Looking at data stretching from 1992 to 2019, the analysis, published in the journal Educational Review, revealed that 10-year-olds in US states with bigger gaps in income did less well in maths than those living in areas of America where earnings were more evenly distributed. With income inequality in the US the highest in the developed...
Low-income people were the least likely to reduce their local travel during the COVID-19 lockdown, probably because they still had to go to work, a case study in Columbus suggests. In fact, their average travel distances increased during the pandemic, as they were often forced to find work further away from their homes. Meanwhile, high-income...
Emma can recognise patterns within complex code. James can develop several different solutions when faced with complicated problems. But it is unlikely either will find a job where they can put their specialist skills to work — or any job, actually. Emma has dyslexia. James has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. These conditions...
In “The Variant,” an episode from the Disney+ hit streaming show “Loki,” it’s tough to miss the barrage of product placements, with fast-paced action and dialogue taking place in front of Charmin toilet paper, Dove soap and Arm & Hammer deodorant. At one point, Loki barrels down an aisle with vacuum cleaners and fights off...
The coronavirus pandemic disrupted the U.S. economy, yet the dynamics of micro-level consumer spending among low-income populations are not well understood. A study published in PLOS One by Song Gao at University of Wisconsin, Madison, United States and colleagues suggests the stimulus program largely curbed the post-lockdown spending declines and stimulated spending following pandemic-related income loss by...
Economics is broadly divided into macroeconomics and microeconomics. The big picture, macroeconomics, concentrates on the behavior of a national or a regional economy as a whole: the totals of goods and services, unemployment and prices. Then there’s a more detailed picture: the economic decisions that people and businesses make. Microeconomics analyzes behavior. It looks at...
When an excise tax hike was levied on cigarettes, New York City taxi drivers who smoked were one and a half times more likely to cheat their customers by overcharging the fare than those who didn’t smoke. That finding comes from forthcoming research in Accounting, Organizations, and Society. In the first-known study to document that sin...
Setting a price just below a round number ($39.99 instead of $40) may lead consumers into thinking a product is less expensive than it really is – but it can sometimes backfire on sellers, a new study shows. Researchers found that this “just-below” pricing makes consumers less likely to upgrade to a more expensive version...
During the COVID-19 pandemic months of March 2020 to September 2020, U.S. alcohol retail store sales increased compared to usual trends while food services and drinking places sales decreased markedly during the same period, according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. These results indicate an increase in home drinking...
Researchers from University of Bath, University of Melbourne, and King’s College London published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that explains a four-stage process that can help firms create pleasurable social atmospheres for consumers. The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled “Social Atmospheres: How Interaction Ritual Chains Create Effervescent Experiences of Place” and...
