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Benjamin A. Olken

Benjamin A. Olken

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Benjamin A. Olken, Professor of Economics at MIT, is Director of MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab.

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  1. Spend Fossil-Fuel Subsidies on Pandemic Relief and the Poor
    basri1_Qamar SibtainIndia Today GroupGetty Images_indiagasstationfuel Qamar Sibtain/India Today Group/Getty Images
    Free to read

    Spend Fossil-Fuel Subsidies on Pandemic Relief and the Poor

    May 19, 2020 M. Chatib Basri, et al. argue that rock-bottom oil prices give many countries a unique opportunity to abandon an obsolete policy.

  2. Cushioning the Poor from the COVID-19 Shock
    hanna2_INDRANIL MUKHERJEEAFP via Getty Images_coronavirussignindiacooperation Indranil Mukherjee/AFP via Getty Images

    Cushioning the Poor from the COVID-19 Shock

    Apr 15, 2020 Rema N. Hanna & Benjamin A. Olken suggest how developing economies can combat the pandemic and mitigate the impact on the most vulnerable.

  1. velasco133_sUSAN WALSHPOOLAFP via Getty Images_bidenvonderleyen Susan Walsh/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
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    A Subsidy War Without Winners

    Andrés Velasco calls on policymakers to avoid petty conflicts and work together to encourage green investments.
  2. taniguchi1_Tomohiro OhsumiGetty Images_abemilitary Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
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    Japan’s New Security Posture Is Abe’s Legacy

    Taniguchi Tomohiko explains how the government’s ambitious defense agenda expands on the late prime minister’s ideas.
  3. mazzucato50_Andrea BonettiGreek Prime Minister's Office via Getty Images_popefrancis Andrea Bonetti/Greek Prime Minister's Office via Getty Images
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    For the Common Good

    Mariana Mazzucato outlines a new governance model for ensuring a fairer distribution of agency, risk, and reward.
  4. lopes12_PIUS UTOMI EKPEIAFP via Getty Images_fossil fuel worker PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP via Getty Images
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    Helping Middle-Income Energy Exporters Kick the Fossil-Fuel Habit

    Carlos Lopes explains what it will take for resource-rich economies to diversify and develop new revenue sources.
  5. op_boccaletti3_Michele LapiniGetty Images_italyflood
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    The New European Frontier

    Giulio Boccaletti

    Given this summer's climate-driven disasters, one might think that the European political system would be devising comprehensive adaptation plans. But, despite some steps in the right direction, Europeans are only just waking up to the constitutional implications of a changing physical environment.

     thinks a changing climate will force the European Union finally to embrace its political nature.
  6. james200_Sean GladwellGetty Images_worldconnection Sean Gladwell/Getty Images
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    The Poverty of Anti-Capitalism

    Harold James considers recent arguments against markets, globalization, and growth, finding them to be deeply flawed.
  7. stiglitz314_ Drew AngererGetty Images_jeromepowell Drew Angerer/Getty Images
    2

    How Not to Fight Inflation

    Joseph E. Stiglitz sees little upside and much downside to further monetary-policy tightening by the US Federal Reserve.
  8. slaughter95_Ritesh ShuklaGetty Images_modi Ritesh Shukla/Getty Images
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    Who Is Part of the Free World?

    Anne-Marie Slaughter urges US President Joe Biden to abandon a phrase that is better left in the twentieth century.
  9. wagner16_ Leon NealGetty Images_nuclear fusion FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images
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    Realism About Techno-Optimism

    Gernot Wagner laments that public debate about climate solutions is long on political grandstanding and short on nuance.

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