Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Akst writes that MIT researchers have developed a way to “tap into the insight of the expert minority within a crowd—a minority whose views would otherwise be swamped in a simple majority vote or poll.” The technique significantly enhanced “the wisdom of crowds, reducing errors by more than 20%.”
In an article for The Washington Post, Prof. David Singer writes that by limiting the Federal Reserve’s independence, Congress could hurt the U.S. economy. “Keeping the Fed independent and actively engaged in international coordination is the best way to maintain a stable and internationally competitive financial system in the 21st century,” he explains.
In a Huffington Post article, Prof. David Autor lists the pressing long-and short-term issues that economists will focus on in 2017. Among the long-term concerns are the effects of artificial intelligence and machine learning, which could potentially disrupt “the value of products produced using manual labor in the developing world.”
Prof. David Autor writes for The Huffington Post that imposing tariffs could slow the U.S.’s economic growth. A better solution, he writes, is smarter trade policy and to “aggressively enforce our current policies to protect intellectual property, enforce rule of law, and require equal treatment from our trading partners.”
Patrick Gillespie of CNN highlights the work of Professors Daron Acemoglu and David Autor in a piece about how automation is responsible for more job losses than trade. Acemoglu explains that by preventing trade now, “some of that production might come back, but the employment that comes back will not be for people, it will be for robots."
In an article for USA Today, research associate James Walsh writes about the Trump administration’s executive order on immigration. Walsh writes that he believes the order will “make international cooperation more difficult, increase animosity towards the United States, and strengthen the hands of ISIS to recruit followers and make the case that the US is anti-Islam.”
An algorithm developed by MIT researchers helps extract the correct answer from a large group of people even when the majority of people answer incorrectly, writes Erin Ross for Nature. While previous assumptions viewed the average opinion of a crowd as correct, the algorithm identifies “specialists with special knowledge, like doctors,” explains Prof. Dražen Prelec.
Scientific American reporter Simon Makin writes that MIT researchers have developed a new approach to extract correct answers from a crowd. “The new method performed better than majority or confidence-based methods alone, reducing errors by between 21 and 35 percent,” Makin explains.
Wall Street Journal reporter David Harrison writes that a study by Prof. Daron Acemoglu shows that aging populations have not had a negative effect on economic growth. The researchers found that investments in robotics “make it easier for firms to replace departing workers even when there are fewer younger workers to take the retirees’ place.”
A study by MIT researchers examines how the growth in pet health care spending can provide insights into the increase in human health care costs, writes Austin Frakt for The New York Times. Emotional treatment spending may explain “high and sometimes heroic end-of-life health care spending whether on your dog or on your mother,” explains Prof. Amy Finkelstein.
In an article about how to rebuild failed states, The Economist highlights Prof. Daron Acemoglu’s book “Why Nations Fail.” Acemoglu and his co-author Prof. James Robinson of the University of Chicago argue that political institutions largely determine a nation’s success, and that failed states provide “a general explanation for why poor countries are poor.”
Kat Chow of NPR’s Code Switch, speaks with Prof. Ruth Perry about the origins and evolution of the term “politically correct.” "The attack on the 'politically correct,'” Perry explains, " is an attack on the theory and practice of affirmative action.”
Prof. Amy Finkelstein writes for the Health Affairs Blog about the need for relying on evidence to set health care policy, citing her own randomized, controlled study of Oregon’s health care system. “We need to rely on evidence from rigorous research—rather than compelling anecdotes—to get an accurate assessment of a policy’s effects,” Finkelstein explains.
Writing for The Boston Globe, Prof. Jonathan Gruber details the adverse effects of repealing the Affordable Care Act. Gruber notes that the law “expanded health insurance to more than 20 million Americans through several different approaches, including Medicaid expansion, subsidies for private coverage, the elimination of the ban on preexisting conditions, and an individual mandate.”
Wall Street Journal reporter Bob Davis writes about a study by Prof. David Autor that shows U.S. industries facing increased competition from China reduced R&D spending. Autor notes the findings show the importance of federal support for R&D.