Press. “These students are core members of our institutions,” the schools wrote. “They make valuable contributions to our classrooms, campuses and communities.”
Fast Company reporter Kristin Toussaint writes about a new study by Prof. David Autor that finds middle class jobs for non-college grads are disappearing, particularly for Black and Latino workers. Autor suggest that higher minimum wages “are surprisingly effective at improving the incomes of workers in low wage jobs,” adding that “they don’t seem to have noticeable adverse effects on employment.”
Lecturer Karilyn Crockett speaks with Jim Braude and Margery Eagan of Boston Public Radio about how she plans to address equity in her role as Boston’s Chief Equity. "There's something we're not doing right to really showcase not only the city's richness and prosperity and wealth, and also just letting all of our people truly be in the city, integrated in the city, and just be around," she said.
Graduate student Maya Nasr speaks with NPR’s Jenn White about a new rule from DHS and ICE that would bar thousands of foreign students from studying in the U.S. “One of the big things that all of us as international students have been facing over the last few years is the feeling of hostility in the U.S.,” says Nasr. “It’s important to realize the long- term impact of such an environment on the U.S.”
Prof. David Autor has found opportunities for minority workers in cities have receded, particularly those without college degrees, reports Jonnelle Marte for Reuters. “As the middle hollowed out, (minority workers) were more exposed to middle-skilled work, and net of that, they were also over-represented at the low end and under-represented at the high end,” says Autor.