Mileage-based truck charges: Distinguished Professor Geneveive Giuliano and colleagues found that California could replace its current commercial vehicle fuel and weight fees with a revenue equivalent mileage-based system without causing major macroeconomic disruption or inequitable household impacts. Read Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Basic income for the elderly: Associate Professor Emma Aguila and a colleague found evidence that basic-income pensions are associated with better health and well-being, and higher healthcare utilization, among older adults who are formerly self-employed workers in the informal sector or "gig economy.” Read in Economics & Human Biology
The impact of COVID-19 on Hispanic immigrants: Aguila and colleagues found that, despite generally lower socioeconomic status, older foreign-born Hispanics showed lower likelihood of experiencing depressive symptoms during the pandemic compared to native-born individuals. Read in Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Loneliness during the pandemic: Provost Professor Wändi Bruine de Bruin and colleagues found that women, younger adults, and singles reported higher levels of loneliness during 15 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read in The International Journal of Aging and Human Development
Communicating about water insecurity: Bruine de Bruin and colleagues recommend that communications targeting people who have experienced water insecurity should aim to improve disaster preparedness, use trusted information sources such as local news and emergency services, and highlight connections between water-safety threats and worsening severe weather. Read in Environmental Science & Technology
Studying financial planning: Bruine de Bruin and colleagues analyze three U.S.-wide studies showing people report different financial planning time periods for spending, saving, investing and retirement decisions, which were differentially associated with financial outcomes. Read in Journal of Behavioral Decision Making
Real estate ROI: Assistant Professor Spencer Couts and a colleague examined the early performance of non-listed Net Asset Value real estate investment trusts (NAV REITs), a growing class of commercial real estate funds available to retail investors, from 2016 through 2024. Read in the Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics
Health and wealth for people with diabetes: Research Assistant Professor Jack Chapel, University Professor Dana Goldman, Research Associate Professor Bryan Tysinger and a colleague found that while people with diabetes experienced meaningful health improvements between 1998 and 2018, they did not experience progress in economic outcomes. Read in JAMA Health Forum
The cost of cognitive impairment: Schaeffer Center Research Scientist Ritika Chaturvedi, Tysinger, Goldman, Professor Lakdawalla and colleagues estimate that cognitive impairment among older U.S. adults imposes a lifetime per-person cost of about $124,000, and an aggregate societal cost of roughly $627 billion. Read in Alzheimer’s & Dementia
The value of life: Lakdawalla and colleagues found that sick adults are willing to pay nearly twice as much to reduce mortality risk as healthy adults. Read in Journal of Public Economics
Sickle cell disease costs: Schaeffer Center Research Scientist Karen Mulligan and colleagues quantified the societal value of curing sickle cell disease by implementing the GRACE method. Read in Value in Health
Combat eye injuries: Mulligan and colleagues evaluated the economic impact of reducing time to repair (TTR) for combat-related eye injuries. The findings suggest that decreasing TTR following combat eye trauma improves vision outcomes, providing substantial economic value. Read in Ophthalmology
Caregiving time: Lakdawalla and colleagues developed a model to estimate caregiving time based on health-related quality of life and functional limitations, linking it to care costs. Read in Value in Health
Investing in University Spinoffs: Associate Professor Alexandra Graddy-Reed and colleagues investigated how angel investors and venture capitalists fund university spinoffs – firms created to commercialize research outcomes developed by university members – of public and private schools. Read in Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal
Rent control in India: Green and colleagues found that relaxing rent control leads to higher rents and dampens rural–urban migration, while easing eviction laws facilitates the conversion of rental units into owner-occupied housing. Read in Journal of Economic Geography
Pharmacies at risk: Kanter and colleagues found that independent pharmacies and those in low-income, Black, or Latinx neighborhoods are much less likely to be included in preferred Medicare Part D pharmacy networks. Read in Health Affairs
Conflict of interest policy: Kanter and colleagues analyze the problem of institutional conflicts of interest at academic medical centers and propose a framework for evaluating permissible activities for senior leadership. Read in The Milbank Quarterly
FDA committee voting: To inform policymaking that would abolish binary (up-down) drug approval voting in FDA advisory committees, Kanter and colleagues examined how frequently committee members reported difficulty in voting and found low rates of reported difficulty with binary approval questions. Read in JAMA Network Open
The MISSION Act: Kanter and colleagues found that the MISSION Act, which permitted veterans to obtain care in the community instead of at the VA, led to shorter travel times for patients but also worse outcomes from major cardiovascular procedures. Read in JAMA
Cybersecurity risks: Kanter and colleagues highlight the “single-point-of-failure” cybersecurity risk posed by the extreme market concentration in the electronic health record market, which is dominated by just two vendors. Read in Health Affairs Scholar
Container terminal automation: Professor Geraldine Knatz and colleagues investigated stakeholders’ attitudes toward automating container terminal operations at ports. Read in Maritime Economics & Logistics
Police search probabilities: Assistant Professor Danyao Li found that Black and Hispanic drivers are less likely to be searched when stopped by officers of the same race/ethnicity. White women face the lowest search probabilities when the officer shares both identities. Read in International Public Management Journal
