Social Sciences

We all know sleep is important. But for those facing mental health challenges, research from UC Berkeley shows how good sleep is also foundational for treatment and recovery.

Early results from a long‑term study at Berkeley’s Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic show that sleep is directly linked with our mental health and, when used alongside standard clinical treatments, can dramatically improve patients’ outcomes.

“The finding keeps replicating: If you treat sleep, you’ll improve mental health symptoms,” says Allison Harvey, a Berkeley professor of psychology and...

A new UC Berkeley Economics study finds that online news algorithms can quietly push readers toward more polarized views by reinforcing what they already believe.

The research from Berkeley Economics PhD Student Mingduo Zhao shows that even small differences in opinion can be amplified over time as algorithms learn what users click on and serve them more of the similar content. The result is a feedback loop that can deepen divisions, while also keeping users more engaged.

In his dissertation, paper titled, ...

When inflation spiked after COVID-19, many critics accused the Federal Reserve of abandoning traditional monetary policy. In a study presented at the 2025 Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, UC Berkeley economists Emi Nakamura, Venance Riblier and Jón Steinsson revisited that claim.

At the center of the debate is the Taylor Rule, a guideline developed in the 1990s to describe how central banks should adjust interest rates in response to inflation and economic conditions. According to the Berkeley researchers, the Fed deviated from this rule...

Political Science Professor Martha Wilfahrt was featured in an article in The Economist titled, "How anarchic was Africa?"

In a game of chess two states go to war, the pawns dying to save the king. In mancala, a board game popular in Africa, all pieces are alike, and players try to win them over. That shows how societies think about politics, argues James Robinson, a political scientist at the University of Chicago. If powerful states were rare in precolonial Africa, that was because Africans did not want to build them. Statelessness was a sign of success, not failure....