Iron deficiency anemia is frequent among the poor worldwide. While it can be prevented with the appropriate supplement or food fortification, these programs often do not consistently reach the poorest. This paper reports on the impact of a potential strategy to address iron deficiency anemia in...

The COVID-19 pandemic is precipitating an unprecedented economic downturn, and small businesses are likely to bear the brunt of it. The US government has taken some steps to lessen the damage to small businesses, but these steps impose large costs on the federal government (and taxpayers), and...

Within a few short weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic has accomplished what multiple wars (hot and cold) failed to achieve over the past 75 years: massive simultaneous disruptions of international and local supply chains.Policymakers operating at the base of Maslow's hierarchy of needs understandably...

In an industry already short of workers, hospitals and healthcare facilities are facing serious staffing shortages in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. As public officials in Washington and across the United States seek to increase the supply of medical equipment necessary to combat the virus,...

The 2020 global COVID-19 pandemic has compelled countries around the world to implement widespread and long-term shelter-in-place programs in order to reduce disease transmission and save lives.In this paper, we offer a framework for developing what we refer to as macro-prudential economic...

In this brief, we provide a back-of-the-envelope estimate of the impact of current mitigation measures on the 2020 GDP growth rate. That impact varies by industry, and we are able to identify this variation by adopting a simple but plausible assumption: industries will remain in business in...

Public health measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have introduced “social distancing” into the national lexicon. Drone companies believe they can help. Drone technology is ready to break out into a mass service and reduce person-to-person contact. There are a few dozen pilot...

One of the most urgent challenges facing policymakers managing the current COVID-19 public health crisis is how to ramp up diagnostic testing on a mass scale. Companies such as Walgreens, CVS, and Target have already started working with the federal government, as their locations are well-suited...

Recent immigration policies regarding F-1 student visas and H-1B work visas, aligned with the protectionist executive order known as “Buy American and Hire American,” introduced by the Trump administration in 2017, have been reducing the application rates of foreigners wishing to enter...

The speed and scope of COVID-19 took the United States by surprise. No state was adequately prepared to handle the pandemic, and no federal agencies had enough knowledge to offer sufficient guidance. As the country continues to cope with the crisis, the extent to which regulatory restrictions on...