MIT Economics

Does the US tax code favor automation?

Brookings: Does the US tax code favor robots over people?

New research by Daron Acemoglu and MIT Economics PhD student Andrea Manera suggests that the US tax system’s low tax rates on capital and heavy taxation of labor systematically encourages firms to automate more tasks and use less labor.

http://news.mit.edu/2020/c-sections-doctor-liability-grubner-0912

MIT News: Moving beyond “defensive medicine”

Study co-authored by Jonathan Gruber sheds light on the practice of defensive medicine, with a surprising result- when doctors have immunity from liability lawsuits, they actually perform slightly more C-section operations.

http://news.mit.edu/2020/why-workers-smaller-share-GDP-0311

MIT News: Why are workers getting smaller pieces of the pie?

New study co-authored by MIT economists David Autor and John Van Reenen finds that market concentration in the form of “superstar” firms has been lowering labor’s share of GDP in recent decades.

http://news.mit.edu/2020/economics-influence-fields-study-0303

MIT News: The case for economics – by the numbers

A new study led by MIT researchers finds that the field increasingly overlaps with the work of other disciplines and has become more empirical and data-driven. Their analysis is based on 140,000 economics papers published from 1970 to 2015, and tallies the “extramural” citations that economics papers received in 16 other academic fields.

http://news.mit.edu/2020/esther-duflo-2020-doctoral-hoods-ceremony-0220

Esther Duflo to speak at 2020 Investiture of Doctoral Hoods and Degree Conferral Ceremony

Esther Duflo PhD ’99, the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at MIT, will be the guest speaker at the 2020 Investiture of Doctoral Hoods and Degree Conferral Ceremony on Thursday, May 28. She is the second woman and the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Prize in economic sciences.

http://news.mit.edu/2020/sugar-factories-colonial-indonesia-olken-dell-0206

https://academic.oup.com/restud/article-abstract/87/1/164/5385518?redirectedFrom=fulltext

MIT News: The complex effects of colonial rule in Indonesia

Professor Benjamin Olken co-authors a paper studying the economics effects of colonialism. His research shows that the areas of Indonesia where the Dutch built sugar-processing factories in the 1800s are more economically productive today than other parts of the country.

http://news.mit.edu/2020/mit-launches-masters-data-economics-development-policy-0204

MIT News: MIT launches a master’s in data, economics, and development policy, led by Nobel laureates

The first cohort’s 22 students from 14 countries share a common ambition: harnessing data to help others.

http://news.mit.edu/2020/hospital-rankings-quality-0131

MIT News: Hospital rankings hold up

New research by Jon Gruber indicates that hospital rankings metrics provide some real insight on underlying hospital quality. The study, co-authored with Joe Doyle of MIT Sloan and John Graves at Vanderbilt, validates the information content in hospitals’ 30-day readmission and mortality statistics, despite variation in patient selection.

http://news.mit.edu/2020/health-care-hotspotting-no-effect-0108

MIT News: In health care, does “hotspotting” make patients better?

A study led by Amy Finkelstein finds that the health care practice of “hotspotting,” or the attempt to reduce medical spending while improving care for select high-cost patients, has no significant impact on patient outcomes.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614860/the-productive-career-of-robert-solow/

MIT Tech Review: The productive career of Robert Solow

An in depth look at Nobel laureate Robert Solow’s career, his legacy as a mentor, and his impact on MIT’s Department of Economics.

https://www.nasi.org/press/releases/2019/12/health-economist-massachusetts-institute-technology-wins

Michael Stepner wins the 2020 John Heinz Dissertation Award

Stepner’s dissertation, “Essays on Health and Social Insurance,” was selected by the National Academy of Social Insurance. Ezra Golberstein, Chair of the 2020 Heinz Dissertation Award Committee, said of this honor, “His work advances the theory of optimal design of social insurance benefits, and his quantitative analyses deliver convincing and policy-relevant evidence of the effects of both public and private insurance benefits for health and disability.” Congratulations, Michael!

https://www.ft.com/content/4c470b8e-1559-11ea-8d73-6303645ac406

Financial Times: Esther Duflo is a game changer

The Financial Times profiles Esther Duflo as one of their Women in 2019: Game Changers, citing her work transforming development economics and the economics profession.