Ep. 81: Assessing the Effects of the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act
Release Date: 11/20/2024
Ep. 88: Understanding international approaches to drug pricing
AEA Research Highlights
Drug prices have become a hot-button issue in the United States, with across the agreeing that American consumers pay too much for prescription medications. But bringing down drug prices raises fundamental economic challenges that affect innovation, access, and healthcare costs worldwide. In a , author examines how different countries approach pharmaceutical pricing regulation and the lessons to be learned from international experience. Her work reveals that while the United States does pay significantly higher prices for drugs, the story is more nuanced than a simple comparison...
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Ep. 87: The cultural roots of rebellion
AEA Research Highlights
Civil conflict has plagued much of Africa, with ethnically diverse countries experiencing particularly high rates of violence. Yet within these nations, patterns vary, leading to questions of why some groups rebel while others do not and why a given group rebels at certain times but not at other times. In a , author untangles the factors that drive groups to rebel against their central government. She shows that when ethnicities become more culturally distant from those in power, their likelihood of engaging in civil conflict increases significantly. Her research suggests that...
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Ep. 86: Reexamining air quality regulations
AEA Research Highlights
The Clean Air Act has been an essential tool for reducing air pollution in the United States. But standard estimation methods may overstate its impact, according to a . Authors and reexamined the 2005 regulations targeting fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and found that improvements in air quality were closer to a 3 percent reduction in pollutants rather than the 10 percent suggested by conventional methods. However, they also found that the benefits from cleaner air may be larger than previous estimates suggested. Sager and Singer recently spoke with Tyler Smith about methods for...
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Ep. 85: America’s public safety net
AEA Research Highlights
The patchwork nature of America's public safety net has evolved over centuries, shaped by political winds and changing views on poverty. Understanding this complicated history may help shed light on the core tensions that continue to define debates about who deserves assistance and how it should be provided. In a , author explored how programs targeted at people with low incomes expanded from meager, local support in colonial times to the large-scale programs of today. He draws a distinction between two parallel systems: means-tested programs targeted specifically at low-income Americans...
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Ep. 84: Media salience and polarization
AEA Research Highlights
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Ep. 83: The returns to industrial policy
AEA Research Highlights
Between 2006 and 2013, China’s government poured enormous resources into its shipbuilding industry through various subsidies—from providing free coastal land to offering financing assistance for ship buyers. But estimating the true scale and impact of these policies is challenging, as governments are often opaque about their industrial support programs. In a , authors , , and developed new methods for overcoming these measurement challenges and quantifying China’s support for its shipbuilding industry. Their research reveals which types of industrial policies work best, when...
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Ep. 82: Service quality in the financial advisory industry
AEA Research Highlights
A growing number of US households hire advisers to assist with major financial decisions, such as planning life events or making portfolio choices for retirement. But some advisers exploit the inherent complexity of these decisions and the lack of sophistication of their clients to benefit themselves. In a , , , and show that about 7 percent of financial advisers have serious misconduct records, with rates reaching nearly 30 percent in some regions and firms. The authors explain why misconduct clusters in certain firms and geographic areas, particularly those with wealthy but less...
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Ep. 81: Assessing the Effects of the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act
AEA Research Highlights
In 2017, then-President Trump signed into law the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which was arguably the largest corporate tax cut in US history. The TCJA significantly lowered the statutory rate that corporations pay in taxes and reshaped numerous tax rules. Proponents said it would boost US competitiveness on the international stage and juice business investment. But its overall effects are still being debated among economists. In a , authors , , and explored the current understanding of the TCJA, discussing its costs and benefits, as well as future policy implications. They argue that, contrary...
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Ep. 80: Agricultural productivity and chronic disease
AEA Research Highlights
A half a century ago, new high-yield varieties of crops were introduced to India, and it transformed the country's farming. This so-called “Green Revolution” significantly boosted agricultural output, allaying concerns about famine and food security. But it may have had some unanticipated consequences for long-term health outcomes. In a , authors and show that the areas where agricultural productivity accelerated the most also saw the highest rates of diabetes among men later in life. The authors argue that substantial changes to the diets of mothers and young children, in the form...
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Ep. 79: Social organization and redistribution
AEA Research Highlights
Qualitative accounts of anthropologists indicate that social structure plays an important role in how resources are shared in society. But quantitative evidence measuring the impacts of social organization on financial ties and transfers has been lacking. In a , authors and helped to fill that gap. They found that in East Africa, cash transfer policies had very different effects in cultures organized by kinship ties compared to cultures organized around age groups. The findings suggest that social organization has a deep impact on how resources spread through economies and ultimately...
info_outlineIn 2017, then-President Trump signed into law the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which was arguably the largest corporate tax cut in US history. The TCJA significantly lowered the statutory rate that corporations pay in taxes and reshaped numerous tax rules. Proponents said it would boost US competitiveness on the international stage and juice business investment. But its overall effects are still being debated among economists.
In a paper in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, authors Gabriel Chodorow-Reich, Owen Zidar, and Eric Zwick explored the current understanding of the TCJA, discussing its costs and benefits, as well as future policy implications. They argue that, contrary to what some proponents said, the tax cuts significantly reduced tax revenues.
Zwick recently spoke with Tyler Smith about the legislation, who benefited the most from the bill, and whether provisions that are set to expire in the coming years should be retained.