What We’re Reading
A few good pieces the Collaborative team came across this week …
Concentration of an $85 billion IPO:
We find evidence that communities that were assigned more lighting experienced sizable reductions in crime. After accounting for potential spatial spillovers, we find that the provision of street lights led, at a minimum, to a 36 percent reduction in nighttime outdoor index crimes.
[Beyond Meat] reports that, over a 26-week period, 93% of customers who purchased Beyond Meat burgers at Kroger also bought animal proteins. A similar trend is being seen in the dairy aisle, where the typical purchaser of almond or soy milks these days is often also a regular milk drinker.
In the 1980s, workers aged 45 years and older constituted less than 30 percent of the labor force; they now represent almost 45 percent of workers. As for jobs and firms, several trends are cause for concern. Fewer new firms are being created, and older firms are not closing as frequently—a lack of churn that can signal economic stagnation.
A new crop of flippers, inspired by HGTV reality shows, real estate meetup groups, and get-rich gurus, piled into the market in recent years as rapid price gains helped the last property crash fade from memory. Many newbie investors are encountering their first slowdown and facing losses from houses that take too long to sell. Meanwhile, they face steep payments on a kind of high-interest debt—known as “hard-money” loans—that helped power the boom.
Have a good weekend.