Hanssen, A. & Raskovich, A., Does Vertical Integration Spur Investment? Casting Actors to Discover Stars During the Hollywood Studio Era, Journal of Law and Economics (November 2020).

Southern streets

An economist has found that Black people who live in areas with more streets named after Confederate generals are less likely to be employed, are more likely to be in low-status jobs, and have lower wages, relative to whites, even controlling for other socio-economic characteristics of the individual and the studied areas.

Williams, J., Confederate Streets and Black-White Labor Market Differentials, American Economic Association Papers and Proceedings (May 2021).

Borderline deterrence

In surveys conducted in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico while Donald Trump was president, some participants were told that US Immigration had apprehended thousands of their countrymen, while other participants were told not just about the apprehensions but also that their countrymen were placed in long-term detention or denied court hearings. Mentioning those harsh immigration measures made no difference in the share of respondents who intended to migrate.

Ryo, E., The Unintended Consequences of US Immigration Enforcement Policies, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (May 2021).

Born in the wrong year

Examining data on kids in Chicago who were followed into young adulthood, Harvard sociologists found that those born in the early to mid-1980s were more likely to be arrested than those born in the mid-1990s. This was explained not by changes in behavioral, family, or neighborhood characteristics but by broader changes in crime and policing as both crime rates and enforcement fell after the 1990s, especially for drug offenses.

Neil, R. & Sampson, R., The Birth Lottery of History: Arrest Over the Life Course of Multiple Cohorts Coming of Age, 19952018, American Journal of Sociology (March 2021).

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Social Studies: Hollywood economics, the power of Confederate street names, and untimely arrests - The Boston Globe