Knowledge that Transforms

This multi-book review argues that identity-driven polarization interacts with institutional design to erode democratic guardrails. Reading Heather Cox Richardson’s Democracy Awakening, Tom Schaller, and Paul Waldman’s White Rural Rage, and Ezra Klein’s Why We’re Polarized through an economist’s lens, I emphasize two claims. First, when institutions fail to deliver broadly shared security and dignity, anti-pluralist projects gain legitimacy and room to maneuver. Second, questions of belonging, citizenship, and the obligations of government to the people are informed by culture and institutional trust. The culture of the United States is not one that lends itself readily to ethno-nationalism, but these books make a case for an America that is, and perhaps has always, been divided by notions of who “we” are. I situate the books within the economics literature on populism, polarization, and institutions, and examine what we can learn about rebuilding both prosperity and democratic resilience in the United States.

David Autor of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER reviews “The Means of Prediction: How AI Really Works (and Who Benefits)” by Maximilian Kasy. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Presents a framework for understanding how artificial intelligence (AI) will proceed in a society that is shaped by power and inequality, focusing on the limits of AI and how it can be made to work for all people.”

Raimundo Soto of Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile reviews “The Chile Project: The Story of the Chicago Boys and the Downfall of Neoliberalism” by Sebastian Edwards. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Explores the rise and fall of the neoliberal model installed by US-influenced economists in Chile during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, highlighting the persistent inequality and struggle for income and wealth distribution underlying the Chilean model's success.”

Matthew Basilico of Harvard University reviews “Madness and Enterprise: Psychiatry, Economic Reason, and the Emergence of Pathological Value” by Nima Bassiri. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Explores how economic reasoning has been adopted by psychiatric clinicians and researchers in order to facilitate diagnostic assessments about potential psychiatric patients on the basis of their apparent economic behaviors, focusing on how economic value came to comprise part of the ontology of madness.”

We examine women’s household power in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), synthesizing theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence on its measurement, determinants, and consequences. We define women’s household power as their influence over household choices, distinguishing it from broader empowerment concepts. We review economic models, including unitary, collective, and bargaining frameworks, and map these to empirical approaches. We then discuss measurement methods, such as structural estimation of consumption allocation, survey measures, and laboratory experiments. On the determinants of women’s power, we find that some approaches, such as transfers targeted to women, show mixed results, while others, such as increasing women’s control over their earnings, show clearer positive impacts. On the effects of women’s power, we pay special attention to children’s human capital. Few studies provide strong evidence that mothers invest more in children than fathers do, but collectively the evidence suggests such an effect. We conclude by highlighting research and methodological gaps.

Edward L Glaeser of Harvard University reviews “Chicago before the Fire: An Economic History” by Louis P. Cain The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Examines the economic and business history of Chicago before the Great Fire of 1870, focusing on how the city's early growth and development determined its rise as the Midwest's dominant city.”

The categories listed below are used to classify books, book reviews, journal articles, and dissertations indexed in JEL and EconLit. New changes to the classification system appear as soon as possible on www.econlit.org . The JEL classification system may be used freely for scholarly purposes. We suggest the following format: “JEL: A10, B10, etc.”

Ofer Melamud of Northwestern University reviews “The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China” by Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Describes the structure of China's education system as a centralized hierarchical tournament, focusing on how this system influences China's institutions and social life.”

In this paper, I examine what we know and don’t know about both private and public workforce development in the United States. I highlight three of the most important categories of programs and policy: (i) workforce development in accredited higher education institutions, particularly community colleges; (ii) other publicly funded or private training and services, including “sectoral training” that targets specific high-demand sectors of the economy; and (iii) on-the-job or work-based learning, including apprenticeships. I summarize the theoretical literature on workforce development and a broad landscape of the three key categories. I synthesize the empirical literature on workforce development, beginning with comparisons of different data sources, outcome measures, and empirical methods used before reviewing the literature on estimated impacts in each of the three categories. I then consider the international evidence on workforce development and how public efforts differ between the United States and other industrial countries before concluding.