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1. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity: Spring 2021

   Lenney, Jamie; Lutz, Byron; Schuele, Finn; Sheiner, Louise; Lucas, Deborah; Rauh, Joshua; Atkeson, Andrew; Romer, Christina D.; Ruffini, Krista; Wozniak, Abigail; et al (January 2022, Brookings papers on economic activity)

   Eberly, Janice; Stock, James H. (Ed.)

   JAMIE LENNEY, BYRON LUTZ, FINN SCHÜLE, and LOUISE SHEINER: "The Sustainability of State and Local Pensions: A Public Finance Approach" Comment by Deborah Lucas Comment by Joshua Rauh General Discussion PANEL on COVID-19 AND ECONOMIC POLICY AFTER ONE YEAR ANDREW ATKESON: "Behavior and the Dynamics of Epidemics" CHRISTINA D. ROMER: "The Fiscal Policy Response to the Pandemic" KRISTA RUFFINI and ABIGAIL WOZNIAK: "Supporting Workers and Families in the Pandemic Recession: Results in 2020 and Suggestions for 2021" General Discussion ANDREW METRICK and DANIEL TARULLO: "Congruent Financial Regulation" Comment by Viral Acharya Comment by Hyun Song Shin General Discussion PANEL on FIFTY YEARS OF BPEA’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO MACROECONOMICS AND POLICY ROBERT E. HALL: "The Brookings Panel’s Contributions to Research on Labor Markets" ROBERT J. GORDON: "Productivity and Growth over the Years at BPEA" ALAN S. BLINDER: "BPEA and Monetary Policy over Fifty Years" WILL DOBBIE and CRYSTAL YANG: "The Economic Costs of Pretrial Detention" Comment by Conrad Miller Comment by Justin Wolfers General Discussion CAROLINE M. HOXBY: "Advanced Cognitive Skill Deserts in the United States: Their Likely Causes and Implications" Comment by Erik Hurst Comment by Brian A. Jacob General Discussion 

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2. Ogg’s torsion conjecture: Fifty years later

   https://doi.org/10.1090/bull/1851  

   Balakrishnan, Jennifer; Mazur, Barry; Dogra, Netan (April 2025, Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society)

   Andrew Ogg’s mathematical viewpoint has inspired an increasingly broad array of results and conjectures. His results and conjectures have earmarked fruitful turning points in our subject, and his influence has been such a gift to all of us. Ogg’s celebrated torsion conjecture—as it relates to modular curves—can be paraphrased as saying that rational points (on the modular curves that parametrize torsion points on elliptic curves) exist if and only if there is a good geometric reason for them to exist. We give a survey of Ogg’s torsion conjecture and the subsequent developments in our understanding of rational points on modular curves over the last fifty years. 

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3. When pandemic threat does not stoke xenophobia: evidence from a panel survey around COVID-19

   https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2024.2392240  

   Zhou, Yang-Yang; Rojas, Daniel; Peters, Margaret E (May 2025, Politics, Groups, and Identities)

   Studies have found that pandemics can heighten xenophobia among host citizens, often explained by the behavioral immune system theory or elite-driven scapegoating. However, most research has overlooked the role of pandemic-related economic restrictions and job loss on sentiment toward immigrants. To isolate this economic mechanism, we examine the case of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia before and during COVID-19. Despite the Colombian government's severe economic lockdown, few politicians blamed Venezuelans for the pandemic. Thus, any economic impact on xenophobia should be evident. Using a panel experimental survey of 374 Colombians, supplemented with 550 new respondents at endline, we find no evidence that exposure to COVID-19 changed attitudes towards Venezuelans, even for those directly affected by the pandemic. Yet, those who did not lose their jobs viewed Venezuelan migration more positively at endline, providing support for the economic effects of pandemics. 

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4. Perceptions About Monetary Policy

   https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjae021  

   Bauer, Michael D; Pflueger, Carolin E; Sunderam, Adi (June 2024, The Quarterly Journal of Economics)

   Abstract We estimate perceptions about the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy rule from panel data on professional forecasts of interest rates and macroeconomic conditions. The perceived dependence of the federal funds rate on economic conditions varies substantially over time, in particular over the monetary policy cycle. Forecasters update their perceptions about the Fed’s policy rule in response to monetary policy actions, measured by high-frequency interest rate surprises, suggesting that they have imperfect information about the rule. Monetary policy perceptions matter for monetary transmission, as they affect the sensitivity of interest rates to macroeconomic news, term premia in long-term bonds, and the response of the stock market to monetary policy surprises. A simple learning model with forecaster heterogeneity and incomplete information about the policy rule motivates and explains our empirical findings. 

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5. Proposing a 1.0°C climate target for a safer future

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000234  

   Breyer, Christian; Keiner, Dominik; Abbott, Benjamin W.; Bamber, Jonathan L.; Creutzig, Felix; Gerhards, Christoph; Mühlbauer, Andreas; Nemet, Gregory F.; Terli, Özden (June 2023, PLOS Climate)

   Males, Jamie (Ed.)

   The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concludes that climate change has already caused substantial damages at the current 1.2°C of global warming and that warming of 1.5°C would elevate risks of a wide-range of climate tipping points. For example, wet-bulb temperatures are already exceeding safe levels, and the melting of the Greenland and West Antartic ice sheets would lead to over ten metres of sea level rise, representing an existential threat to coastal cities, low-lying nation states, and human wellbeing worldwide. We call for a broad scientific discussion about a stricter and more ambitious climate target of 1.0°C by the end of this century. Comprehensive electrification and highly renewable energy systems offer a pathway to sub-1.5°C futures through rapid defossilisation and large-scale, electricity-based carbon dioxide removal. Independent scenarios show that restoring a stable and safe climate is attainable with coordinated policy and economic support. 

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