Economics & Business
- Home
- Economics & Business
- A decade ago, when working as a junior analyst in a Chicago marketing firm, Sangah Bae was winding down her workday, hoping to make a happy hour with her colleagues. At 4:30 p.m., her manager rushed to her desk with a request to do just one more thing before she wrapped up for the day. "She threw me this report that I needed to get done before I headed out, and for sure it wasn't going to be done in half an hour," she said.
- What would happen if AI becomes capable of performing essentially all economically valuable work? In a wide-ranging Q&A, Yale economist Pascual Restrepo dives into how economists view the future of labor markets.
- If you've ever ordered food through DoorDash, Uber Eats or Instacart, you may have realized the person who delivers it isn't a salaried employee. They're gig workers—independent contractors who pick up delivery tasks through an app, get paid per delivery and have no guaranteed hours, benefits or minimum wage protections.
- As interest in structured mountain adventure continues to surge across Europe and North America, a new study led by researchers at the University of Eastern Finland and Lakehead University provides the first comprehensive scoping review and research agenda dedicated specifically to Via Ferrata tourism and recreation.
- You check your credit score before applying for an apartment. Your fitness watch tells you whether you slept well enough. A workplace dashboard measures your productivity. Parents can buy devices that track their baby's breathing and heart rate while they sleep.
- Inequality in wealth between men and women has not always received the same attention as similar disparities in employment and earnings. This is perhaps because wealth—things like property, savings and investments—is seen as a private matter. This issue has become known as the "gender wealth gap" and it is a damaging and persistent feature of the economy.
- With 76% of adults now reporting stress levels that impede daily function, a new Cornell study points to a low-cost intervention hiding in plain sight: nature. The study, published in March 2026 in ScienceDirect, found that changes or improvements in workplace policy, culture and outdoor amenities could facilitate more time outdoors to aid well-being for staff at large organizations like universities.
- Sang Won Han, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Sungkyunkwan University (co-first author), in collaboration with Shinjae Won, an Associate Professor of Management and Strategy at Ewha Womans University, has published a study in the Strategic Management Journal. The paper, titled "Hiring at the Tip of the Funnel: Externalizing the Work of Integrating and Coordinating Diverse Human Capital," introduces a new perspective on how firms can resolve a core challenge in talent recruitment.
- It's been six years since the COVID pandemic swept the world, and by now we are all familiar with the pros and cons of remote working. As the protracted battle over return-to-office (RTO) mandates suggests, a number of personal and professional factors—including your standing in the organizational hierarchy—can determine whether your overall experience of telework is positive or negative. And the Big Four accounting firms are no different, according to Steven Maex, assistant professor of accounting at Costello College of Business at George Mason University.
- A prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important oil shipping routes, could severely disrupt global supply chains and destabilize energy markets, potentially leading to far-reaching economic impacts, according to a new study conducted by the Supply Chain Intelligence Institute Austria (ASCII) in collaboration with the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) and TU Delft.
- Panic buying doesn't just respond to shortages—it creates them. And according to a University of the Sunshine Coast behavioral scientist, the lessons learned during COVID-19 remain critical for preventing future buying frenzies.
- Strong organizational and management capabilities are key to implementing and getting the most out of successful remote and hybrid working practices.
- Companies invest heavily in breakthrough technologies, from industrial software to AI-powered platforms. Yet many radical innovations fail not because customers reject them, but because sales teams hesitate to promote them. A new study by ESMT Berlin reveals a key psychological barrier behind this hesitation: salespeople's fear of "losing face" in front of customers. The work is published in the journal Industrial Marketing Management.
- A new research chapter suggests that artificial intelligence could help tackle one of the biggest challenges social entrepreneurs face: getting the funding they need to grow. In the chapter Artificial Intelligence as an Enabler for Financing Social Entrepreneurs, researchers Dr. Nisha Prakash and Rajitha Burra of the Royal Docks School of Business and Law, University of East London explore how new AI-powered financial tools could support businesses that aim to create social impact.
- Brendan Dwyer, Ph.D., has spent his career studying sports consumer behavior, and with the recent legalization of sports betting, he's hit the jackpot. Dwyer, director of research and distance learning at the Virginia Commonwealth University Center for Sport Leadership, has published a number of peer-reviewed articles on the topic, including one of his latest, "Cognitive Bias and the Impact of Age on Sports Betting," in the journal Sport Marketing Quarterly.
- Green investors often boast that they can support sustainability without sacrificing returns. But new research from Texas McCombs suggests otherwise. It also offers governments opportunities to raise more money from those investors for sustainable projects. The work is published in the Journal of Financial Economics.
- Dallas-Fort Worth has all the right ingredients to be a national powerhouse for innovation—from a robust economy, world-class research universities to a diverse, dynamic workforce—yet an SMU-led study found the region isn't fully realizing that potential. The study, published in IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, found that DFW's innovation productivity is lower than expected based on its assets and strengths. The metroplex was one of 65 U.S. regions measured in patent activity after adjusting for income, education, unemployment, and startup activity.
- It's said that statistics don't lie, but they often don't tell the whole truth, either. A Cornell statistics expert has come up with a method he believes can boost statistical power and significantly reduce bias—vital for research involving outcomes that differ by socioeconomics, race, sex and other variables.
- In December 2023, the Peruvian Andes were hit by a severe drought followed by a wave of nighttime freezing temperatures. The "cold shock" didn't just wither crops and cause widespread hunger; it reached deep into the homes of the families who live there.
- Since tools like ChatGPT burst into higher education, debate has focused on two extremes: either students are all committing underhanded academic fraud and plagiarism or Artificial Intelligence will magically revolutionize learning.
Photographer: