The authors show that sanctions imposed by Ukraine on Donbas in 2014 were undone by entrepot trade through Russia, while Ukraine was forced to import coal from Russia to keep its factories running, highlighting the challenges to embargoes created by market power and non-participants.

Author shows that in a model in which workers differ in skill and preferences for status, high-skill workers with strong status concerns match with status-indifferent low-skill workers.

If these are rare, they can earn above average wages & benefit from skill-biased tech change.

The authors ran a large-scale field experiment on unclaimed property.

Simple mailed letters boosted claims by 4.2 pts—a 400% increase. Hispanic owners claimed less & responded less than White owners.

The effects lasted a year, showing new (not just faster) claims.

Authors find that China’s anti-corruption drive reshaped land sales: officials, fearing scrutiny, sold less to private developers and more to State-Owned-Enterprises (SOEs).

The campaign—meant to curb corruption—may have unintentionally fueled a resurgence of SOEs.

How does risk aversion change Weitzman’s (1974) price vs quantity result?

Schlee shows that welfare (via certainty equivalents) can be higher under fixed prices—even with arbitrarily high risk aversion. The key: benefit uncertainty, not in Weitzman.

Private firms account for nearly half of US sales & profits, yet hard to value.

Using transaction data, the authors estimate private business wealth at $14.1T in 2018—2× official stats.

Partnership wealth alone is ~6× larger than reported.

Using social media data, the authors found that anti-Chinese discrimination in the U.S. spiked after COVID-19 and Trump’s “Chinese virus” tweet.

In response, Chinese Americans asserted their Americanness more and distanced themselves from the CCP.

In a driving experiment, the authors show that Black participants predicted a higher chance of receiving a speeding ticket than White participants.

Black participants always drove the same speed but White participants drove slower when there was a racially representative police department.

Authors show that extortion reduces entrepreneurial entry and increases both exit and economic concentration.

Causal evidence from a franchise in Guatemala shows that security devices like cameras help firms survive by reducing extortion risk and safety concerns, ultimately increasing competition.

Authors show that charity auctions face a revenue vs. risk trade-off. Lab & field tests show a “revenue frontier” across formats: all-pay auctions raise average revenue but also risk.

A new framework helps nonprofits choose fundraising methods based on risk tolerance.

🇺🇸 Why are U.S. politicians so old?

The authors suggest an important factor: campaign money. The median federal donor is 66 years old, and donors give more to candidates near their age.

Simulations show campaign finance rules could shift the age balance in politics.

In India, the authors found that VAT exemptions for small firms don’t shield consumers: prices still rise depending on how easily registered & unregistered goods substitute, supply chain links, and market segregation.

Even buyers at exempt firms end up bearing part of the tax.

The authors study how temperature changes affect U.S. migration.

While individual hot or cold years have little impact, counties with longer-term warming trends see fewer in-migrants and more out-migrants.

The authors point to amenity values as a potentially important factor.