Feature Channels: Economics

• share
• favorite_border

The results of a survey given to Washington D.C. area CFOs reveal a less than optimistic outlook on the U.S. economy.

• share
• favorite_border

Babson College Finance Professor Michael Goldstein’s research on the impact of the ice road economy in the Arctic.

• share
• favorite_border

According to a newly released Stony Brook Poll conducted in association with Left Right Research, a Long Island based Marketing Research supplier, more than 81 percent of approximately 7,000 people surveyed believe that they had contributed enough to Social Security to support themselves in retirement, or more than they will receive during their lifetime.

• share
• favorite_border

Can we really celebrate our independence this 4th of July, or has the ongoing financial crisis put the American dream of independence beyond the reach of many of our nation’s citizens? That’s the question author David Coates is asking in his new book, Making the Progressive Case: Toward a Stronger U.S. Economy.

• share
• favorite_border

Food prices are high worldwide and many factors are causing the increase, according to a Kansas State University agricultural economist.

• share
• favorite_border

Agricultural land values are booming again in the Northern Great Plains, if a South Dakota study is any indication. The latest study from South Dakota State University economists suggests South Dakota land values charted a 16.5 percent increase in 2010-2011.

• share
• favorite_border

Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix & Hilton Head assessed their supplies of distressed commercial real estate and determined the best way to turn some of it into green space. Known as the Red Fields to Green Fields program, the cities could create 20,000 acres of new parkland & 300,000 new jobs.

• share
• favorite_border

Roughly 1 of every 6 Americans age 18 to 64 reported using more than 10 percent of their total family income to pay for health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket medical expenses in 2007.

• share
• favorite_border

The economic impacts of routine weather events can add up to 3.4% of the nation's GDP.

• share
• favorite_border

As housing prices in the United States continue to drop, the best way to help the market is to stop delaying foreclosures, according to two recent studies co-authored by Kansas State finance professor Eric Higgins.

• share
• favorite_border

Part of the conference at Syracuse University will focus on the economic and personal impact of the March 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, including a particular emphasis on vulnerable groups such as the disabled, the elderly, and children in times of disaster.

• share
• favorite_border

A University of Arkansas finance professor analyzed a key British law that affects corporations using money to fund political advertisements in the United Kingdom and found that the law did not end corporate political spending.

• share
• favorite_border

While Groupon is popular at the moment, the company’s business model may not be sustainable over the long term, says a marketing expert at Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis. “The only way for businesses to justify the ‘loss leader’ promotion that Groupon uses to acquire new customers is to hope that the acquired customers return to the business in the future and pay regular, profitable prices,” says Seethu Seetharaman, PhD, the W. Patrick McGinnis Professor of Marketing.

• share
• favorite_border

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business and its Tayloe Murphy Center released the findings of a major study today that outlines specific steps for how banks and credit unions can capture billions of dollars in deposits by reaching out to Latino and other “unbanked” households across the United States.

• share
• favorite_border

It’s summer, and the rules are off, right? Ice cream for dinner! Expensive vacations! Your budget shouldn’t change because it’s summer. Your expenses will differ from the school year, but your budget is like your waistline — you do not want it to expand.

• share
• favorite_border

How likely are you to repurchase a stock you sold? Professor Terrance Odean, who studies behavioral finance at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business, found that that trading patterns involving previously owned stock are driven by a desire to avoid or at least limit anticipated regret. In other words, investors are likely to repurchase a stock if the sale boosts feelings of satisfaction.

• share
• favorite_border

When the current financial crisis hit, the failure of traditional economic doctrines to provide any sort of early warning shocked not only financial experts worldwide, but also governments and the general public, and we all began to question the effectiveness and validity of those doctrines. A research team based in Israel decided to investigate what went awry, searching for order in an apparently random system.

• share
• favorite_border

Washington University in St. Louis will host the 2011 North American Summer Meeting of the Econometric Society June 9-12. The Econometric Society, which has a worldwide membership, is the most prestigious learned society in the field of economics.

• share
• favorite_border

Instead of feeling stressed by the money they owe, many young adults actually feel empowered by their credit card and education debts, according to a new nationwide study.