The price of pot: Professor Rosalie Liccardo Pacula and colleagues found that the retail price of cannabis has declined the last few years, likely due to competition in the legal market, but so has the price difference between legal and illegal cannabis, such that 78% of consumers now buy from legal stores. Read Drug and Alcohol Review
Unhealthy holiday: Pacula and colleagues found that cannabis-related emergency department visits were 17% higher on April 20th, a worldwide counterculture cannabis holiday, compared to 7 days before and 7 days after. The promotion and discounted sales of cannabis around 4/20, coupled with social opportunities to use, encourage excess consumption on this particular date. Read in JAMA Network Open
Evolving opioid crisis: Pacula and colleagues examined whether a shift from prescription opioids to the illicit opioid market also led to a rise in polysubstance (consuming multiple drugs) overdose deaths involving non-opioid prescription drugs. The implication is that our current polysubstance crisis today in illicit markets can all be traced back to our prescription opioid crisis two decades ago. Read in International Journal of Drug Policy
International cannabis use: Pacula and colleagues examined how varying definitions and policy contexts influence self-reported medical cannabis use across the United States, Canada, and Australia. Studies examining medical use among patients identified in health care systems are missing a large share of the population that reports using cannabis medically, and may differ in important ways. Read in Addiction
Quitting marijuana: Pacula and colleagues found that legally protecting the medical marijuana retail market in California reduced quitting by racial and ethnic minorities but not non-Hispanic whites. The implication is that legal markets can increase duration of cannabis use, which increases health consequences. Read in Drug and Alcohol Review
Legal age for cannabis: Pacula and colleagues found that Canada’s legalization of cannabis for all adults was associated with reductions in cannabis-related hospitalizations for youths below the minimum legal age (MLA), but continued increases for young adults at or just above the MLA. Read in American Journal of Public Health
Hospital stipends: Research Assistant Professor Erin Duffy and colleagues revealed that 81% of hospitals in California provided stipends to emergency medicine clinicians, while 57% offered them to anesthesiology clinicians, highlighting the widespread use of financial incentives to ensure adequate staffing in these specialties. Read in Health Affairs
Hospital bills: Duffy and colleagues found that rates of patient repayment of hospital bills declined over time, with patients often paying either the full amount or nothing at all, and smaller and larger bills being less likely to be paid in full compared to mid-sized bills. Read in JAMA Health Forum
Return from disaster: Research Professor Adam Rose and colleagues synthesized and extended recent advances in the literature on the economics of population return following disasters. Read in Economics of Disasters and Climate Change
Along the Mississippi: Rose and colleagues examined the supply chain impact of low water levels of the Mississippi River and two potential additional sources of supply-chain disturbance—lock damage and import disruptions—both of which can also emanate from climate change. The research underscores the river's vulnerability to compound disruptions and highlights its crucial role in regional and national economies. Read in Risk Analysis
Cyber threat resilience: Rose and colleagues provided an update of the cost and effectiveness of several resilience tactics that can reduce operational and business interruption losses once a cyber disruption occurs. Read in Risk, Systems and Decisions
Pandemic behaviors: Professor Neeraj Sood and colleagues found that protective behaviors such as social distancing and mask wearing declined after asymptomatic or mild COVID-19 infections. Read in PLOS One
Long-lasting COVID-19 symptoms: Sood and colleagues found that a diagnosis of depression prior to infection was linked to “Long Covid,” a widely reported phenomenon wherein symptoms persist for four weeks or more beyond acute infection. Read in Scientific Reports
The impact of school closures: Sood and colleagues found that increased school visits lead to modest increases in COVID-19 hospitalizations and infections. Read in Journal of Health Economics
Treating Alzheimer’s disease: Tysinger, Professor Julie Zissimopoulos
and colleagues found that lecanemab, a medication used to treat early-stage Alzheimer's disease, reduced medical costs, hours of care required from care partners, and improved quality of life. Read in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions
Health projections for older Singapore adults: Tysinger and colleagues estimated disease trajectories and healthcare expenditure among adults aged 51 years and older in Singapore. They found that implementing four programs from Singapore's Healthier SG initiative could reduce healthcare expenditures by up to $505 million by 2050. Read in Nature Aging
Examining mortality risk: Research from Zissimopoulos, Tysinger, Schaeffer Center Research Scientist Johanna Thunnell and colleagues found that brexpiprazole, the first antipsychotic approved by the FDA to treat agitation in persons with Alzheimer’s disease, is not associated with higher mortality risk compared with aripiprazole, another antipsychotic, despite a black box warning and limited information of risk across a diverse population of users. Read in Neurology
Mexico’s aging future: Tysinger and colleagues used a model to project almost a doubling of Mexico’s population of older adults by 2051, with increasing prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, respiratory disease and other health issues. Read in The Gerontologist
Homelessness solutions: Research Scientist Jared Schachner and colleagues concluded that “Housing First” interventions, such as rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing, may hold particular promise for reducing chronic homelessness risk among older adults of color experiencing housing insecurity. Read in The Gerontologist
