What's the key to happiness? How can we become as happy as those who live in Nordic countries -“the happiest in the world" - according to the United Nations' World Happiness Report 2013? One of the keys is not comparing ourselves to everyone else. Improving people's quality of life and their happiness is not easy. Happiness depends on many factors that are often beyond the … [Read more...] about Does Facebook Conspire against Happiness?
Social Issues
The Women’s Wage Gap: How Does It Affect Us All?
Prompted by Amazon’s parody of the gender wage gap and actress Patricia Arquette’s impassioned plea for equal rights for women at the 87th Academy Awards, we—in honor of International Women’s Day—turned to gender expert, Dr. Luca Flabbi, to get the facts about this issue. Was Patricia Arquette right about the gender pay gap? If so, what does that mean? Are women paid less … [Read more...] about The Women’s Wage Gap: How Does It Affect Us All?
Tearing Families Apart for Remittances: Is It Worth It?
In his budget initiative to Congress for FY2016, U.S. President Barack Obama included a request of $15.297 billion to tighten border security and migration policy. In addition, he proposed including in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) budget a $1 billion allocation to support security, governance, and economic development programs for El Salvador, Guatemala, and … [Read more...] about Tearing Families Apart for Remittances: Is It Worth It?
Vaccination: Infectious Misinformation
Public information campaigns are a complex undertaking; how the message is delivered matters at least as much as the content of the message itself. Moreover, getting it right is paramount since undoing the damage of misinformation is difficult indeed. In this regard, the debate over vaccination provides a difficult lesson—one in which the repercussions of poor messaging are, … [Read more...] about Vaccination: Infectious Misinformation
How to Keep Kids in School
By Marina Bassi and Matias Busso Each year tens of thousands of young Latin Americans drop out of school to take low-skilled jobs. The low-level of graduation, with less than 50% of 24-year-olds having completed secondary school, is not only a stumbling block for individuals destined to lives of menial labor. It is a drag on the region's ability to innovate, generate … [Read more...] about How to Keep Kids in School