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Research Briefs

Research Briefs·Jul 1, 2026

The Economics of Scaling Early Childhood Programs: Lessons from the Chicago School

John List
This paper describes a model that addresses scalability issues surrounding policy proposals by incorporating “Option C thinking” into a program’s initial design, which anticipates at-scale implementation constraints.
Research Briefs·Jun 3, 2026

Does Scarcity Tax Parents’ Minds?

Ariel Kalil and Mauricio Koechlin
When financial scarcity prevents parents from reading with their children, the bottleneck is reduced attention rather than lessened self-control, driven by the felt experience of scarcity.
Research Briefs·May 27, 2026

Consuming Values

Jacob Conway and Levi Boxell
When firms take controversial social stances, consumers most aligned with the stance increase their spending significantly, while those most opposed reduce theirs, although at a lower rate; these behaviors persist beyond the initial announcement.

BFI Data Studio

BFI Data Studio·Jun 17, 2026

Carbon Prices, Forest Conservation and Reforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

Juliano J. Assunção, Lars Peter Hansen, Todd Munson, and José A. Scheinkman
With modest transfers per ton of net CO₂, Brazil would find it optimal to choose policies that produce substantial capture of greenhouse gasses in the next 30 years, suggesting that the management of tropical forests could play an important role...
BFI Data Studio·Jun 10, 2026

Nursing Homes: Predictably Unpredictable Inspections

Ashvin Gandhi, Andrew Olenski, and Maggie Shi
In the United States, regulators inspect nursing homes to ensure compliance with quality, safety, and other standards. While these inspections are not technically announced, they are easy for nursing home staff to predict because they usually occur annually.
BFI Data Studio·Nov 6, 2025

Unlocking the Power of Markets as a New Tool for Regulating Pollution

Michael Greenstone, Rohini Pande, Nicholas Ryan, and Anant Sudarshan
How the world’s first particulate pollution market in India reduced pollution and increased industry profits.

Podcasts

Podcasts episode·Jul 7, 2026

AI and Early Childhood Development: The Importance of Human Interaction

Tess Vigeland and Dana Suskind
At a time when forty percent of American two-year-olds have their own tablet, a new generation of AI toys and chatbots is being marketed as a better alternative to screens. On this episode, Dana Suskind, pediatric cochlear implant surgeon, co-director...
Podcasts episode·Jun 23, 2026

Signal and Noise: Why Politics Is About Culture When Voters Want Economics

Tess Vigeland and Konstantin Sonin
Voters consistently say they care most about the economy — jobs, wages, inflation, the price of gas. So why are campaigns so often fought over culture? In this episode, Konstantin Sonin, the John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor at the University...
Podcasts episode·Jun 9, 2026

How Should Parents Respond When Grades are Good, But Test Scores are Bad?

Tess Vigeland and Ariel Kalil
When a child brings home good grades but low standardized test scores, which signal should parents pay attention to? In this episode, Ariel Kalil of the UChicago Harris School of Public Policy discusses new research showing that parents lean heavily...
Topics: K-12 Education

Initiative Insights

Initiative Insight·Apr 14, 2026

Digging Deeper Into The Human Side of Human Capital: Virginia Minni on Shaping Productivity Inside Firms

David Fettig and Sydney Turner
Virginia Minni studies employees and managers within firms, with a focus on corporate culture, meaning at work, and leadership. Though often labeled “soft” because they are difficult to define and measure, her research shows these factors play a critical—and often...
Initiative Insight·Aug 18, 2025

Reframing the Safety Net: Manasi Deshpande on the Unseen Impacts of Disability Policy

Sydney Turner
Economic theories often frame safety net debates in terms of work incentives, but Manasi Deshpande’s research reveals a more complex reality. Using linked administrative data, she shows how programs like Supplemental Security Income affect not just employment, but crime, mental...
Initiative Insight·Jul 31, 2025

What Two Years of Predoctoral Research Taught One Aspiring Economist

Maia Rabenold and Sydney Turner
Through the BFI Predoctoral Research in Economics Program program, Jialing Zhang tackled real-world economic challenges using machine learning and spatial data, helping build tools for GDP estimation in data-scarce regions. Zhang discusses how her journey through economics, mentorship, and discovery...

Videos

All Insights

COMMUNICATIONS TEAM

Ava Gomez

Marketing and Digital Media Specialist, Becker Friedman Institute for Economics

Eric Hernandez

Senior Officer of Digital Media and Data Visualization, Becker Friedman Institute for Economics

Abby Hiller

Senior Manager of Research Translation and Impact, Becker Friedman Institute for Economics

Maia Rabenold

Senior Multimedia Specialist, Becker Friedman Institute for Economics

Sydney Turner

Multimedia Coordinator, Becker Friedman Institute for Economics