Newsweek reporter Meghan Roos writes that a study co-authored by Prof. Victor Chernozhukov finds a nationwide mask mandate in the U.S. could have reduced Covid-19 deaths by 40% among workers who regularly interact with the public. The researchers found “a national mask mandate for workers could have prevented between 17,000 and 55,000 deaths between the start of April and the start of June.”
A new book co-authored by Prof. Daron Acemoglu examines how countries become “prosperous, stable, well-governed, law-abiding, democratic and free societies.” “Their simple answer is: it is hard,” writes Martin Wolf for the Financial Times. “Their deep answer is: ‘Liberty originates from a delicate balance of power between state and society.’”
The Economist highlights a study by MIT researchers examining the impact of happiness on voting patterns. The researchers found that life satisfaction “was twice as important in explaining how incumbents did as the unemployment rate and about 30% more important than GDP growth.”
Jim Walsh, senior research associate at MIT’s Security Studies Program, speaks with Lisa Mullins on WBUR’s Here & Now about President Trump’s nuclear negotiations with North Korea. “Whether there’s any real progress remains to be seen,” says Walsh, “but, I’d rather them be talking than not talking.”
Graduate student Michael Freedman writes for The Washington Post about how growing religious polarization in Israel contributes to an unstable political environment. “Growing polarization in Israel may lead to electoral instability as it becomes harder to make political coalitions in Israel,” posits Freedman.
Axios reporter Steve Levine highlights Media Lab Director Joi Ito’s recent comments about how the internet may be heading toward a dark period due to rising violence and political tensions around the world. Ito notes that both democratic and authoritarian nations are creating “a balkanized and not-so-open internet everywhere.”
Prof. Regina Bateson examines President Trump’s proposal to cut off aid to several countries in Central America in an article for WBUR. Bateson argues that the “decision isn’t really about policy. It’s about populism.”
A study co-authored by MIT researchers finds that a movie and texting campaign effectively encouraged people in Nigeria to report corruption, reports Yomi Kazeen for Quartz. “Given the popularity of the local movie industry and the prevalence of corruption in Nigeria,” writes Kazeen, “the researchers looked to study how Nigerians report corruption using high-profile actors to model behavior.”
Writing for The New York Times, Prof. Barry Posen argues for reevaluating America’s role in NATO. “President Trump has no strategy for returning the European allies to full responsibility for their own futures,” writes Posen, “the American foreign policy establishment could better spend its time devising such a strategy than defending the counterproductive trans-Atlantic status quo.”
Boston Globe reporter Kevin Lewis highlights a study by MIT researchers analyzing data on first-time misdemeanor offenders in Harris County, Texas. The researchers found that “black defendants who got jail time because they were randomly assigned to a more punitive courtroom were significantly less likely to vote in the next presidential election.”
Los Angeles Times reporter Melissa Healy writes that a study by Prof. Adam Berinksy examines how fact-checking impacts how voters view politicians who lie. Healy writes that in a study of Australian voters, Berinksy found that, “fact-checking changed subjects’ views about which politicians they supported, but only slightly.”
Vox reporter Emily Stewart writes that a working paper co-authored by MIT researchers finds that companies that benefited from recent tax cuts were more likely to announce new benefits for workers. Stewart writes that the researchers found, “companies with larger expected tax savings were likelier to announce a boost for workers. So were companies with political action committees that donate to Republicans more than Democrats.”
Writing for The Boston Globe, Una Hajdari, the Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow at the MIT Center for International Studies, examines the Trump administration’s approach to working with European countries.
Writing for The Washington Post, Prof. Charles Stewart examines why ballots are still being counted in Florida and Georgia following the midterm elections and why the post-election night vote count favors Democrats. “Voters across the United States have demanded greater flexibility in how and when they cast their ballots,” explains Stewart. “This greater flexibility comes with a price: a delay in counting ballots.”
On this episode of WGBH’s Living Lab Radio, Senior Lecturer Jason Jay discusses how to engage in productive and civil political conversations at the Thanksgiving dinner table. “The only hope you have for a productive conversation is to start from what we call a foundation of relatedness,” says Jay.