Many Americans reported economic hardships even early in the COVID-19 pandemic

Almost 25 percent of U.S. respondents experienced two of four types of deprivation, rising to over 37 percent among Hispanic respondents

Significant proportions of U.S. respondents were experiencing economic hardships even early in the COVID-19 pandemic, with Hispanic citizens being particularly affected, according to research by Shatakshee Dhongde at the Georgia Institute of Technology, U.S., publishing in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on December 16, 2020.

Do young children develop improved cognitive ability (reasoning, learning, remembering, for example) when living in a household with both grandparents and parents? And what role does assigning childcare responsibility (grandmother vs. father, or all adults) play in the ability to learn?

Haizheng Li at Georgia Tech’s School of Economics, and two co-authors, investigated the impact of multigenerational family co-residence and shared childcare responsibility on a child’s cognitive development.

Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Jie Chen and coauthors C. D. Meyerhoefer and L. Peng use data from the 2000-2013 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) to study the effects of the introduction of paid sick leave (PSL) on absenteeism and medical care utilization. In the US over 30% of all private-sector workers, mostly amongst low-wage and part-time employees, do not have PSL benefit.

There is very little causal evidence to date on how e-cigarette use impacts smoking cessation among adults. In a paper published in June, 2020, Georgia Tech economist Daniel Dench probed the role that price plays in choosing whether to vape or smoke.  E-cigarettes provide nicotine in a vapor form, which is considered less harmful than the smoke from combustible tobacco because it d

The cost of water and sewer services is rising three times faster than inflation in the USA, and that expense hits low-income households disproportionately. Research by Georgia Tech economist Casey Wichman reveals that, for one in seven households, the monthly water bill comprises more than 4.5 percent of monthly household income---a threshold commonly used for determining water affordability---and that rises, on average, to 8.1 percent of monthly income for the poorest one-tenth of households.

Georgia Tech School of Economics Prof. Olga Shemyakina is a pioneer in the field of health-related effects of war.  Her most recent study, Political Violence and Child Health: Results from Zimbabwe, is in the very same field that led to a Nobel Peace Prize being given to the World Food Programme on October 9, 2020. The Nobel Committee emphasized the link between armed conflict, hunger and the poor health of children in war-torn countries.