The Conversation

COVID-19's total cost to the economy in US will reach $14 trillion by end of 2023 – new research

Written by Jakub Hlávka, Research Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management; Schaeffer Center Fellow, University of Southern California

Once guests trickled back into hotels, they were urged to socially distance.Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The big idea

The economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. will reach US$14 trillion by the end of 2023, our team of economists, public policy researchers and other experts...

Want more good ideas from your workers? Try giving them a reward – and a choice

Written by Aichia Chuang, Professor of Organizational Behavior, University of North Carolina – Greensboro

Penny for your thoughts?Randy Faris/The Image Bank via Getty Images

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The big idea

Companies can increase not only the volume but also the quality of employee suggestions and ideas by offering rewards and a choice, according to a study we published in 2022.

We conducted the study on...

US has a long history of state lawmakers silencing elected Black officials and taking power from their constituents

Written by Rodney Coates, Professor of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Miami University

Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones raises a fist to the legislative gallery, as fellow Rep. Justin Pearson, left, looks on.Seth Herald/Getty Images

Mississippi legislators have enacted a law that would create a new judicial system covering the state’s capital city, Jackson, in place of the current county court system.

Set to take effect July 1, 2023,...

A brief history of debt ceiling crises and the political chaos they've unleashed

Written by Raymond Scheppach, Professor of Public Policy, University of Virginia

With the House GOP and President Joe Biden locked in a struggle over the debt limit, it's dark times in the U.S. Capitol.Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images

There have been numerous fiscal crises in the United States where Congress has either failed to pass a budget on time or there were doubts that the federal debt ceiling would be...

Meditative mothering? How Buddhism honors both compassionate caregiving and celibate monks and nuns

Written by Liz Wilson, Professor of Comparative Religion, Miami University

Buddhism prizes both compassion and undivided focus – which can be hard to combine.Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Buddhist saints are often described as maternally compassionate, with the endless patience of a mother who feeds, cleans and cares for children around the clock. In fact, the Theravada branch of Buddhism holds...

What is carbon capture and storage? EPA’s new power plant standards proposal gives it a boost, but CCS is not a quick solution

Written by Soyoung Oh, Junior Research Fellow in Climate Policy, The Fletcher School, Tufts University

The Biden administration proposed new power plant rules on May 11, 2023, that have the potential to be among the most stringent federal policy measures on coal, oil and gas power plants the United States has ever introduced.

The proposal would set new carbon pollution standards for existing power plants, effectively restricting their emissions of...

'Courage is contagious': Daniel Ellsberg's decision to release the Pentagon Papers didn't happen in a vacuum

Written by Christian Appy, Professor of History, UMass Amherst

Daniel Ellsberg addresses supporters during an anti-war protest in 2010 in front of the White House.Karen Bleier/AFP via Getty Images

In 1971, when Daniel Ellsberg arrived at a federal court in Boston, a journalist asked if he was concerned about the prospect of going to prison for leaking a 7,000-page top-secret history of the Vietnam War....

4 factors that contributed to the record low history scores for US eighth graders

Written by Diana D'Amico Pawlewicz, Associate Professor of Education Research & Director, I-REEED, University of North Dakota

Test scores for history began their decline about a decade ago.Don Mason via Getty Images

When national student test scores revealed recently that knowledge of U.S. history and civics had reached an all-time low, one Republican lawmaker described the drop as an “outright failure that should concern every parent across the country.”

The...

From Kali to Mary to Neopagan goddesses, religions revere motherhood in sometimes unexpected ways

Written by Alyssa Beall, Teaching Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Humanities, and Philosophy, West Virginia University

People admire a massive statue of the Hindu goddess Kali.Jerry Redfern/LightRocket via Getty Images

As we approach Mother’s Day, many groups will hold special events or services to celebrate the holiday. In the United States, Mother’s Day was originally founded in 1908 at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in West Virginia and became a...

What does ending the emergency status of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US mean in practice? 4 questions answered

Written by Marian Moser Jones, Associate Professor of Health Services Management, Policy and History, The Ohio State University

COVID-19 hasn't vanished, but at this point it's doing less damage.Klaus Vedfelt/DigitalVision via Getty Images

The COVID-19 pandemic’s public health emergency status in the U.S. expires on May 11, 2023. And on May 5, the World Health Organization declared an end to the COVID-19 public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC,...