Knowledge that Transforms

We synthesize the literature on economic epidemiology, the interdisciplinary field that draws on the ideas and methods of economics to analyze individual behavior, aggregate disease dynamics, and public policy during infectious disease epidemics. We cover the main models of individual behavior during epidemics, related econometric evidence, and models of disease dynamics appropriate for the analysis of a range of infectious diseases. We outline modeling approaches to a range of control measures including non-pharmaceutical interventions such as stay-at-home mandates, quarantines, and sheltering, and pharmaceutical interventions such as vaccines and treatment. Last, we characterize different types of externalities and heterogeneities and discuss the targeting and implementation of policies through restrictions and incentives. (JEL D62, D91, H51, I12, I18)

We approach the literature on housing and inequality from two angles. One is the impact of unequal endowments on housing. The second is the “memberships” inequality associated with neighborhoods, namely, households’ location in a geographic and social context. We elaborate on these two angles of inequality and focus on three distinctive features of housing: consumption, capital, and location. For owner-occupants, capital and consumption are bundled together in a single good. For both renters and owner-occupants, housing consumption inequality, access to good neighborhoods, and housing wealth follow from unequal endowments. Housing can propagate inequality by enabling owner-occupants to use it as collateral for other investments or to secure higher returns to human capital investments through the better schools in better neighborhoods. We use this approach to analyze key aspects of housing and inequality, paying special attention to the impacts of racial discrimination and segregation. (JEL D63, J15, J24, R21, R23, R31)

This article provides a comprehensive assessment of the theoretical and empirical literature on structural reforms in advanced economies. Structural reforms matter because they entail profound and systematic changes that affect economic welfare, productivity, growth, unemployment, macroeconomic stability, and income inequality. Here we focus on structural reforms in product, labor, and financial markets. After putting forward a set of stylized facts, we take stock of the literature on each of these three key structural reforms, and then assess their business cycle and political economy implications. We underscore various gaps in the literature and articulate a future research agenda that highlights four main areas: measurement, interactions among reforms, political economy considerations, and the timing of the implementation of reforms. (JEL D40, E23, E24, E25, E32, E44, P11)

This paper proposes a new framework for studying the interplay between culture and institutions. We interpret culture as a repertoire, consisting of (cultural) attributes and allowing rich cultural responses to political changes. Combinations of attributes produce cultural configurations, which provide social meaning, coordination and political justification. Our framework has several distinctive features. First, it proposes a “systems approach” to culture: the meaning and function of attributes are determined within the whole configuration and political equilibrium. Second, it emphasizes discontinuous or “saltational” changes in culture—rather than gradual, evolutionary changes—as attributes are reconnected and acquire new meanings in response to evolving circumstances and as outcomes in ongoing “cultural struggles”. Third, our framework puts the spotlight on how fluidly different cultures can respond to conditions, depending on the nature of their attributes and constraints on their connections. Finally, it enriches the study of the co-determination of political, institutional and cultural outcomes.