Boxed lunches were provided. BFI’s Student Lunch Series invites prominent speakers to engage undergraduate and graduate students in discussions on economics. The talks highlight the practical use of economics for answering real-world questions pertinent to businesses and policy makers. Why do so many American children start school already behind—and what can be done about it? Read more...

Lunch will be provided. This workshop on the Chinese economy, hosted jointly by BFI-China and the China Lab at Northwestern University, aims to convene scholars and students from across the Midwest who are interested in issues related to China.

Who bears the burden of tariffs? In light of recent tariffs on imports, policymakers, researchers, and the public have debated how tariff costs are distributed among foreign producers, domestic import...

Global efforts to increase women’s political representation often frame the issue as a universal challenge. Yet Africa presents a notable exception: the continent has produced numerous female heads of state (in 25 of 54 African countries, women have served as either president, vice president, or premier), and boasts some of the highest rates of female Read more...

INTERACTIVE FIGURE Employee Outflow from Microsoft One effect of the COVID-19 pandemic is that many workers who formerly worked five days a week in an office now work from home all or some of the time. And this trend will likely continue. As of June 2023, an estimated 75% of tech and 28% of all Read more...

Chicago, IL

Why do voters support protectionist policies that materially harm them? Recent evidence shows that tariffs raise consumer prices and generate retaliatory trade measures that reduce employment. Such policies remain politically popular, however, particularly among those most economically affected. In this paper, the authors offer a new explanation: support for nationalist economic policies stems from a Read more...

Economists typically assume that firms are sophisticated and make optimal decisions. Yet, in practice, firms often make mistakes. This study asks why: Do firms know the right action but fail to implement, or do they lack knowledge of the optimal action? To explore this question, Strulov-Shlain examines a 2014 Israeli reform that banned prices ending Read more...

“Option value” provides theoretical justification for conserving wildlife species lacking known value, but empirical assessments of actual realizations are rare. We examine quasi-option value in the c...

Many parents underestimate their 529 savings impact despite potential for college costs.