Key Highlights
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A new study finds that delivering clean water directly to people’s homes in rural India shows that previous research has actually underestimated how much poor households value clean water, with the experiment revealing a much higher willingness to pay for reliable, convenient access. This finding challenges standard economic models used to value infrastructure projects in developing countries, suggesting the benefits of such programs could be far greater than previously calculated.
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New research using data from early 20th-century Sweden reveals that living in rural areas was actually worse for your health than living in cities, a reversal of the more famous “urban penalty,” with infectious diseases being much more common in the countryside. This “rural penalty” helps explain how urban areas led the way in the historical shift from infectious to chronic diseases, showing that city populations benefited from better living conditions and safer workplaces earlier.
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An analysis of data from Michigan proves that spending more money on public elementary schools is a highly effective long-term crime prevention strategy, with students exposed to more funding being much less likely to be arrested as adults. The social benefits of this increased school funding, even when considering only the reduction in crime, were found to be greater than the costs, making it a powerful investment for society.
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A new study introduces a key policy trade-off for tax authorities: having more detailed information about taxpayers helps catch cheaters but also invades people’s privacy, creating a “utility loss” that must be factored into optimal tax policy. The research provides a framework for governments to decide just how much detail to demand in tax forms, balancing the need for effective enforcement against the public’s desire for financial privacy.
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