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.
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.
A report shows that for the first time since 1972, more Americans say that their financial situation has gotten worse than better. Also for the first time since 1972, the percentage of Americans saying that they are “not at all” satisfied with their financial situation (31.5%) notably exceeds those saying they are “pretty well” satisfied (23.4%).
Illegal immigrants find it harder to pay taxes and submit tax returns because of tighter immigration restrictions, according to a study looking at unauthorized Mexican immigrants’ rates of paying Social Security and federal taxes, submitting tax returns and opening bank and credit card accounts.
Robert Hockett, international finance expert and professor of Law at Cornell University, comments on President Obama’s speech today about the federal budget.
A new study shows that 17 percent of the United States’ imported oil for transportation could be replaced by biofuel made from algae. Researchers also determined that the water needed to grow that algae could be substantially reduced by cultivating it in the nation’s sunniest and most humid regions.
Tragically, infants experience severe or fatal head trauma as a result of intentional abuse. Shaken baby syndrome, now commonly referred to as non-accidental head trauma, is a serious form of abuse inflicted upon a child. While there have been other studies analyzing the relationship between economic hardship and child abuse, including head trauma, this research focuses specifically on severe head trauma trends in infants.
Sean Nicholson, professor of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University, Research Director of the Upstate Health Research Network, and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, explains the House GOP plan to reduce federal spending by overhauling Medicare.
What does it take for a family in the U.S. to have long-term economic security and not just "get by"? This question inspired the creation of the Basic Economic Security Tables Index (BEST), a joint effort of Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) and the Center for Social Development (CSD) at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. The BEST is different from other ‘living wage’ indexes in that it aims to capture what is needed for household stability and development rather than focusing on subsistence. Findings suggest that families’ largest economic security challenges are rent and utilities, transportation, and childcare. The report calls the high cost of quality childcare “the greatest threat to many families’ security.” Childcare is so expensive that income needs for a one-parent family with two preschoolers are equivalent to those of a one-parent family with five teenagers.
A new US2010 research brief defines two unique reasons for the American median income declines and inequality increases during the first two years of the Great Recession. The effects of Unemployment Insurance and Medicaid on the Great Recession are also examined.
In a study on the relationship between unemployment and the risk of death, researchers found that the risk of death was 63% higher in those who experienced an episode of unemployment than those who did not.
Jisook "April" Park, a Kansas State University doctoral candidate in psychology, is researching consumer decision-making strategies and trying to understand the causes and remedies for post-purchase regret.
A government shutdown is looming and many politicians who are claiming “we’re broke” are proposing short-term or long-term federal budget plans with steep budget cuts as the only option to reduce the deficit. “But it looks like budget deficits are being driven in part by a deliberate strategy to sustain them, so policymakers are forced to cut spending,” says Timothy McBride, PhD, economist and associate dean for public health at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. “The evidence certainly supports the theory that the Republicans are using a strategy of ‘starving the beast,’” he says.
Harold Bierman, Jr., an expert on taxation and Professor of Management at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, comments on the inefficiency of federal income tax law and the need to completely revise it.
Escalating fiscal challenges facing cities make municipal financial information increasingly important to taxpayers and investors, yet only 22 of the 75 largest American cities post any information beyond annual financial reports, according to a survey conducted by a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Companies looking to engineer an eco-friendly diesel fuel have more red lights in their path. According to Kansas State University researchers, making petroleum diesel completely green would not only bend the laws of physics, it would cost too much green.
The meltdown of private pension plans, 401(k)s and Individual Retirement Accounts during the recession demonstrates that Social Security is more essential than ever, says Merton C. Bernstein, LLB, the Walter D. Coles Professor Emeritus at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. Bernstein discussed the crucial role of Social Security in a report for the university’s Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy. According to Bernstein, Social Security is on course to provide full benefits to its expected beneficiaries through 2036 due to its multi-trillion dollar trust fund.
Research by McGill Sociology Professor Eran Shor, working in collaboration with researchers from Stony Brook University, has revealed that unemployment increases the risk of premature mortality by 63 per cent. Shor reached these conclusions by surveying existing research covering 20 million people in 15 (mainly western) countries, over the last 40 years.
Kunz and his coauthors review the role of bats in providing ecosystem services, focusing primarily on those that regulate and provide services needed to sustain humankind, with a brief overview of supporting and cultural services. One of the grand challenges that society faces is how best to identify, protect and conserve services that are critical for human and ecosystem health.
How do we determine what impact financial innovations and financial policy changes will have on the economies of developing countries? A new book by economist Robert M. Townsend explains for the first time how economists and policymakers can merge rigorous economic models with extensive data to answer important questions like these.
The mortgage interest deduction, or MID, is the second largest tax break in the federal tax code. A study into how effectively it promotes homeownership found that in denser urban areas the MID reduces ownership by inflating housing prices.
As figures from the 2010 census are released, political scientist Todd Shields of the University of Arkansas is available to discuss findings from the 2010 Blair-Rockefeller Poll that offer insight into changing U.S. demographics. The poll revealed uneven economic hardships across race and region and shifting support for the Democratic Party among American elderly.
