A structured overview of new GLO research published in July 2026. The 15 new GLO Discussion Papers deal with issues related to:
- AI, technology & work
- Migration, refugees & social change
- Health, aging & mental well‑being
- Identity, discrimination & social norms
- Climate shocks & labor markets
- Education pressure & student outcomes
- Innovation systems & measurement limits
FOCUS
1788 When AI Does the Work: Does Attribution Shape Meaning and Effort? – Download PDF
by Nikolova, Milena & Milanova, Viliana & Wang, Feicheng
This paper provides the first causal evidence that merely attributing identical creative work to AI rather than to a human affects how much meaning people derive from a task and how much effort they are willing to contribute. We conducted a preregistered survey experiment in nationally representative samples from the United States (N = 1,511) and the Netherlands (N = 2,117). Participants evaluated identical public health campaign slogans that were randomly attributed either to an AI system or to a human professional, allowing us to isolate the causal effect of AI attribution while holding the creative output constant. AI attribution reduced perceived task meaning modestly and made participants 13% less likely to contribute a slogan of their own, indicating lower voluntary effort. These findings suggest that AI can influence work not only by changing productivity but also by altering the perceived value of human contribution itself.
Structured Overview (links to papers below)
| Topic | Paper | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| AI, technology & work | 1792 – AI and Technological Relatedness in European Innovation (Europe) | How AI interacts with regional technological structures to shape innovation. |
| 1788 – When AI Does the Work: Attribution, Meaning & Effort | Whether attributing work to AI changes perceived meaning and personal effort. | |
| 1787 – Job Quality Under AI and Human Oversight | How AI‑based vs. human oversight affects job quality. | |
| Migration, refugees & social change | 1795 – Refugee Absorption and Electoral Change (India) | How Partition‑era refugee inflows reshaped political outcomes. |
| 1790 – Integrated Labour Markets, Fragmented Welfare Systems (EU) | How cross‑border work interacts with mismatched welfare systems and affects disposable income measurement. | |
| Health, aging & mental well‑being | 1794 – Dementia Diagnosis Underreporting (US) | How underdiagnosis affects downstream care engagement and planning for older adults. |
| 1783 – The Good Old Days? Mental Health Across Birth Cohorts | Whether mental health has improved or worsened across generations. | |
| Identity, discrimination & social norms | 1793 – Skin Colour Salience and Perceived Discrimination (India) | Experimental evidence on how skin‑tone salience shapes perceived discrimination. |
| 1786 – Norm Beliefs and Women’s Work (Pakistan) | How beliefs about others’ norms influence women’s labor force participation. | |
| Climate shocks & labor markets | 1789 – Temperature Shocks and Protest Voting | How extreme temperatures influence protest voting behavior. |
| 1785 – Heat Stress and Labor Demand in India’s Informal Sector (India) | How rising temperatures affect labor demand in informal markets. | |
| Education pressure & student outcomes | 1781 – High‑Stakes Exams and Media‑Reported Student Suicides (India) | How exam pressure correlates with media‑reported student suicides. |
| Innovation systems & measurement limits | 1782 – GDP and the Limits of Macroeconomic Measurement in the Age of AI | Why traditional GDP metrics struggle to capture AI‑driven economic activity. |
| Governance & institutions | 1784 – Modern Slavery Governance in Universities | Why compliance‑only approaches fail to address modern slavery risks in higher education. |
Papers
1795 Refugee Absorption and Electoral Change: Evidence from the Indian Partition – Download PDF
by Chakraborty, Adrij & Singhal, Karan
1794 Dementia Diagnosis Underreporting and Downstream Care Engagement and Planning Among US Older Adults – Download PDF
by Qian, Yuting & Gavulic, Kyle A. & Chen, Xi
1793 Skin Colour Salience and Perceived Discrimination: An Experimental Study from India – Download PDF
by Anjum, Nishat & Chakravarty, Sujoy & Vaid, Divya
1792 The interplay between AI and technological relatedness in shaping regional innovation in Europe – Download PDF
by D’Alessandro, Francesco & Santarelli, Enrico & Vivarelli, Marco
1791 Cinderella No More: Night Shift Bans and Women’s Employment in India – Download PDF
by Kaur, Sarvnipun & Arora, Anshika & Singh, Prakarsh
1790 Integrated Labour Markets, Fragmented Welfare Systems: Cross-Border Work and the Measurement of Disposable Income – Download PDF
by Christl, Michael & Sologon, Denisa M. & Montes-Viñas, Ana & Wagener, Raymond
1789 Temperature Shocks and Protest Voting – Download PDF
by Agarwal, Sarthak & Chatterjee, Somdeep & Manchanda, Manhar
1788 When AI Does the Work: Does Attribution Shape Meaning and Effort? – Download PDF
by Nikolova, Milena & Milanova, Viliana & Wang, Feicheng
1787 Let Me Check on You: Job Quality Under AI and Human Oversight – Download PDF
by Nikolova, Milena
1786 What Do Others Think? Norm Beliefs And Women’s Work In Pakistan – Download PDF
by Kaleem, Hira & Sakakibara, Anri & Wadho, Waqar & Siddique, Abu
1785 When Temperatures Rise: Heat Stress and Labor Demand in India’s Informal Sector – Download PDF
by Nandwani, Bharti & Roychowdhury, Punarjit & Shankar, Binay
1784 Modern Slavery Governance in Universities: Beyond Compliance – Download PDF
by Drydakis, Nick
1783 The good old days? Mental health across birth cohorts – Download PDF
by Lenzen, Sabrina & Connelly, Luke B. & Whittaker, William
1782 GDP and the Limits of Macroeconomic Measurement in the Age of Artificial Intelligence – Download PDF
by Shehab, Elmekdad
1781 Under Pressure: High-Stakes Exams and Media-Reported Student Suicides in India – Download PDF
by Banerjee, Subarna & Sen, Gitanjali
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