Investment‐Specific News Shocks and U.S. Business Cycles

We provide robust evidence that news shocks about future investment‐specific technology (IST) constitute a significant force behind U.S. business cycles. Positive IST news shocks induce comovement, that is, raise output, consumption, investment, and hours. These shocks account for 70% of the business cycle variation in output, hours, and consumption, and 60% of the variation in investment, and have played an important role in 9 of the last 10 U.S. recessions. Our findings provide strong support for shifting focus to IST news shocks when investigating the role of news in driving U.S. business cycles.     

The impact of attractiveness on employability: Gender differences in peer effects

In this study, we examine if there are peer effects on the influence of external appearance on employability. We presented participants with a series of male and female photos and asked them to rate the attractiveness, employability, and other characteristics of the people portrayed. Candidates who were rated as more attractive were also deemed more likely to be invited for an interview. However, male candidates were judged relatively such that a candidate's chance of being interviewed decreased when his image was presented with that of other handsome men. This relative effect was not found to be significant for women.