Darden School of Business Professor Gal Raz shows that when small suppliers keep their cost information private, they actually give power to bigger suppliers competing with them for the same contract.
Arthur Wheaton, an automotive expert and senior extension associate at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, comments on the impact of the Japanese earthquake on Honda, Toyota and other automakers.
When the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 was repealed 11 years ago, financial institutions were allowed to engage in commercial and investment activities under the same roof. But a new study finds it’s difficult to maintain an information firewall between those activities when they are housed in the same financial institution.
A new report by the University of Utah’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research (BEBR) concludes that the economic impacts of startup companies at the university are “significant and impressive.”
The federal financial bailouts of the last few years received tremendous publicity, but multiple sources of “hidden bailouts” eluded notice, says Cheryl D. Block, JD, law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Some hidden sources of federal financial rescue include new, expanded tax credits, the more liberal IRS interpretation of regulations, and “off-off budget” bailouts by quasi-governmental agencies such as the Federal Reserve Bank, according to research by Block.
As figures from the 2010 census are released, political scientist Pearl Ford Dowe of the University of Arkansas is available to discuss opinions of African-Americans on politics and social issues, both in the South and nationally. She draws on findings from the 2010 Blair-Rockefeller Poll.
Christine Shea, associate dean for graduate programs and research, and professor of technology and operations management at the UNH Whittemore School of Business and Economics, is available to discuss supply chain and operations management issues that may develop as a result of the crisis in Japan.
Monday, April 18, is the deadline for Americans to file their federal and state income tax returns and American University faculty experts are available to comment on a variety of tax-related issues, including federal income taxes, corporate and partnership taxes, and tax accounting and procedures.
How much would the public be willing to pay for a government-sponsored identity theft prevention program? The answer: about $87 per year. That’s the finding from a four-state survey conducted by Florida State University criminologists, who report that two-thirds of their respondents expressed a willingness to pay for a hypothetical program promising to reduce identity theft by 75 percent.
A new policy research brief released today by the Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services evaluates the consequences of the proposed reductions in federal health center funding for access and cost savings.
Robert Frank, professor of economics at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management and Robert Hockett, professor of Law at Cornell University, comment on the pressing need for the U.S. to invest in its infrastructure.
As retail environments become more competitive, manufacturers experience greater pressure to strike a balance between satisfying customers and minimizing costs. These suppliers struggle to accurately predict or forecast demand for goods. A new study by a University of Arkansas logistics researcher confirms that relying on retail point-of-sale data can increase the accuracy of predictions and reduce forecasting error. But contrary to recent findings, the new study also revealed that in specific situations point-of-sale data might not be as accurate as simple order data from client stores.
Public support of labor unions has reached its lowest level in a quarter century. According to a February 2011 Pew Research Poll Center poll, only 45 percent of respondents expressed positive views of unions.
In his studies of major speeches of the American labor movement, Casey Kelly, Ph.D., a communication instructor for Butler University, has found some key historic messages that unions might use to regain support.
In its 27th survey of American spending priorities since 1973 conducted as part of its General Social Survey (GSS), NORC at the University of Chicago Wednesday released a report on its most recent findings. By a notable margin, education is the top priority.
Have you ever been upset with your boss? Perhaps he or she overlooked an accomplishment or didn’t give you a raise that you thought you deserved. According to a study by labor relations expert David I. Levine, retaliating against one’s boss is more acceptable to employees if the retaliation is an act of omission or inaction, rather than active efforts to harm an unfair boss.
The Current Economic Indicator, a new way to evaluate the health of Rhode Island’s economy, will be discussed on Tuesday, March 8, at Bryant University’s economic forum on the state’s business climate.
Former IRS Agent Dennis Raible, M.B.A., C.P.A., an accounting professor at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, has recommendations for 2011 tax season. Above all, Raible advises to file on-time. “The penalty for failure-to-file is a real killer," he says.
Because of antitrust exemptions, an Ithaca College professor thinks the NFL’s current labor woes may have more in common with the union disputes in Wisconsin than you might think.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s move to strip or significantly narrow his state’s public-sector workers’ collective bargaining rights has significant implications for all unionized workers, both in the public and private sector, says Marion Crain, JD, the Wiley B. Rutledge Professor of Law and director of the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Work & Social Capital.
With many Americans concerned about rising gas prices, state budgets and inflation — and with battle lines drawn in several states between governments and unions — the U.S. can expect more social media “wars’ in the near future.
The projected sharp, across-the-board price increases over the next five to eight months mean fewer consumers for many brick-and-mortar and online retailers. With limited monies up for grabs, an electronic marketing professor predicts likely changes that consumers will see both in-store and online.
Lucrative incentives for executives at the nation’s top banks encouraged them to take excessive risks prior to the financial meltdown that the country still is digging itself out of three years later, according to a new study from the University of New Hampshire.
Steven Kyle, a professor at Cornell University’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, comments on the impact of the current oil price spike on global economic recovery.
In “Beyond Mechanical Markets,” Michael Goldberg, the Roland H. O'Neal Professor at the University of New Hampshire, offers a fresh, nontechnical appraisal of the reasons why economists’ ideas are so often flawed and how contemporary macroeconomic and finance theory made the recent financial crisis more likely, if not inevitable.