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smurfyjenkins

Automated enforcement of water conservation rules in Fresno, California led to a decrease in summer water use and violations of conservation rules (relative to households subject to in-person inspections). This program massively increased consumer complaints, ultimately causing its cancellation.

direct.mit.edu

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_126jvp7 on March 30, 2023 at 11:14 AM in science

31 comments

The American Civil War transformed how Americans understood and described their country. The “United States” shifted from a plural to a singular noun (as measured by the contents of newspapers and congressional speeches). This shift was largely driven by the discourse of Northern Republicans.

cambridge.org

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_11mt3gh on March 9, 2023 at 2:07 PM in science

9 comments

For marginal occupations licensed by U.S. states, the welfare costs of licensing exceeds the benefits, as workers have to expend resources to obtain the license and consumers pay higher prices. [The study looks at professions that require license in some states but not others].

academic.oup.com

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_11b7wxx on February 25, 2023 at 1:13 AM in science

96 comments

297

Higher minimum wages lead to improved quality of care in nursing homes.

direct.mit.edu

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_10lgbag on January 26, 2023 at 1:52 AM in science

No comments

An estimated 10% of large publicly traded firms commit securities fraud every year (with a 95% confidence interval of 7%-14%). Corporate fraud destroys 1.6% of equity value each year (equal to $830 billion in 2021).

link.springer.com

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_1066h0a on January 8, 2023 at 1:55 AM in science

No comments

New apartment buildings in low-income areas lead to lower rents in nearby housing units. This runs contrary to popular claims that new market-rate housing causes an uptick in rents and leads to the displacement of low-income people.

doi.org

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_10dlzf9 on January 16, 2023 at 5:51 PM in science

69 comments

182

Prosecution of individuals for nonviolent misdemeanors increases the likelihood of future criminal activity, in particular for first-timers. [The study uses the random assignment of misdemeanor cases to prosecutors to compare what happens to similar misdemeanor offenders who were prosecuted or not].

academic.oup.com

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_10kallr on January 24, 2023 at 5:19 PM in science

9 comments

154

European economies have developed stronger anti-trust regulations, more competitive markets, and more robust consumer protection than the US in the last 20 years. The reason for this is the EU. EU member states are incentivized to empower a strongly independent pro-competition regulator.

academic.oup.com

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_1027s43 on January 3, 2023 at 1:07 PM in science

143 comments

3,786

Groundwater in California's Central Valley is disappearing at far greater rate than previously thought – California’s groundwater law promises to eventually impose restrictions on agricultural water use in the Central Valley but the new findings point to a need to speed up implementation.

latimes.com

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_zuzwu0 on December 25, 2022 at 3:15 PM in science

No comments

Numerous states in the US have become less democratic over 2000–2018. The reason why: Republican control of state government. "Across measures and model specifications, the results are remarkably clear: Republican control of state government reduces democratic performance."

cambridge.org

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_z9lr5h on December 1, 2022 at 11:43 AM in science

No comments

Pandemics Depress the Economy, Public Health Interventions Do Not: Evidence from the 1918 Flu – The public health interventions massively reduced disease transmission and mortality without depressing economic activity.

cambridge.org

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_zb1d7d on December 2, 2022 at 11:23 PM in science

26 comments

741

New housing units in New York City lead to a reduction in nearby rents and house sales prices. This contradicts some NIMBY claims that more housing supply makes housing less affordable.

academic.oup.com

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_z7vlpq on November 29, 2022 at 2:29 PM in science

No comments

In the 2016 election in the US, residents of black neighborhoods waited 29% longer to vote and were 74% more likely to spend 30+ minutes at their polling place (relative to white neighborhoods). This disparity holds when comparing white and black polling places within the same states and counties.

direct.mit.edu

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_yx9mnt on November 16, 2022 at 11:19 PM in science

No comments

Words for negative concepts (e.g. "bad") are replaced faster and mutate more than those for positive concepts (e.g. "good") across Indo-European languages. As a consequence, different languages have highly dissimilar words for negative concepts but not for positive concepts.

nature.com

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_z7qiri on November 29, 2022 at 10:42 AM in science

12 comments

322

For most Americans, housing was a key component in personal wealth accumulation. However, racist housing policies eroded black wealth in pre-WWII American cities. Black families paid a 28% premium to buy a home on a majority white block, after which their homes lost 10% of their value.

direct.mit.edu

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_z4kb55 on November 25, 2022 at 6:23 PM in science

63 comments

774

Study: New housing units in New York City lead to a reduction in nearby rents and house sales prices. This contradicts some NIMBY claims that more housing supply makes housing less affordable.

academic.oup.com

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_z7vypd on November 29, 2022 at 2:43 PM in nyc

No comments

In 2007, NASCAR switched from leaded to unleaded fuel. After the switch, children who were raised near racetracks began performing substantially better in school than earlier cohorts. There were also increases in educational performance relative to students further away.

jhr.uwpress.org

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_xyp1d7 on October 8, 2022 at 10:09 AM in science

No comments

In the US, many eligible voters have to not only register to vote, but re-register to vote. Automatic voter re-registration – which targets those already registered rather than all eligible nonregistrants – would on its own increase turnout in the US by 5.8 percentage points.

cambridge.org

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_y14so4 on October 11, 2022 at 9:45 AM in science

48 comments

362

Neither temperature shocks nor natural disasters generate climate mitigation reforms at the national, international or subnational level over the period 1990–2018. These findings suggest that future climate shocks are unlikely to catalyze meaningful climate action.

doi.org

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_xy4ur0 on October 7, 2022 at 5:21 PM in science

17 comments

141

Many countries have a "hidden welfare state" for incumbent homeowners, as governments subsidize homeowners through the tax system. The homeownership welfare state is strongest in the US and other Anglophone countries, but weakest in the Scandinavian countries.

cambridge.org

Submitted by smurfyjenkins t3_y9veul on October 21, 2022 at 2:38 PM in science

153 comments

670