HKS Faculty Scholarshiphttps://nrs.harvard.edu/1/33459342024-03-19T01:34:03Z2024-03-19T01:34:03ZSubstandard housing and the risk of COVID-19 infection and disease severity: A retrospective cohort studyRobb, KatharineAhmed, RowanaWong, JohnLadd, Elissade Jong, Jorrithttps://nrs.harvard.edu/1/373779562024-03-15T18:31:07Z2024-03-01T05:00:00ZSubstandard housing and the risk of COVID-19 infection and disease severity: A retrospective cohort study
Robb, Katharine; Ahmed, Rowana; Wong, John; Ladd, Elissa; de Jong, Jorrit
2024-03-01T05:00:00ZThinking about Parents: Gender and Field of StudyCarlana, MichelaCorno, Luciahttps://nrs.harvard.edu/1/373778352024-03-12T17:59:43Z2024-03-01T05:00:00ZThinking about Parents: Gender and Field of Study
Carlana, Michela; Corno, Lucia
Globally, women remain underrepresented in STEM. Our lab-in-the-field study delves into parental influence on adolescents’ perceptions of scientific versus humanistic aptitude. We find that thinking about parental recommendation affects students’ beliefs on their comparative advantage in a gender-stereotypical way. Girls are 23% less likely to choose math when they think about their mothers’ recommendation before selecting their field. The paper underscores the critical role parents play in shaping gender-specific beliefs about academic strengths, highlighting potential avenues for fostering diversity in STEM.
2024-03-01T05:00:00ZThe Dollar versus the Euro as International Reserve CurrenciesMenzie, ChinnFrankel, JeffreyIto, Hirohttps://nrs.harvard.edu/1/373778182024-03-12T17:56:56Z2024-03-01T05:00:00ZThe Dollar versus the Euro as International Reserve Currencies
Menzie, Chinn; Frankel, Jeffrey; Ito, Hiro
We begin by examining determinants of aggregate foreign exchange reserve holdings by central banks (size of issuing country’s economy and financial markets, ability of the currency to hold value, and inertia). But understanding the determination of reserve holdings probably requires going beyond the aggregate numbers, instead observing individual central bank behavior, including characteristics of the holding country (bilateral trade with the issuing country, bilateral currency peg, and proxies for bilateral exposure to sanctions), in addition to the characteristics of the reserve currency issuer. On a currency-by-currency basis, US dollar holdings are somewhat well explained by several issuer characteristics; but the other currencies are less successfully explained. It may be that the results from currency-by-currency estimation are impaired by insufficient sample size. This consideration offers a motivation for pooling the data across the major currencies and imposing the constraints that reserve holdings are determined in the same way for each currency. In this setting, most economic determinants enter with significance: economic size as measured by GDP, size of financial markets as measured by foreign exchange turnover, bilateral currency peg, and bilateral trade share. However, geopolitical variables (bilateral alliance, bilateral sanctions) usually do not enter with significance.
2024-03-01T05:00:00ZUsing Satellite Imagery to Detect the Impacts of New Highways: An Application to IndiaBaragwanath Vogel, KathrynHanson, GordonKhandelwal, AmitLiu, ChenPark, Hogeunhttps://nrs.harvard.edu/1/373776682024-01-26T20:44:24Z2024-01-01T05:00:00ZUsing Satellite Imagery to Detect the Impacts of New Highways: An Application to India
Baragwanath Vogel, Kathryn; Hanson, Gordon; Khandelwal, Amit; Liu, Chen; Park, Hogeun
This paper integrates daytime and nighttime satellite imagery into a spatial general-equilibrium model to evaluate the returns to investments in new motorways. Our approach has particular value in developing-country settings in which granular data on economic activity are scarce. To demonstrate our method, we use multi-spectral imagery—publicly available across the globe—to evaluate India’s varied road construction projects in the early 2000s. Estimating the model requires only remotely-sensed data, while evaluating welfare impacts requires one year of population data, which are increasingly available through public sources. We find that India’s road investments from this period improved aggregate welfare, particularly for the largest and smallest urban markets. The analysis further reveals that most welfare gains accrued within Indian districts, demonstrating the potential benefits of using of high spatial resolution of satellite images.
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