Microeconomic Insights

Taxing wealth: Some lessons from Colombia | Microeconomic Insights Yet because few countries levy wealth taxes, relatively little is known about the actual responses of wealthy individuals when governments tax their assets – especially in countries outside Europe. Th...

New from Juliana Londoño-Vélez (UCLA) and Javier Ávila-Mahecha:

Based on Colombia’s long experience with wealth taxes, a new study reveals both promise and peril.

Read our new article here: microeconomicinsights.org/taxing-wealt...

The findings raise urgent new questions about how labor demand changes as new work emerges, and how AI technologies will reshape tasks and occupations in the decades ahead.

Read here: microeconomicinsights.org/the-race-bet...

Our new article points to an implicit “race” between task displacement and new task creation in displacing and reinstating labor demand, and suggest that automation may now be pulling ahead in this race.

New from @davidautor.bsky.social, Caroline Chin, Anna Salomons & Bryan Seegmiller:

Technological change transforms economies and labor markets, reshaping the types of jobs that are available, the wages they pay, and the skills they require

Private monopoly and restricted entry | Microeconomic Insights Occupational licensing regulations are common across many service sectors, including health, education, transportation, and legal services. These regulations affect up to 20-30% of workers in both the...

New from @frankverboven.bsky.social & Biliana Yontcheva:

Comparatively little is known about the impact of geographic entry restrictions and price regulation, which go beyond general occupational licensing requirements.

Read our new article here: microeconomicinsights.org/private-mono...

The role of diagnostic skill: How and why it matters | Microeconomic Insights When making these decisions, the typical expert will begin by assessing the likely effects of their options based on the specific case at hand. For instance, physicians aim to diagnose a patient’s und...

Read here: microeconomicinsights.org/the-role-of-...

These differences are often attributed to variation in decision-maker preferences, sparking calls to standardize decision-making.

The paper suggests an alternative framework where experts differ not only in preferences but also in diagnostic skill, with both shaping decisions.

New from Chuan Yu @harvard.edu & David C. Chan and Matthew Gentzkow @stanford.edu:

'The role of diagnostic skill: How and why it matters'

In many settings, expert professionals like physicians and judges make different decisions when handling similar cases.

Expanding renewable energy: lessons from Chile | Microeconomic Insights Effective and economical expansion of renewable energy is one of the most urgent challenges for addressing climate change. Along with the transport sector, the electricity sector generates one of the ...

Read in full: microeconomicinsights.org/expanding-re...

Exploring how this market integration changed electricity production, wholesale prices, generation costs, and renewable investments, authors find overall that it increased solar generation by nearly 180%, saved generation costs by 8%, and reduced carbon emissions by 5%.

New from Luis E. Gonzales, Koichiro Ito & Mar Reguant:

'Expanding renewable energy: lessons from Chile'

The paper examines the impact of linking two major electricity markets in Chile, which were, until 2017, completely separate, with no interconnection between them.

Worker Beliefs About Outside Options | Microeconomic Insights Firms differ substantially in the wages they pay to similar workers. Standard models of the labor market assume that workers have accurate beliefs about the differences in wages across firms, includin...

“workers believe their outside option is much closer to their current wage than it actually is” |
Worker Beliefs About Outside Options | Simon Jäger, Christopher Roth, Nina Roussille, Benjamin Schoefer | Microeconomic Insights |
microeconomicinsights.org/worker-belie...

Worker Beliefs About Outside Options | Microeconomic Insights Firms differ substantially in the wages they pay to similar workers. Standard models of the labor market assume that workers have accurate beliefs about the differences in wages across firms, includin...

This paper assesses the accuracy of workers’ beliefs about their outside options and explores the consequences of potential misperceptions.

Read here: microeconomicinsights.org/worker-belie...

New from @simonjaeger.bsky.social Christopher Roth, Nina Roussille & Benjamin Schoefer:

"Worker Beliefs About Outside Options"

Standard models of the labor market assume that workers have accurate beliefs about the differences in wages across firms, but this assumption remains broadly untested.