• share
• favorite_border

A common reading of the recent subprime mortgage crisis pins the blame on bankers and loan brokers who extended mortgages to those who could not afford them, thereby inflating a housing bubble that was destined to burst.

• share
• favorite_border

Some Midwestern communities are bucking the outmigration trend according to two new reports that profile those communities, their amenities and some of the keys to their economic vitality.

• share
• favorite_border

A common reading of the recent subprime mortgage crisis pins the blame on bankers and loan brokers who extended mortgages to those who could not afford them, thereby inflating a housing bubble that was destined to burst. While technically correct, that reading ignores the "politics of creditworthiness" that undergirded the rise of subprime mortgages, as explained in a new study.

• share
• favorite_border

A list of faculty experts who can address an array of hurricane-related topics.

• share
• favorite_border

Darden School finance experts are helping to bring underserved Pakistanis and Bangladeshis into the banking mainstream. They have joined Shore Bank International to help increase access to mobile banking.

• share
• favorite_border

Hazards with horrific outcomes — like the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan — are not only difficult to contemplate but are also challenging to plan for financially. Especially when the odds of them happening are incredibly low, says Stuart I. Greenbaum, management expert at Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis.

• share
• favorite_border

Male disability applicants rejected for federal benefits tend to have lower earnings and labor force participation rates than beneficiaries over the decade prior to applying for federal disability benefits.

• share
• favorite_border

The New England region is struggling to establish strong growth and recover the jobs lost during the recent recession as U.S. economic conditions remain weak. The region’s economy is forecast to continue to grow slowly through the first half of 2011 and then to pick up some modest strength, according to Ross Gittell, James R. Carter Professor of Management at the University of New Hampshire.

• share
• favorite_border

Two studies of consumers could benefit car manufacturers. A nationwide survey asked consumers what changes to the common complaints of charging time and limited range are worth. For longer range, they’d pay $35-$75/mile. For faster charging, they’d pay up to $3,250/hour. A second study showed longer range isn’t absolutely necessary for many. The current 100-mile range could work for 32% of people.

• share
• favorite_border

For job seekers who dream of joining a startup company hoping it will become the next Starbucks or Google, Polly Black, director of the Center for Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship at Wake Forest University, shares the top five things to consider before joining a new business venture.

• share
• favorite_border

Kate Bronfenbrenner, Cornell University senior lecturer at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, comments on Boeing’s decision to shift some of its production from Washington to South Carolina and an ensuing complaint filed by the National Labor Relations Board.

• share
• favorite_border

Prostitution, which is illegal nationwide except for a few counties in Nevada, continues to create problems for communities and law-enforcement agencies. A new study by an economics researcher at the University of Arkansas analyzes the U.S. prostitution market and provides policy recommendations to increase safety for women and communities and help government agencies regulate or enforce “the oldest profession.”

• share
• favorite_border

Robert Hockett, an expert in financial regulations and Professor of Law at Cornell University, discusses the merits of the Treasury Department’s announcement today that is plans to sell 200 million shares that it currently holds in insurance giant AIG, which was bailed out by U.S. taxpayers.

• share
• favorite_border

Richard Geddes, associate professor of policy analysis and management at Cornell University and author of “The Road to Renewal: Private Investment in U.S. Transportation Infrastructure,” comments on the Department of Transportation’s recent allocation of $2 billion for high-speed rail.

• share
• favorite_border

An Iowa State University study has found that the U.S. industry's "fast fashion" focus has resulted in diminishing returns on market share -- both at home, and abroad in Japan.

• share
• favorite_border

Kelly Musick is a professor of policy analysis and management at Cornell University, and is a member of the Population Association of America and Cornell’s Population Program. She comments on figures released May 9, 2011, from the U.S. Census Bureau finding that women are having children later in life.

• share
• favorite_border

Foreclosures depress communities and economies. But how does one measure the direct impact of foreclosures on the overall economy? The problem is complicated by the fact that other economic shocks – such as job losses – could be jointly driving up foreclosures and driving down economic growth. Haas economist Atif Mian finds answers by exploiting legal differences across states in how mortgage defaults are handled.

