Why Working from Home Will Stick -- Plus: Only one-fifth of the productivity gains will show up in conventional productivity measures, because they do not capture the time savings from less commuting

Why Working from Home Will Stick. Jose Maria Barrero, Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis. NBER Working Paper 28731, April 2021. DOI 10.3386/w28731

COVID-19 drove a mass social experiment in working from home (WFH). We survey more than 30,000 Americans over multiple waves to investigate whether WFH will stick, and why. Our data say that 20 percent of full workdays will be supplied from home after the pandemic ends, compared with just 5 percent before. We develop evidence on five reasons for this large shift: better-than-expected WFH experiences, new investments in physical and human capital that enable WFH, greatly diminished stigma associated with WFH, lingering concerns about crowds and contagion risks, and a pandemic-driven surge in technological innovations that support WFH. We also use our survey data to project three consequences: First, employees will enjoy large benefits from greater remote work, especially those with higher earnings. Second, the shift to WFH will directly reduce spending in major city centers by at least 5-10 percent relative to the pre-pandemic situation. Third, our data on employer plans and the relative productivity of WFH imply a 5 percent productivity boost in the post-pandemic economy due to re-optimized working arrangements. Only one-fifth of this productivity gain will show up in conventional productivity measures, because they do not capture the time savings from less commuting.

This research documents a “light = healthy” intuition, such that consumers perceive foods that weigh less are healthier than their heavier counterparts with the same serving size

The Light = Healthy Intuition. Yi Li  Nico Heuvinck  Mario Pandelaere. Journal of Consumer Psychology, May 2 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcpy.1249

Abstract: This research documents a “light = healthy” intuition, such that consumers perceive foods that weigh less are healthier than their heavier counterparts with the same serving size. Subsequently, consumers consume a larger quantity of lighter‐weight foods. The intuition is based on a co‐activation of two meanings of the word “light”: light in physical weight and light in calorie content. An implicit attitude test finds support for this association between physical weight and food healthiness. Two studies show that physically lighter foods are perceived to be healthier because they are assumed to contain fewer calories. In line with the proposed co‐activation mechanism, the intuition is bi‐directional, where consumers also expect healthier foods to weigh less. Consequently, they discredit health claims issued for heavier foods. Finally, it was found that activating a competing intuition is effective at debiasing the “light = healthy” intuition.

Those with low self-esteem and a weaker sense of control over their fates are more likely to blame the political system for the challenges they face in their lives

Why Some Blame Politics for Their Personal Problems. Vanessa Baird, Jennifer Wolak. American Politics Research, May 2, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X211013463

Abstract: Why do some people blame the political system for the problems in their lives? We explore the origins of these grievances and how people assign responsibility and blame for the challenges they face. We propose that individual differences in the personality traits of locus of control and self-esteem help explain why some blame the political system for their personal problems. Using responses from a module of the 2016 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we show that those with low self-esteem and a weaker sense of control over their fates are more likely to blame the political system for the challenges they face in their lives. We also demonstrate that this assignment of blame is politically consequential, where those who intertwine the personal and the political are more likely to evaluate elected officials based on pocketbook economic conditions rather than sociotropic considerations.

Keywords: self-esteem, locus of control, personality, attribution of blame

Maternal grandmothers tend to improve child survival rates as do potential sibling helpers at the nest (though the latter observation is based on rather few studies); fathers have little effect on child survival

Who keeps children alive? A review of the effects of kin on child survival. Rebecca Sear, Ruth Mace. Evolution and Human Behavior, Volume 29, Issue 1, January 2008, Pages 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2007.10.001

Abstract: Children pose a problem. The extended period of childhood dependency and short interbirth intervals mean that human mothers have to care for several dependent children simultaneously. Most evolutionary anthropologists now agree that this is too much of an energetic burden for mothers to manage alone and that they must enlist help from other relatives to share the costs of raising children. Which kin help is the subject of much debate. Here, we review the evidence for whether the presence of kin affects child survival rates, in order to infer whether mothers do receive help in raising offspring and who provides this help. These 45 studies come from a variety of (mostly) natural fertility populations, both historical and contemporary, across a wide geographical range. We find that in almost all studies, at least one relative (apart from the mother) does improve the survival rates of children but that relatives differ in whether they are consistently beneficial to children or not. Maternal grandmothers tend to improve child survival rates as do potential sibling helpers at the nest (though the latter observation is based on rather few studies). Paternal grandmothers show somewhat more variation in their effects on child survival. Fathers have surprisingly little effect on child survival, with only a third of studies showing any beneficial effects. Overall, this review suggests that whilst help from kin may be a universal feature of human child-rearing, who helps is dependent on ecological conditions.

Keywords: Cooperative breedingGrandmothersFathersChild mortalityLife history