Commerce

The bustling coastal city of Wenzhou made its mark early on Hao Zhang. “It is considered the birthplace of Chinese capitalism, and living there, with many relatives involved in startups, I was exposed to all kinds of business,” says Zhang, a rising fifth-year graduate student in political science. He also gained a close-up view of...

Researchers from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Dartmouth College, Babson College, and LUISS University published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that shows how to de-escalate customer anger on social media sites by using language that signals active listening and empathy. The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled “Complaint De-escalation Strategies on Social Media” and is authored by Dennis...

A new paper in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, published by Oxford University Press, indicates that many American businesses are willing to hire workers with criminal records. Such companies become even more interested in hiring such workers if offered crime and safety insurance. Employers are unlikely to interview or hire workers with criminal records compared to otherwise similar...

Personalized wine lists. Tailored clothing options. Unique experiences just for you. The world is awash in products and services that promise to provide custom experiences to every consumer. And it turns out our smartphones are pushing us to unconsciously prefer just these kinds of customized options. A new study from the University of Florida has...

If a supply chain scandal does hit, customers want companies they buy from to act – and a combination of actions, not limited to firing their supplier – is the best way to minimise lost consumers. Apologies are not enough. Professor Sabine Benoit from Surrey Business School said: “Our research shows that companies need to...

A time traveller from the early 1990s would be baffled by the coffee marketplace of 2022. What’s latte art? Or grind uniformity? Or single-origin beans? And who cares anyway? That time traveller would discover that a lot of people care and care passionately. Just as the markets of once-mundane items like beer, beignets, chocolate or...

A new paper in Oxford Open Economics, explores “Potterian economics”—the economics of the world of J.K. Rawling’s Harry Potter series. Comparing such economics with professional economic models indicates that while some aspects of this economy are in line with economic models, many other aspects are distorted, contradicting professional economists’ views. Evidence suggests that the public’s economic...

Black households in the U.S. faced higher and more volatile inflation compared to white households from 2004 to 2020, reveals new research from the University of California San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy. The study, published today by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, finds that Black families experienced slightly higher inflation and 13...