A Stanford Professor Says Working From Home Makes You Happier and More Efficient. There's Just 1 Catch

Here's what the science says about the idea of not going to the office. Plus 7 other things that I think you'll like to read today.

Are you better off going to an office or working from home? For the first time, there’s some solid academic research on the subject, led by a Stanford economics professor.

Short answer: Employees who could work from home reported higher satisfaction and did their jobs more efficiently.

But there's also a big asterisk on that conclusion--one that might make you hesitate before going to a 100 percent work-from-home model.

Hi. I’m Bill Murphy Jr. Welcome to Understandably. Feedback is always welcome at billmurphyjr [at] understandably [dot] [com].

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The whole thing is from a working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, and led by Stanford’s Nicholas Bloom and his graduate student James Liang.

Bloom’s first challenge: finding enough people working in similar jobs, who could divide into work-at-home and work-at-the-office cohorts, and who would actually cooperate with researchers.

Solution: Liang, …