• share
• favorite_border

In an op-ed in today's Washington Post, Gordon Adams, a professor at American University’s School of International Service, calls for more Pentagon budget cuts. Adams is a former associate director for national security and international affairs at the Office of Management and Budget.

• share
• favorite_border

People living in countries with governments that have a greater number of social services report being more satisfied with life, according to a study by a Baylor University researcher. Dr. Patrick Flavin, assistant professor of political science at Baylor, said the effect of state intervention into the economy equaled or exceeded marriage when it came to satisfaction. The study is published in the spring issue of the journal Politics & Policy.

• share
• favorite_border

Social Security’s yearly cost-of living adjustments (COLA) are targeted for reduction through a proposed “chained COLA” formula, and that could be a huge problem for those dependent on Social Security income. “COLA is an invaluable feature of Social Security,” says Merton C. Bernstein, LLB, a nationally recognized expert on Social Security. According to Bernstein, Republican “reformers” propose to reduce COLA claiming that the current method of calculating it overstates inflation. “This unrealistically assumes that people have the opportunity to buy lower priced substitutes when millions of people lack access to markets that offer such choices,” he says.

• share
• favorite_border

More American families are turning to federal assistance to heat their homes during the winter, with many more families eligible for but not taking advantage of the program, according to new research from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.

• share
• favorite_border

A joint study by academics in Switzerland, Germany and at Boston University sheds new light on the formation of financial bubbles and crashes. The study reveals a general empirical law quantifying market behavior near bubbles and crashes.

• share
• favorite_border

Despite all the "irrational exuberance" April 26 surrounding the first-ever news conference conducted by a Federal Reserve bank chair, the issues that Chairman Ben Bernanke chose to dance around were equally unsurprising as those he managed to address, says Michele Boldrin, PhD, the chair of the Department of Economics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

• share
• favorite_border

A study by Mississippi State University's Social Science Research Center indicates that rising gas prices create an accompanying decline in all traffic accidents, including drunk-driving crashes.

• share
• favorite_border

Evidence supporting the link between savings and college success is growing. Three studies out of the Center for Social Development (CSD) at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis offer a connection between assets and college enrollment and completion. “This research underscores the importance of policies and programs that help Americans of all income levels to save for college,” says Margaret Clancy, policy director and College Savings Initiative director at CSD. In a study forthcoming in the Journal of Children and Poverty, CSD researchers found that among youth who expected to graduate from a four-year college, those with a savings account in their name were approximately six times more likely to attend college than those with no account.

• share
• favorite_border

A University at Buffalo School of Social Work professor is helping redefine the country’s definition of being poor with research that shows the dramatic difference between achieving “basic economic security” and the federal government’s “poverty line.”

• share
• favorite_border

Odette Lienau, an expert on international economic relations and an assistant professor of Law at Cornell University, comments on the recent announcement that Standard & Poor’s will revise the United States credit rating from “stable” to “negative.”

• share
• favorite_border

As the economy perks up, it appears that rates of physician turnover rise with it. For the first time since 2008, physician turnover has increased, reminding medical groups of the delicate balance between physician supply and demand. According to the 6th annual Physician Retention Survey from the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) and Cejka Search, in 2010 total turnover was 6.1 percent compared to 5.9 percent in 2009. This change appears to track with conditions in the economy and housing markets. The trend is consistent with anecdotal reports and findings in the 2008 survey that the worsening economy and plummeting home sales cause physicians to delay retirement and relocation – key drivers of recruitment and activity.

• share
• favorite_border

Two Kansas State researchers are collecting and analyzing information on the financial situation of deploying soldiers and their families. It will be the largest publicly collected sample by a university regarding financial matters of U.S. Army soldiers.

• share
• favorite_border

Criminal Law Professor Brian Gallini is available to answer questions and provide expert commentary regarding the Department of Justice’s recent indictment of the principals of the three largest internet poker companies.

• share
• favorite_border

It's always better when government does its business in the sunshine, but a University of Iowa law professor says the debate about health care rationing could benefit from a little less openness.