Of the many decisions facing high school students—and their parents—few loom larger than whether and where to attend college. Families with college-bound children often go to great lengths to ensure admission into a “good” school. But do colleges with successful graduates actually contribute to their students’ success, or simply enroll the types of students who would do well no matter where they attend?

One puzzle for researchers in recent decades surrounds two seemingly contradictory facts: The wage gap between Black and White men has remained stubbornly large in recent decades while, over the same period, racial discrimination has steadily declined. This divergence has occurred even as the racial gap in test scores, conditional on education, has also narrowed.

When most people think about international trade, they likely imagine large companies trading goods back and forth among many countries, and they likely picture rows and rows of colorful intermodal containers stacked on huge transport ships.

If you had the unfortunate experience of acquiring a disability that hindered your ability to work and that suddenly put you in financial distress, you might be grateful for government-provided disability payments. Such income might do more than cover monthly living expenses, but may also keep you from such traumatic financial events as eviction, foreclosure, or bankruptcy.

For those who have never needed the aid provided by Social Security disability programs, the process might seem straightforward: go online, fill out a form, attach a doctor’s letter, and wait for the assistance to arrive.

On March 8 and 9, 2019, BFI’s Ronzetti Initiative for the Study of Labor Markets...