Source Alert: USC experts available as sources for the media on topics such as job creation, corporate taxation, inflation, global competition, and mortgage relief, and to comment on President Obama's speech on the economy scheduled for Thursday, September 8, 2011.
The new regulatory banking standards called “Basel III” slightly decrease but do not eliminate systemic risk in the banking system, according to research at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Furthermore, the study suggests successful mortgage markets in Western Europe provide useful models for mortgage reform in the US. Because these healthier markets do not contain public lenders such as the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Professor Jaffee proposes the elimination of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as a critical step toward healing the domestic economy.
As the U.S. and European economies destabilize under the pressure of debt, the global economy is leaning heavily on China.
“Consumers — historically and especially during times of economic decline — value price over quality,” says Karen Hogan, Ph.D., professor of finance at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. “China offers the U.S. and European economies cheap labor and affordable imports; we’re hooked on it.”
Labor unions may be under siege, but the equalizing force they provide is still necessary, says Marion Crain, JD, labor law expert at Washington University in St. Louis. “Wage inequality — the gap between the highest income and lowest income workers within demographic groups, controlling for education and other factors — has not been higher since the Great Depression,” she says.
Single parents and men were among the groups of Americans hit hard by unemployment during the recent recession, with growing gaps between married and unmarried Americans, according to new research from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.
The Great Recession could have lingering impacts on the children of the unemployed. There is growing evidence that parental job loss has adverse consequences on children’s behavior, academic achievement and later employment outcomes, particularly in economically disadvantaged families.
Robert L. Hockett, an expert in financial regulations and professor of Law at Cornell University, comments on Fed Chair Ben Bernanke’s speech today in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
A new study of stock trading during the financial crisis of 2007 to 2009 found that hedge funds sold their stocks much more aggressively than mutual funds at the first signs of poor performance.
How do unemployed men cope with their shifting domestic roles, especially when they become financially dependent on a wife or female partner? One University of Kansas researcher has investigated the impact of joblessness on masculinity and the “breadwinner ideology” within the context of traditional families.
In rural areas of Africa, Asia and Latin America, poor farmers supplement their livelihoods by hunting and cutting wood, but such practices can seriously threaten biodiversity in the developing world. Now, two Cornell University researchers are leading the way to explore solutions that not only protect biodiversity but also improve the livelihoods of the poor.
If so many poor people live around national parks in developing countries, does that mean that these parks are contributing to their poverty? Yes, according to the conventional wisdom, but no, according to a 10-year study of people living around Kibale National Park in Uganda that was published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Small businesses overpay for health insurance according to a paper in American Economic Review by researchers from Case Western Reserve’s Weatherhead School of Management, Carnegie Mellon’s Heinz College, and Boston University School of Management.
Entrepreneurship professors Ted Baker, NC State University Poole College, and Reed Nelson, Southern Illinois University and Universidade de Sao Paulo, study how resource-constrained firms apply the concept of 'making do with what's at hand.'
Today’s rapid economic change and labor market turbulence make early careers particularly unstable, but new research to be presented at the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association shows that young workers with certain characteristics may weather turbulent times better than their peers.
The decline in active memberships in civic groups, fraternal organizations, and other local associations is greater than the increase in checkbook memberships, according to new research to be presented at the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.
As suburban school districts have gained advantages over their urban counterparts, they have tenaciously clung to them, often at the expense of urban districts.
Congressional leaders are invited to visit research, science and technology parks in August, to see first hand how parks are driving economic growth and creating high-wage jobs.
As the price of gold continues to rise and public uncertainty of the economy increases at a similar pace, many investors are turning to a traditional fail-safe: gold. However, it's a growing bubble that may be ready to burst, according to economic experts at Kansas State University.
One day the markets are way, way down; the next day they’re back up again. So it has gone for Wall Street, which has seen one of its most volatile periods in years amid mixed signals about the direction of the U.S. economy. Two Florida State University economics professors who are nationally regarded for their expertise in such areas as macroeconomic theory and the economic analysis of public policy issues are available to provide context for the current situation, as well as an informed look toward what might come next.
William Schulze, professor of Applied Economics and Public Policy at Cornell University, discusses the market’s ongoing reaction to Standard and Poor’s downgrading of U.S. credit.
Lee Adler, labor expert and professor at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, discusses the implications of the Verizon strike -- and the probability that this dispute will be protracted.
Research, science and technology parks are catalysts for job creation. As communities look for ways to create jobs and drive economic growth, many are finding innovation to be a key element.
New book edited by American University professor Martha Starr examines ethical, social, political, cultural, and educational factors behind 2008 financial crisis and recession.
