NewBarriers to Entry and Regional Economic Growth in China 5 May 2025 Loren Brandt, Gueorgui Kambourov, and Kjetil StoreslettenLabor productivity in manufacturing differs starkly across regions in China. We document that productivity, wages, and start-up rates of non-state firms have nevertheless experienced rapid unconditional regional convergence after 1995. To analyze these patterns, we construct a Hopenhayn (1992) model that incorporates location-specific capital wedges, output wedges, and entry barriers. Using Chinese Industry Census data we estimate these wedges and examine their role in explaining differences in performance and growth across prefectures.
NewRetractions: Updating from Complex Information 5 May 2025 Duarte Gonçalves, Jonathan Libgober, and Jack WillisWe modify a canonical experimental design to identify the effectiveness of retractions. Comparing beliefs after retractions to beliefs (a) without the retracted information and (b) after equivalent new information, we find that retractions result in diminished belief updating in both cases. We propose this reflects updating from retractions being more complex, and our analysis supports this: we find longer response times, lower accuracy, and higher variability.
NewAttention Utility: Evidence From Individual Investors 2 May 2025 Edika Quispe–Torreblanca, John Gathergood, George Loewenstein, and Neil StewartWe study attention utility, the hedonic pleasure or pain derived purely from paying attention to information, which differs from the news utility that arises from gaining new information. The main, field, study examines brokerage account login data to show that investors pay disproportionate attention to already-known positive information on their stocks. Through its effect on logins, this selective attention affects their trading activity.
NewTrauma at School: The Impacts of Shootings on Students’ Human Capital and Economic Outcomes 2 May 2025 Marika Cabral, Bokyung Kim, Maya Rossin-Slater, Molly Schnell, and Hannes SchwandtWe examine how shootings at schools—an increasingly common form of gun violence in the United States—impact the educational and economic trajectories of students. Using linked schooling and labor market data in Texas from 1992 to 2018, we compare within-student and across-cohort changes in outcomes following a shooting to those experienced by students at matched control schools. We find that school shootings increase absenteeism and grade repetition; reduce high school graduation, college enrollment, and college completion; and reduce employment and earnings at ages 24–26.
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NewCreating Cohesive Communities: A Youth Camp Experiment in India 12 April 2025 Arkadev Ghosh, Prerna Kundu, Matt Lowe, and Gareth NellisNon-family-based institutions for socializing young people may play a vital role in creating close-knit, inclusive communities. We study the potential for youth camps—integrating rituals, sports, and civics training—to strengthen intergroup cohesion. We randomly assigned Hindu and Muslim adolescent boys, from West Bengal, India, to two-week camps or to a pure control arm. To isolate mechanisms, we cross-randomized collective rituals (such as singing the national anthem, wearing uniforms, chanting support during matches, and synchronous dancing) and the intensity of intergroup contact.
NewColluding against Environmental Regulation 9 April 2025 Jorge Alé-Chilet, Cuicui Chen, Jing Li, and Mathias ReynaertWe study collusion among firms against imperfectly monitored environmental regulation. Firms increase variable profits by violating regulation and reduce expected noncompliance penalties by violating jointly. We consider a case of three German automakers colluding to reduce the effectiveness of emissions control technology.
