Economics

Wisdom of crowdsIn countries that lack financial records, how can we tell who is truly poor? An innovative study suggests: Ask the neighbors.

Said and DoneHumanities, arts and social sciences digest for July/August 2011.

When it pays to spend on health careMIT study shows that spending more on emergency-room patients saves lives.

Don’t (always) talk to your neighborSloan research says companies should consider costs when investing in knowledge transfer between co-workers.

Medicaid’s impact, finally measuredUnique study shows the effects of health insurance program: More treatment and fewer financial shocks for the poor, more bills paid for hospitals and doctors.

Said and DoneHumanities, arts and social sciences digest for June 2011

Taxation without documentationNew study shows ‘informal taxation’ in developing countries is far greater than suspected, supporting public works — and adding a burden for the poor.

Tracking the flow of knowledgeStudy shows scientists’ location influences how widely their work is read and used for innovations.

The visible handIn MIT talk, Eliot Spitzer defends role of government in regulating markets, claims economy still ‘on the precipice’ of deep problems.

Life on a dollar a dayIn Poor Economics, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo open a window into the lives of the world’s poorest people, and suggest new remedies to combat poverty.

Said and DoneHumanities, arts and social sciences digest for April 2011

Thinking like economistsFrom funky markets in airfares and hot dogs to the effects of alcohol taxes on drunk-driving fatalities, MIT undergraduates try their hand at economics research.

3 Questions: Liquidity lessonsEconomist Bengt Holmstrom on the problems of borrowing and lending in a post-crash world, and the role of government in responding to crises

Why do some countries’ economies grow faster?One of the Media Lab’s newest faculty members is adapting the mathematical tools of statistical physics to study development economics.

Said and DoneHumanities, arts, and social sciences digest for February 2011

Economists converge at MITNobel laureates, public intellectuals gather for frank debate on economy, politics and the state of their profession.

Alumni power fuels this week’s MIT150 economics and finance symposiumMIT's strength in economics and finance education is manifest in this week's alumni-rich lineup of panelists.

Abraham Siegel, former Sloan dean, dies at 88Led the School of Management through a period of strategic growth

The price is rightHow a new online tool can help measure inflation as accurately as — and more quickly than — traditional methods.

Tracing families’ escape from povertyEconomist’s study shows how the poor in developing countries become wealthier.

Said and DoneHumanities, arts, and social sciences digest for January 2011

CIS's Précis examines research, student workLate fall edition of the biannual publication now available.

Diamond to receive Nobel at ceremony on Friday

Tech support?Contrasting views on display as MIT researchers debate how technology can curb global poverty.

MIT Sloan Professor Emeritus Eli Shapiro dies at 94The school’s first associate dean, he helped guide MIT Sloan in the years after its founding.

Billion Prices Project: Introducing real-time economicsMIT Sloan faculty project to track inflation in real time collects prices from hundreds of worldwide online retailers on a daily basis.

Said and DoneHumanities, arts, and social sciences digest for November 2010

How wise are crowds?By melding economics and engineering, researchers show that as social networks get larger, they usually get better at sorting fact from fiction.