My project will communicate the forefront of economic research and evidence on policy-relevant topics to the public. I will collect a diversity of topics, identify anecdotes, and write a series of scripts that will be adapted into local and national letters to the editor and op-eds, as well as TikToks and Instagram Reels.
For example, it is a common misconception, driven by economic theory, that reasonable increases in the minimum wage increase unemployment. I will write a script outlining empirical evidence that contradicts this common claim, used to justify not raising minimum wages: papers include Card and Krueger (1994), Cengiz et al. (2019), and Neumark and Shirley (2022). Explaining their empirical methods, I hope to convince the audience that this common talking point is false.
By writing and disseminating these policy explainers on topics from immigration, to universal basic income, to carbon taxes, I hope to build a better understanding among the public of how policy is evaluated, what policies work and do not work, and the pitfalls of different statistical methods. Ultimately, I hope to build popular support for bold policy reform that helps people across the world gain access to economic opportunity.