Social Sciences
Explore faculty and student work in economics, sociology, political science, anthropology, and other disciplines shaping our understanding of society.
Robert Coles Was Most at Home on the Playground
A colleague remembers the late Harvard professor and child psychiatrist, who died this month.
by Alex Harris
Bailing Out Finance: How Will It End?
Safra professor of economics Jeremy C. Stein and University of Chicago economist Anil Kashyap outline the options, as they see them, for the federal government's promised $700-billion bailout for financial firms...
Thoughts on an Obama Win, or Loss
Klein professor of law Randall Kennedy argues that Barack Obama's nomination as a major-party candidate is a milestone in itself...
I Cook, Therefore I Am?
The "Meeting the Minds" column explores Moore professor of biological anthropology Richard Wrangham's argument that cooking food is what allowed for...
Facebook Profile Before First Steps?
This week's New York Times Thursday Styles section had an article about websites that let infants and toddlers set up profiles...
The Teen Brain
It’s a paradoxical time of development. These are people with very sharp brains, but they’re not quite sure what to do with them...
Prescription for Error?
In recent years, safety recalls of widely prescribed drugs like the pain-killer Vioxx have sent an unsettling message to consumers.
Bearer of Bad News
Roubini's pessimistic prognostications have won such supporters as Cabot professor of public policy Kenneth S. Rogoff; Jeffrey Sachs ’76, Ph.D. ’81...
A Call for Credit-Card Disclosure
Proposed amendments to the federal Truth in Lending regulations would be a welcome change, Richard Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein argued on the Wall Street Journal opinion page last week...
Glaeser: Tax Credits for Home Heating Won't Help
Glimp professor of economics Edward L. Glaeser doesn't like the Home Energy Affordability Tax Relief Act, which would give each American household a tax credit for a third of the household's energy costs...
Times Columnist Likes Katz, Goldin Take on Education and Economy
American young adults today have more education than their parents—but the growth rate of educational attainment from one generation to the next has slowed significantly...