Call for Papers

Trade and Geography
Capital Flows, Currency Wars and Monetary Policy
Firms, Networks, and Trade
Agriculture and Trade
Competition and the Industrial Organization of Securities Markets

Focus on Hurricanes and Climate Change Echoes
Decade-old Research on Storms' Economics

The recent devastation spread by hurricanes Harvey and Irma in the Caribbean, Texas, and Florida, has revived public and media attention to the possible impacts of climate change on weather. (Read about it in The New York Times and The Washington Post.) In a 2006 analysis of the numerous hurricanes and record damage 2005, NBER Working Paper No. 12813 documented a rise in the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic, found "substantial vulnerabilities" to intense hurricanes along America's Atlantic coast, and projected billions of dollars in increased costs of annual U.S. hurricane damage.

Arrival of High-Speed, High-Capacity Internet
Has Widespread Economic Benefits in Africa

Introduction of high-speed, high-capacity internet service from other continents to Africa has large positive effects on employment in higher-skill occupations and is associated with greater firm entry, productivity, exports, and other economic benefits that boost income and wealth, according to research summarized in the September edition of The NBER Digest. Other studies featured in the September Digest are an examination of hiring of women by venture capital firms, a look at the rise in young American men's video gaming hours, an exploration of the direct effects of home purchases on household spending, an analysis of scientists' and engineers' roles in U.S. industry, and a calculation of which colleges best prepare students from low-income families for high-earning careers.
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New in the NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health

Incremental U.S. Emission Controls Provide
Setting for Pollution Exposure Study

The U.S. Acid Rain Program introduced in 1995 initially regulated sulfur dioxide output of only the 110 highest emitting power plants, making it possible for researchers to identify long-term effects of pollution exposure on otherwise similar populations. A study summarized in the current edition of the NBER's Bulletin on Aging and Health finds that trends in mortality changed significantly after the onset of the Acid Rain Program between populations near to and far from affected plants, linking reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions to a decline in mortality.
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