Villainous people are hotter

And other surprising insights from the social sciences

Globe staff illustration

Voigtländer, N. & Voth, H.-J., “The Three Horsemen of Riches: Plague, War, and Urbanization in Early Modern Europe,” Review of Economic Studies (forthcoming).

Villainy makesyou hot

Holtzman, N. & Strube, M., “People with Dark Personalities Tend to Create a Physically Attractive Veneer,” Social Psychological and Personality Science (forthcoming).

Have stocks, will vote

Bonaparte, Y. & Kumar, A., “Political Activism, Information Costs, and Stock Market Participation,” Journal of Financial Economics (forthcoming).

In friendship, classtrumps genes

Boardman, J. et al., “How Social and Genetic Factors Predict Friendship Networks,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (forthcoming).

The unemployment unbenefit

Nakajima, M., “A Quantitative Analysis of Unemployment Benefit Extensions,” Journal of Monetary Economics (forthcoming).