A college student's idea of investing may lean more toward purchasing season basketball tickets than an individual retirement account, but financial experts say taking a more focused look at their financial situation early can help students budget for today and the future.
As a Professor of Practice in Finance and Economics at Wake Forest University, Dr. Sherry Jarrell’s expertise is in valuing enterprises and strategies. She is an accomplished public speaker, award-winning teacher and frequent commentator on issues relating to law, business, economics and finance on local television and radio. She is also the co-author of Driving Shareholder Value: Value-Building Techniques for Creating Shareholder Wealth, published by McGraw Hill. More information is available at www.SherryJarrell.com.
New York tops the new State Entrepreneurship Index, a nationwide ranking method evaluating states in business formation and innovation. Washington, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Oregon are right behind.
Steven C. Kyle, associate professor of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, comments about the implications of a U.S. government default if Congress and the White House fail to raise the debt ceiling by Aug. 2.
David Coates, Ph.D., holds the Worrell Chair of Anglo-American Studies, Department of Political Science at Wake Forest University (N.C.). He previously held personal chairs at the universities of Leeds and Manchester in the U.K. He has written extensively on labor politics, contemporary political economy, and U.S. public policy. He is the author of several books, including Making the Progressive Case, Answering Back, The Labour Party and the Struggle for Socialism and Models of Capitalism: Growth and Stagnation in the World Economy (translated into Chinese and South Korean). More information is available at www.davidcoates.net.
Iowa State University Professor of Economics Dan Otto knows from experience that the economic obstacles in the nation's great debt ceiling debate aren't as difficult as they may appear, since he had students tackle those same problems last spring for a class project.
What’s the best way to pay off debt? It’s simple. After making required payments to avoid penalties, pay down the loan with the highest interest rate. But consumers often take a slightly different approach, according to a consumer behavior expert at Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis.
Discussion of the federal debt ceiling has dominated the front page recently. Several Washington University in St. Louis faculty experts, all members of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy, have offered their opinions to the news media on the history of the debt ceiling and what may happen if a deal is not reached.
Constitutional law expert Steve Sheppard is available to discuss whether President Barack Obama has the constitutional authority to avoid default by paying government bonds unilaterally and spending money without Congressional approval.
Considering buying your first home or moving up the property ladder? Today's troubled housing market, hit by foreclosures, slow sales and declining values, presents opportunities and challenges for homebuyers, according to a professor of finance.
Dr. Gordon Adams, professor of U.S. Foreign Policy at American University’s School of International Service, says the trillion dollars in defense savings claimed in the latest deficit reduction proposal from Sen. Harry Reid is completely fictional.
Union membership in America has declined significantly since the early 1970s, and that plunge explains approximately a fifth of the increase in hourly wage inequality among women and about a third among men, according to a new study in the August issue of the American Sociological Review.
As the nation watches the countdown to Aug. 2 — the date when the U.S. Treasury Department has said it will no longer be able to pay all its bills unless Congress resolves the impasse over raising the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling — Florida State University’s nationally regarded experts in economics and political science are available to answer media questions. They can provide analysis of the continuing debt ceiling negotiations and the potential ramifications of the nation’s fiscal health problems.
"The debt ceiling issue is a dangerous political ploy that could have real economic consequences," said Todd B. Walker, Indiana U. expert on fiscal and monetary policies. He offers his perspective on the issue and is available for media interviews.
Richard Geddes, Cornell University professor of policy analysis and management, comments on the proposed elimination of Saturday mail delivery from the U.S. Postal Service, which is facing an $8.3 billion budget shortfall.
While the new Consumer Protection Financial Bureau (CFPB), which opens today, is aimed at overseeing the books at big banks and making sure financial products are clear, a more effective solution would be to better enforce laws already on the books, says a banking expert at Washington University in St. Louis.
Innovation drives markets. But when innovation is left unharnessed and spreads too fast, regulation can’t keep up and innovation implodes. Jo-Ellen Pozner studies organizational legitimacy and corporate governance and analyzed how the diffusion of innovative practices contributed to the 2008 financial crisis causing “terminal isomorphism” and the mortgage market meltdown. Pozner is an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
The Italian government on July 14 passed an austerity package designed to balance the budget by 2014 and protect Italy from a debt crisis. Will it work? Most likely not, says an economist at Washington University in St. Louis.
Michael Goldberg, the Roland H. O'Neal Professor at the University of New Hampshire, said the government’s failure to raise the debt ceiling could cause a global financial crisis even more severe than the 2008 financial meltdown and send the United States and world economies back into recession.
A study of home purchases during the real estate boom years in Chicago shows how one ethically murky – and sometimes illegal - tactic used to sell homes may have contributed to the housing crash.