Writing for Forbes, research engineer Bryan Reimer explores the Massachusetts ballot question that would augment the state’s right to repair law. Reimer writes that the question is “a referendum on how traditional independent automotive repair shops and aftermarket part suppliers are going to function as part of tomorrow’s automotive ecosystem.”
A new white paper by Prof. Daron Acemoglu and graduate student Andrea Mandera finds that the U.S. tax code incentivizes companies to invest in automation rather than employees, reports Peter Coy for Bloomberg. “Favorable taxation of capital leads to excessive automation,” explains Acemoglu.
Writing for the Financial Times, research affiliate Ashley Nunes explores Vice President Joe Biden’s climate change policy. “If Americans are serious about addressing climate change, it’s time we accept a seldom-discussed truth,” writes Nunes. “Doing more for the planet starts with having less.”
Melissa Nobles, dean of the MIT School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, speaks with Leoneda Inge of WUNC about the issue of racial categorization with the census. “The census itself is an incredibly important instrument for government to do good,” says Nobles.
In an article for The New York Times, Prof. Charles Stewart III examines how to ensure that voting is safe and accessible during this year’s presidential election. “We need the campaigns, the leaders with big followings and civil society to point voters to the correct information on all the different ways to vote this November and why each mode is safe and secure,” writes Stewart.
Writing for Forbes, research engineer Bryan Reimer explores a question that will be included on election ballots in Massachusetts that “proposes to augment the state’s 2013 Automobile Right to Repair Law with new added vehicle data access requirements.” Reimer argues that the provisions in the ballot initiative are “ripe for cyber terrorism that could quickly place vehicle occupants and other road users at increased risk.”
A study co-authored by Prof. Jonathan Gruber finds that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate did not significantly impact coverage rates, reports Sarah Kliff for The New York Times. “The mandate made a difference, but not a huge difference in terms of the numbers of people signing up,” says Gruber.
MIT researchers have developed a new model that helps quantify a company’s security risk, and estimates possible financial losses, reports Catherine Stupp for The Wall Street Journal. The tool “collects encrypted data from companies about recent incidents and analyzes the anonymized information to determine the probability of different kinds of attacks more broadly,” writes Stupp.
In an article about capitalism and climate change, Bloomberg reporter Akshat Rathi spotlights principal research scientist Andrew McAfee’s book, “More from Less.” McAfee makes the case that “it is in capitalism’s nature to increase inequality,” writes Rathi, “and it is a responsive government’s job to reign in that excess.”
Newsweek reporter Meghan Roos writes that a study co-authored by Prof. Victor Chernozhukov finds a nationwide mask mandate in the U.S. could have reduced Covid-19 deaths by 40% among workers who regularly interact with the public. The researchers found “a national mask mandate for workers could have prevented between 17,000 and 55,000 deaths between the start of April and the start of June.”
President L. Rafael Reif joins Alan Alda on his podcast “Clear + Vivid” to discuss the need for increased American investment in fundamental research and development.
Fast Company reporter Nate Berg spotlights Lecturer Karilyn Crockett and her new role as Chief of Equity for the City of Boston. “The idea that there is a person who is tasked with explicitly looking at these things is critical, but also, more than just a person or a single office, the idea that there’s a commitment to structural change,” says Crockett.
A study by MIT researchers encourages neighboring states to more closely coordinate business reopening plans during the Covid-19 pandemic, reports James Hohmann for The Washington Post. The researchers “used data from mobile phones, social media and the census to conclude that residents are worse off when reopening is not coordinated among states and regions.”
The Economist spotlights a recent essay by Prof. David Autor and Elisabeth Reynolds, executive director of the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future, about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the state of work. “If remote working proves a lasting shift, then the café staff, taxi drivers and cleaners who depend on their custom could find themselves out of work,” writes The Economist.
Writing for The Washington Post, Prof. Robin Wolfe Scheffler underscores the importance of not only pursuing coronavirus vaccine development initiatives, but also “addressing the social and political factors that exacerbate disease and limit the access of many Americans to basic medical care.”