The Pie: An Economics Podcast
What Economics Taught Us in 2024
Dec 24, 2024
Carolyn Pfluger, an Associate Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy, explores fascinating insights into economic behavior and policy perceptions. She reveals that Americans overstate their church attendance and discusses how recessions can paradoxically improve health. The conversation includes the critical role of public perception of the Federal Reserve’s actions and the unexpected consequences of pesticide use tied to declining bat populations, shedding light on the intertwining of economics and ecology.
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Quick takeaways
- Cell phone data reveals that actual weekly church attendance in America is significantly lower than surveys indicate, challenging perceptions of religiosity.
- Research shows that economic recessions can unexpectedly improve public health by reducing certain fatalities, indicating a complex relationship between economy and health outcomes.
Deep dives
Religiosity and Cell Phone Data
The analysis of cell phone data reveals significant insights into religiosity in the United States. Approximately 73% of Americans visit a place of worship at least once a year, including churches, synagogues, and mosques. However, the weekly attendance is drastically lower than the data suggests, with only about 5% attending religious services weekly, challenging the conventional survey-based figures that claim up to 25%. This discrepancy is largely attributed to social desirability bias in surveys, highlighting the need for more accurate methods to study religious attendance.
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