Key Highlights
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A new method for measuring social welfare in policy programs shows that subsidies designed to maximize usage, like for private tuition in India, can be very different from those designed to maximize overall welfare. This means policymakers need to carefully choose their goals, as focusing just on how many people use a program can lead to less effective and less fair outcomes.
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A study of over 100 U.S. stocks finds that a simple, decades-old method for predicting stock market volatility (called EWMA) performs just as well as, or better than, more complex modern models for daily and weekly investment decisions. This is important for investors because it shows that sometimes the simplest tool is the most reliable and cost-effective, even with today’s high-speed trading data.
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When countries face new US tariffs, the best response for their own economy and for global trade is to sign new trade deals with other partners, rather than retaliating with their own tariffs or subsidizing domestic industries. This finding helps explain why trade agreements remain a powerful tool for countries to protect themselves from protectionist policies elsewhere.
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Poverty directly affects the quality of healthcare people receive in government hospitals across Africa, influencing factors like wait times, drug availability, and even the respect shown by medical staff. This highlights that improving health outcomes requires tackling both poverty and the quality of public health services at the same time.
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Research into the “free-rider problem” in teams shows that when people need to learn and understand new knowledge before using it (a skill called absorptive capacity), they are less likely to slack off and let others do all the work. This suggests that investing in employee training can naturally improve teamwork and innovation by aligning individual effort with group goals.
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