Tariffs, innovation, and tradeoffs for gig workers were some of the topics that Harvard Business School faculty probed in the fourth quarter. Here are three things we learned, visualized in charts.
1. Global mobile inventors spread innovation
Research by Prithwiraj Choudhury illustrates how ideas can follow inventors and evolve. The paper found that inventors who develop a new technology before emigrating are 70 percent more likely than local inventors to become pioneers of that technology in the countries where they move. In fact, inventors who had filed at least one patent later played prominent roles in the future innovation of that technology when they moved abroad.
2. Tariffs have yet to raise prices significantly for consumers
Many economists have predicted that retailers would pass on tariffs imposed by the US government to consumers. While prices have climbed within days after tariff announcements, the magnitude of the change hasn’t kept pace with the scale of the levies imposed, according to research by Alberto Cavallo. Among the 300,000 products analyzed, the prices of goods imported from China have increased the most.
3. Gig work might not be great for one's well-being
Gig work might offer flexibility, but research by Ryan Buell and Paige Tsai reveals important drawbacks. Their analysis of 90,000 bank customers found that people working multiple jobs spend less on both essentials and extras. Their findings suggest that gig workers may not be as happy or financially secure as their full-time counterparts.
Image by Steve Johnson for Unsplash.
