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Social & Behavior

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 13-Jun-2026 22:15 ET (14-Jun-2026 02:15 GMT/UTC)

How bank shocks propagate through production networks

IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study published in the May 2026 issue of the American Economic Review and authored by an international group of researchers gives a different perspective on how production and financial networks are at interplay. The research develops a framework that integrates two key dimensions of modern economies: the network of supply relationships among firms and the web of financial connections linking firms to banks. While these networks have traditionally been studied in isolation, the paper demonstrates that their interplay is essential to understanding how bank shocks affect the real economy.

Journal: American Economic Review

Africa’s young workforce could reshape global growth

University of East London
Book Announcement

A new University of East London study argues that Africa’s young workforce and critical mineral reserves present a major global economic opportunity. The authors call for fairer international cooperation focused on investment, infrastructure, skills, and local industry, arguing that sustainable poverty reduction depends on partnership and shared economic growth, not aid alone.

Forgotten and isolated: 1.8 million people still vulnerable to Covid 19 face a mental health crisis

University of Bath
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Research from the University of Bath (UK) finds depression and anxiety remain high yet overlooked among around 1.8 million clinically vulnerable people in the UK still living restricted lives to avoid Covid.

Journal: Health Expectations

2026 Gutenberg Research Award goes to Bissera Pentcheva

Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz
Grant and Award Announcement

Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) is honoring the art historian Professor Bissera Pentcheva of Stanford University in California, USA, by awarding her the 2026 Gutenberg Research Award. This is the most eminent research prize awarded by JGU. It comes with an endowment of EUR 10,000 and is conferred annually by the Gutenberg Research College, the central institution designed to promote top-level research at Mainz University.

New study reveals strict selection patterns in social relationships

Graz University of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Our personal identity is composed of many dimensions, such as age, gender, ethnic background, or socioeconomic status. A research team led by Fariba Karimi from the Institute of Human-Centred Computing at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) and Samuel Martin-Gutierrez from the Complexity Science Hub developed the statistical computational model “MAPS” to calculate the influence of these factors on our social relationships. The researchers have recently published a MAPS-based analysis of high school friendships and marriages in the US in the journal Communications Physics. The study shows that humans are extremely selective.

Journal: Communications Physics
Funder: Horizon Europe, Austrian Research Promotion Agency, Horizon Europe research and innovation programme

GPS data reveals why pedestrians in Phnom Penh rarely walk the shortest route

Singapore University of Technology and Design
Peer-Reviewed Publication

SUTD researchers used mobile phone GPS traces, street view imagery, and open-source spatial data to show that pedestrian route choices in a rapidly developing city are shaped far more by street conditions and context than by distance alone.

Journal: Travel Behaviour and Society

Frequent exposure to media on real-world gun violence is linked to mental health risks

Rutgers University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Frequent exposure to real-world firearm violence through media is associated with worse mental health outcomes, according to Rutgers researchers.

Their study, published in BMC Public Health, found that frequent exposure to firearm-related content is linked to higher levels of depression and more days of poor mental health among adults in the United States.

Journal: BMC Public Health

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