Editor's note

Academic research shows that sexism is alive and well in the traditional workplace, where women encounter harassment and unfair treatment in pay and promotions. With the rise of the gig economy, in which jobs are short-term and freelance in nature, will the problem of male privilege get better or worse? Hernán Galperin, who researches how the gig economy affects labor discrimination at the University of Southern California, designed an experiment to find an answer.

The push from governments and companies to get self-driving cars on the road as soon as possible might create a public backlash, says Vanderbilt University researcher Jack Barkenbus, who argues that people need time to develop appropriate expectations for new technologies.

Last month, Puerto Rico’s governor ordered a recount of the death toll from Hurricane Maria. Officials have logged only 64 deaths, but multiple independent analyses estimate that the number is close to or even above 1,000. Alexis Santos-Lozada, a Penn State demographer who’s spent time in Puerto Rico, explains why so many deaths have gone uncounted.

Bryan Keogh

Economics + Business Editor

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Do women freelancers suffer the effects of ‘male privilege’? Ryan Morse

The gig economy may strengthen the 'invisible advantage' men have at work

Hernán Galperin, University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

Sexism has long been an unfortunate feature of the workplace, but is male privilege still a problem when the gig economy makes most of our office interactions virtual?

It would be better if people weren’t afraid of self-driving cars. mato181/Shutterstock.com

To get the most out of self-driving cars, tap the brakes on their rollout

Jack Barkenbus, Vanderbilt University

If government and industry overhype autonomous vehicles, the public may expect too much, be disappointed and reject the new technology.

Hurricane Maria’s destruction may have led to many hundreds more deaths than originally estimated. Ramon Espinosa/AP

Why Puerto Rico's death toll from Hurricane Maria is so much higher than officials thought

Alexis R. Santos-Lozada, Pennsylvania State University

The governor of Puerto Rico has ordered a recount of the official death toll for Hurricane Maria. The real number is likely higher by the hundreds. What happened?

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  • What thin people don’t understand about dieting

    Traci Mann, University of Minnesota; A. Janet Tomiyama, University of California, Los Angeles

    Dieting is a setup. The act of dieting causes physiological changes that make it hard to continue dieting successfully. Here's how the body fights back when some people try to lose weight.

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