A new working paper by Prof. Anna Stansbury and Research Associate Kyra Rodriguez looks at the “class gap” among US Ph.D.-holders in science, social science, engineering and health, reports Soumaya Keynes for the Financial Times. The paper found “those whose parents did not have a college degree are 13 per cent less likely to end up with tenure at a top university than those with more educated parents. They also tend to end up at lower-ranked institutions,” Keynes explains.
More than 40% of employer matches go to the richest 20% of workers, according to a new report on retirement savings. Marketplace’s Caleigh Wells interviews finance experts, including Prof. Taha Choukhmane, who says white employees tend to benefit most, “whereas those who are single parents of kids, those who are Black or Hispanic, those who have lower-income parents tend to contribute less and make less in these matching contributions.”
New York Times columnist Thomas Edsall spotlights recent research by Profs. Daron Acemoglu, David Autor and Simon Johnson, in which they explore whether artificial intelligence could be a beneficial tool for workers. “It is quite possible to leverage generative AI as an informational tool that enables various different types of workers to get better at their jobs and perform more complex tasks,” explains Acemoglu. However, he notes “to turn generative AI pro-worker, we need a major course correction.”
Financial Times correspondent Rana Foroohar spotlights Prof. Daron Acemoglu and Prof. Simon Johnson’s new book, “Power and Progress,” which “explores several moments over the last millennium when technology led to the opposite of shared prosperity.” In the book, Acemoglu and Johnson “take a different approach to the productivity gains of technology and how they get distributed compared with most of their peers.”
The Verge reporter Justine Calma writes that a new study by MIT researchers finds that while wind energy has measurably improved air quality, only 32% of those benefits reached low-income communities. “The research shows that to squeeze out the greatest health benefits, wind farms need to intentionally replace coal and gas power plants,” writes Calma. “And to clean up the most polluted places — particularly those with more residents of color and low-income households — those communities need to be in focus when deploying new renewable energy projects.”
A new study by MIT researchers finds that increased usage of wind power is improving air quality in parts of the U.S., however only a third of the health benefits are being seen in disadvantaged communities, reports Alan Mozes for HealthDay. "Going forward," explains Prof. Noelle Selin, "more targeted policies are needed to reduce the disparities at the same time, for example by directly targeting [fossil fuel] sources that influence certain marginalized communities."
Increased usage of wind energy has led to health benefits, but does not affect all communities equally, reports Saul Elbein for The Hill. The researchers found that in order to increase the benefits of wind energy, “the electricity industry would have to spin down the most polluting plants at times of high wind-supply — rather than their most expensive ones,” writes Elbein.
Prof. Nathan Wilmers and his colleague have used multiple measures of earnings to trace income inequality in the U.S., reports Tim Fernholz for Quartz. “After decades of increase since the 1980s, they found that income inequality peaked in 2012 and has held steady or perhaps even fallen since,” explains Fernholz.
Prof. Esther Duflo speaks with New York Times reporter Peter Wilson about how climate change can impact global inequality. “The responsibility for the emissions that lead to climate change rests mainly with rich countries and their consumers, but the cost is mainly going to be borne by citizens in poor countries,” says Duflo.
A new study co-authored by Prof. Antoinette Schoar finds that the “top Bitcoin holders control a greater share of the cryptocurrency than the most affluent American households control in dollars,” reports Paul Vigna for The Wall Street Journal. “Despite having been around for 14 years and the hype it has ratcheted up, it’s still the case that it’s a very concentrated ecosystem,” explains Schoar.
Gizmodo reporter Mack DeGeurin writes that a new study co-authored by MIT researchers finds that just .01% of Bitcoin buyers control around 27% of the 19 million cryptocurrency in circulation. “This tiny concentration of so much wealth means the Bitcoin rich will likely only get richer if the cryptocurrency continues to increase in value,” DeGeurin writes. “It also means power is less dispersed, which could make Bitcoin more susceptible to systemic risk.”
Research affiliate Hunt Allcott speaks with Vice reporter David Shultz about his research on the nutrition gap in America. Allcott and his colleagues “have proposed a sort of expansion on the soda tax, in which unhealthy foods are taxed more, and that money is used to subsidize healthier foods,” writes Shultz.
Greg Rosalsky of NPR’s Planet Money spotlights Prof. Daron Acemoglu’s research exploring how automation is driving inequality in America. Rosalsky notes that Acemoglu hopes his research “will get policymakers to take a new, smarter approach to technological change.”
As the curator of this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, Hashim Sarkis, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning, addressed how we can live together and how architecture is responding to longstanding global issues that contributed to Covid-19’s global spread, from climate change and migration to political polarization and inequality, reports Elisabetta Povoledo for The New York Times. “The pandemic will hopefully go away,” said Sarkis. “But unless we address these causes, we will not be able to move forward.”
Bloomberg reporter Kriston Capps finds that evictions disproportionately impact Black renters in the City of Boston. Capps writes that the “research shows that communities of color — eviction hubs even under normal times — are already bearing the disproportionate burden of the pandemic housing crisis.”