Economics & Business
- Home
- Economics & Business
- City council public comment periods may focus on local issues, such as housing and public services. But new research from the University of Michigan shows they also serve as powerful forums for expressing broader societal concerns, including democracy, equity and social justice. The study is published in the Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media.
- A new study published in the Strategic Management Journal challenges long-standing assumptions about managerial specialization by examining when organizations perform better by having leaders collectively pursue multiple objectives rather than dividing responsibilities among them. Addressing the growing complexity of modern organizations—where financial, social, environmental, and technological goals increasingly coexist—the research introduces what the authors call the "common purpose advantage."
- Financial abuse is a common and often hidden type of abuse within family and domestic violence, characterized by behaviors that control, restrict, or hide money and financial information, frequently involving a person's bank accounts, credit cards, tax filings, and business reporting systems. Financial abuse is a very particular subset of economic abuse. It's an effective form of coercive control that restricts a person's financial autonomy, decision-making capacity, and access to their own funds, and it's estimated to cost the economy nearly $11 billion a year and affects more than 2.4 million Australians.
- In Bangladesh, programs targeting ultra-poor, rural households can help families escape extreme poverty. However, the programs may have the unintended consequence of reinforcing gender gaps, a new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign finds. The paper, "How does a rural poverty alleviation program affect parents' aspirations about their children? Evidence from BRAC-TUP in Bangladesh," is published in the Journal of Development Studies.
- Researchers with Lehigh University's Center for Catastrophe Modeling and Resilience, led by anthropologist David G. Casagrande, have identified two urgent challenges the United States faces in adapting to climate change: a potential disaster insurance crisis and the lack of comprehensive relocation policies for communities facing chronic flooding. Their paper, titled "Climate Change and Insurance: Embracing Resilience for Private Market Survival," is published in Sustainable Development.
- There may be a connection between how much a couple spends and saves and how happy they are in their relationship, according to a new study from the University of Georgia. The researchers found spouses who see their partners as "savers" tend to be more satisfied with both their marriages and their finances.
- It's often said that millions of people in the UK don't save enough—with one in ten adults saving no money at all. That figure from a 2025 report from the Financial Conduct Authority regulator came with a warning that it's leaving people walking a financial tightrope.
- Public health can be a money maker if investors use the right techniques to make their cash injections a safe bet, according to a report by Northeastern University academics. The report, "Investor Action on Health: a review," offers major investors advice on how best to approach making a public health matter ripe for investment.
- Low-income renters in Australia are far less likely to experience housing stress, rent arrears, or be forced to relocate when living in social housing compared to those receiving cash rent assistance payments or no assistance, according to a new global study by Curtin University published in the journal Housing Studies. The research analyzed data from 2001 to 2020, tracking housing outcomes for more than 9,200 low-income renters in Australia and almost 15,000 in the United Kingdom, comparing how different rental support schemes affected housing security.
- At the height of the "Great Resignation" in 2021, more than 50 million workers in the United States quit their jobs, driven by stress, burnout, and rising expectations for sustainable work. Nearly half cited inadequate benefits as a main reason for leaving.
- Auto insurance companies are some of the largest advertisers, with top brands spending upward of $1.5 billion per year, even though they're household names. When Geico runs another spot featuring its ubiquitous gecko mascot, or Progressive cranks out another Flo ad, are they wasting their money? "That's where the puzzle starts," says Navdeep Sahni, a professor of marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
- It's common to wonder as tax season ramps up: Are taxes too high? According to a new study by University of Cincinnati economics professor David Brasington, the answer is no, at least when it comes to Ohio's city service taxes. These taxes go toward local services such as funds for the fire department, road repair and park upkeep.
- When partners work from home, constant digital interruptions increase after-work frustration, strain couples' relationships, and place a heavier psychological burden on women, UNSW research has found.
- Public housing high-rises, common in the late 20th century, often siloed residents from surrounding communities. "You had these big towers that were in the middle of large courtyards, spaced far away from other residents," said Matthew Staiger, a research scientist with Harvard's Opportunity Insights. "It was extremely obvious where the public housing started and ended."
- The future of work is being rewritten by artificial intelligence (AI)—but technology competence alone will not be enough to empower the workforce of the future. While AI has massive potential to improve efficiency, accuracy, and productivity in the workplace, it's less clear how it will evolve to foster the person-centered concerns that all businesses face.
- Filing taxes every year is an important and necessary task in Canada. But for many, tax preparation and filing can be overwhelming. One reason is that tax forms can sometimes be hard to interpret, especially because most people only deal with them once a year.
- As kids head back to school and attention returns to the daily grind of lunch boxes, new research reveals Australian parents are overwhelmingly supportive of school-provided lunch programs, with nutrition and variety their biggest priorities. Led by Flinders University's Caring Futures Institute, the research team surveyed almost 400 parents of primary school children across Australia, finding 93% of parents were interested in school-provided lunches and willing to pay for them.
- In December 2025, the Trump administration accelerated the process of reclassifying marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act—a shift that would reduce restrictions and penalties associated with the drug.
- When a crowd gets something right, like guessing how many beans are in a jar, forecasting an election, or solving a difficult scientific problem, it's tempting to credit the sharpest individual in the room. But new research suggests focusing on the "expert" can lead groups astray.
- In a bold shift from traditional economics teaching, a group of researchers is calling on universities to bring happiness into the classroom.
Photographer: