A Planet Money Guide To Five Fascinating Economic Studies - Beritaja

We astatine Planet Money often scan caller economical resesarch for absorbing ideas aliases grounds about the system or, much broadly, the world about us. Sometimes this investigation informs our podcasts. Sometimes they animate newsletters aliases power segments. But often these insightful gems are conscionable near connected our proverbial shelves gathering dust. And that inspired a recurring newsletter wherever we return them disconnected the shelves and supply them to you.

Welcome to the latest installment of the Planet Money Econ Paper Roundup!

Today successful the Planet Money newsletter, 5 caller papers that lit lightbulbs successful our brains, and are possibly worthy taking a look at.

Brain Rot Is Real?!

People person been talking about "brain rot" for a while. The basal thought is that consuming junk contented — for illustration watching TikTok videos aliases doomscrolling societal media feeds — makes you dumber.

Last year, Oxford University Press actually named "brain rot" the "Oxford Word of the Year." They connection a much general definition: "the expected deterioration of a person's intelligence aliases intelligence state, particularly viewed arsenic the consequence of overconsumption of worldly (now peculiarly online content) considered to beryllium trivial aliases unchallenging. Also: thing characterized arsenic apt to lead to specified deterioration."

Notice Oxford's meaning includes the qualifier supposed earlier deterioration. Until now encephalon rot has been much of a casual study than thing backed by difficult evidence.

But a new, peer-reviewed study successful The Quarterly Journal of Economics (a apical econ journal) suggests encephalon rot is very real. The economists Panle Jia Barwick, Siyu Chen, Chao Fu and Teng Li find that students who often usage smartphone apps spot overmuch worse outcomes. This isn't conscionable because predominant app users mightiness beryllium different types of group to infrequent app users. The authors build the lawsuit that these bad outcomes are really caused by the apps: they utilization the truth that roommates are randomly assigned, and roommates power really overmuch students usage apps. The economists find that erstwhile student uses apps more, they walk little clip studying, get little sleep, and are much often precocious to class. And, the economists find, predominant usage of apps leads students to person importantly little GPAs and even, eventually, little wages. Ouch.

Turn disconnected your phones, people!

Musk's Partisan Activism Seriously Damaged Tesla Sales

Progressives typically attraction much about ambiance alteration and policies aimed astatine protecting the environment. This agelong helped make them an important user guidelines for Tesla's electrical cars. But past thing happened: Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, started utilizing his megaphone to support right-wing policies and candidates, and he alienated galore of them large time.

It's beautiful evident that Musk's vocal partisanship wounded Tesla sales. But by really much?

A new moving paper by economists Kenneth T. Gillingham, Matthew Kotchen, James A. Levinsohn and Barry J. Nalebuff crunches the numbers. They find that, "Without the Musk partisan effect, Tesla income betwixt October 2022 and April 2025 would person been 67-83% higher, balanced to 1-1.26 cardinal much vehicles." Holy moly.

Even more, the economists find, "Musk's partisan activities besides accrued the income of different automakers' electrical and hybrid vehicles 17-22% because of substitution, and undermined California's advancement successful gathering its zero-emissions conveyance target."

Numbers for illustration these whitethorn make early CEOs deliberation doubly about being very vocal successful partisan authorities (in immoderate direction) and alienating important customers.

The Effect Of European Wine Tariffs

During President Trump's first term, he imposed tariffs connected a assortment of goods, including, successful 2019, European wine. A recent moving paper from economists Aaron B. Flaaen, Ali Hortaçsu, Felix Tintelnot, Nicolás Urdaneta and Daniel Xu looks astatine the effect of these tariffs, including connected U.S. consumers. Their answer: they weren't bully for them. Tariffs caused vino sellers and distributors to raise their prices, truthful overmuch truthful that yet consumers "paid much than the authorities received successful tariff revenue."

One uncovering that's peculiarly noteworthy, considering we're still waiting to spot the eventual effect of Trump's activity of tariffs during his 2nd term: the economists find it took about an full twelvemonth for the effects of vino tariffs to ping-pong their measurement done the vino distribution strategy and yet raise the unit prices paid by consumers.

A Reason Why Female Politicians May Underperform In Elections

There's a beautiful well-known mentation successful economics known arsenic the "glass cliff." The basal thought is that companies often prime female CEOs erstwhile their businesses are struggling, which sets them up for failure.

Well, location whitethorn beryllium thing akin successful the governmental realm. A new moving paper from economists Thomas Fujiwara, Hanno Hilbig and Pia Raffler tests a presumption that governmental parties systematically prime female candidates to compete successful districts wherever their parties are little popular. They trial this mentation successful Germany, pinch candidates for the German legislature (the Bundestag) crossed 11 elections.

Germany is an absorbing spot to look astatine because, successful caller years, it's been known for beardown female leadership. Angela Merkel served arsenic Germany's chancellor for complete 15 years. And it's classed comparatively precocious successful world rankings for gender equality. Still there, the economists write, "women represent only 35% of members of parliament."

What helps explicate this? The economists find that "female underperformance" successful German elections is "explained almost wholly by women moving successful districts wherever their statement is little popular." They reason that "gendered statement gatekeeping" is "an important driver of female underrepresentation" successful the German legislature. And they propose this is apt existent successful different nations.

An Estimate Of How Bad War Is For An Economy

In a caller moving paper, the economists Efraim Benmelech and Joao Monteiro look astatine the economical consequences of war, utilizing a beautiful cool dataset that covers "115 conflicts and 145 countries complete the past 75 years."

They find that wars, connected average, trim nationalist GDP by 13% and those countries neglect to retrieve moreover aft a decade. They find these economical downturns are worse successful civilian wars. They besides find that wars detonate deficits and importantly stoke inflation.

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So those are our 5 papers for this version of the Planet Money Econ Paper Roundup. Not the cheeriest version we must admit, but 1 that we dream could thief you understand the world better.