Research Brief Library

For those removed from disability rolls, family support matters: those living alone experience a drop in income and an increase in antipsychotic medication usage, while those living with family do not.

Credit cards are a critical, yet costly, financing tool for US small businesses. Between 2021 and 2023, usage nearly doubled, interest payments surged, and delinquencies rose. Following the Fed’s 2022 rate hikes, banks most exposed to interest rate risk cut...

Recessions restrain IT investments while expansion policy indirectly stimulates them. These effects occur in a symmetrical manner. For example, in the healthcare industry, economic downturns restrain hospitals’ investments while hospitals exposed to a Medicaid expansion purchase more IT.

Income gaps between states have stopped narrowing at the same time that rising housing costs—linked to increased zoning restrictions—have reshaped who can afford to live in high-wage places.

During the United States’ Reconstruction Era (1865-77), people with the same physical skin tone were more likely racialized as White or Mulatto if they were wealthier or literate. This historical finding underscores the fluidity of socially constructed racial classifications and...

Real labor productivity at US restaurants surged over 15% during the COVID pandemic. Mobile phone tracking data reveal that this appears driven by take-out customers who spend 10 minutes or less at restaurants.

Households are willing to forgo approximately 5–6% of their lifetime consumption to eliminate business cycle fluctuations and around 5% to achieve their desired inflation rate. This amount is higher among consumers whose consumption is more pro-cyclical, those facing greater economic...

Students with stronger reading and math skills tend to perform better in school and earn higher incomes in adulthood. It is concerning, then, that children from low-income backgrounds enter school with weaker skills, on average, than their higher-income peers. Researchers...

The learning rate for EV battery production is 7.5%, meaning costs drop by 7.5% when production experience doubles. Learning by doing enhances EV subsidies’ impact and creates global spillovers.

Individuals who view the Fed as politically aligned report higher independence of and trust in the Fed, leading to lower inflation expectations and uncertainty. Strategic communication on institutional structure and policy objectives mitigates perception biases.