Economania blog
As a central question for academics, policy analysis, and financial practice, the causality between Main Street and Wall Street is controversial and still fiercely debated. Recent research identifies strong predictive ability of asset markets on future macroeconomic performance.
Since the start of July Europe has been hit by heatwave after heatwave, bringing the continent some of the most extreme temperatures since the beginning of recorded weather history. Projections show that it will only get worse.
Despite a broad consensus on phasing out fossil fuels, some people still hesitate about the actual effect of transforming renewables on global warming. A new study argues that we should not blame the transformation. Instead, we should strengthen our determination and aim higher.
If someone asks what the fundamental driver of the 21st century global economy is, the broad consensus would be innovation in science, technology, and engineering. It seems math is at the core of every success. A recent study, however, finds that verbal skills are at least as important in career as math skills.
Credibility of empirical research is being increasingly questioned due to the concern over the misuse of data analysis for a statistically significant impact where the expected effect does not exist. Technically, this is often called “p-hacking.” However, for most researchers, this is more like a star war.
Wages are highly sensitive to the employee's majors. Ranking by lifetime salary, economics is usually among the best performance majors. Is there a real causal relationship here, or just a result of self-selection?
As we welcome the new age of renewable energy, we usually focus more on reforming the economic structure but, intentionally or unintentionally, ignore the political institution. A recent empirical study sheds some light on the crucial role of democratic institutions in promoting renewable energy consumption.
When oil prices increase, retail gasoline prices skyrocket. When oil prices decrease, gasoline prices fall like a feather. What explains this asymmetric response?
As people are more likely to borrow when they are young but save when they are middle-aged, a high middle to young ratio implies an excess demand for saving, surging the stock prices. So if we can forecast demographic changes, we can forecast stock returns, too.
There is empirical evidence of the positive effect of democracy on economic growth, measured in GDP per capita. However, this effect cannot be detected for countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa area. The cause of this can be found in child mortality rates.