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on Neuroeconomics |
| By: | Orazio Attanasio (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews recent developments in the economics of human development, focusing on the early years of life as a critical period for shaping long-term outcomes. Early childhood development is inherently multidimensional: cognitive and socioemotional skills evolve dynamically and interact with health, nutrition, and environmental influences. Economists have contributed to this field by providing a conceptual unifying framework that highlights how key drivers of development reflect the choices of individuals operating under incentives and constraints. Within this framework, the paper emphasizes two central challenges: understanding the interactions among multiple dimensions of development and identifying causal linksÑparticularly the effects of different inputs at different ages. Measurement issues are a recurring theme, given the difficulty of assessing young children and the need for comparability across contexts. The paper also stresses these issuesÕ policy relevance for poverty reduction and social mobility by discussing early childhood interventions in both developed and developing countries. |
| Date: | 2026–01–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2491 |
| By: | Wilson King; Edward Miguel; Michael W. Walker |
| Abstract: | Taller people earn more, especially in low- and middle-income countries. We present among the first evidence of this phenomenon in Africa, using longitudinal microdata on a cohort of middle-aged Kenyan adults. We document a substantial height/earnings premium: controlling for gender, age, and other socio-demographics, monthly earnings increase by 1.07% per centimeter (or 2.72% per inch). Nearly half this effect can be explained by differences in cognition, measured from an unusually rich battery containing 27 modules. Additional shares of the premium can be attributed to measures of physical strength and non-cognitive ability. In contrast to prior work, we find little role for occupational sorting: conditional on cognitive and non-cognitive ability, taller people do not appear more likely to work in higher paid sectors. Leveraging repeated measures of height and an instrumental variables specification, we find suggestive evidence that measurement error may be attenuating the estimated relationship. |
| JEL: | I15 J1 O11 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34769 |
| By: | Feltham, Eric Martin (Columbia University); Christakis, Nicholas |
| Abstract: | Homophily, the tendency for individuals to associate with similar others, has long been treated as a central principle of social organization. Yet people may overestimate its importance in reasoning about their social networks. Here, we investigate individuals’ cognitive expectations of homophily and compare these expectations to actual homophily among 10, 072 adults in 82 isolated Honduras villages. We elicited subjects’ beliefs about whether pairs of people in their village social networks were socially tied. We show that people deploy cognitive heuristics that substantially overestimate homophily, including based on wealth, ethnicity, gender, and religion. We also find that people exploit network structure when predicting ties between others, independent of expectations about homophily. Understanding cognitive homophily has implications for models of network formation, interventions targeting social behavior and information diffusion, and the maintenance of social inequality. |
| Date: | 2026–01–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:z4nyq_v2 |
| By: | Azizie Bin Hamid (MITRANS, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 404050, Shah Alam, Malaysia Author-2-Name: Nuryantizpura Ahmad Rais Author-2-Workplace-Name: College of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450, Shah Alam, Malaysia Author-3-Name: Wan Mazlina Wan Mohamed Author-3-Workplace-Name: MITRANS, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 404050, Shah Alam, Malaysia Author-4-Name: Author-4-Workplace-Name: Author-5-Name: Author-5-Workplace-Name: Author-6-Name: Author-6-Workplace-Name: Author-7-Name: Author-7-Workplace-Name: Author-8-Name: Author-8-Workplace-Name:) |
| Abstract: | " Objective - This study examines the impact of the Road Traffic Safety Management System (RTSMS) ISO 39001:2013 on changing the cognitive and behavioural patterns of road users within an institutional setting. Methodology - Using a case study of a national occupational safety agency in Malaysia, the research investigates whether the implementation of RTSMS significantly influences cognitive awareness and road-user behaviour. Data were collected from 57 respondents across 17 regional offices using an adapted Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ) and Driver Skill Inventory (DSI). Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was applied to test three hypotheses. Findings - The analysis confirmed all hypotheses at a high level of significance (p |
| Keywords: | RTSMS, ISO 39001, road safety, cognitive behaviour, institutional safety, structural equation modelling, Malaysia |
| JEL: | R40 R41 R42 |
| Date: | 2026–03–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gtr:gatrjs:jber269 |
| By: | Charles I. Jones |
| Abstract: | Artificial intelligence (A.I.) will likely be the most important technology we have ever developed. Technologies such as electricity, semiconductors, and the internet have been transformative, reshaping economic activity and dramatically increasing living standards throughout the world. In some sense, artificial intelligence is simply the latest of these general purpose technologies and at a minimum should continue the economic transformation that has been ongoing for the past century. However, the case can certainly be made that this time is different. Automating intelligence itself arguably has broader effects than electricity or semiconductors. What if machines—A.I. for cognitive tasks and A.I. plus advanced robots for physical tasks—can perform every task a human can do but more cheaply? What does economics have to say about this possibility, and what might our economic future look like? |
| JEL: | O3 O4 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34779 |