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Its Curvature Foreshadows the Next Financial Bubble

An international team of interdisciplinary researchers has identified mathematical metrics to characterize the fragility of financial markets. Their paper “Network geometry and market instability” sheds light on the higher-order architecture of financial systems and allows analysts to identify systemic risks like market bubbles or crashes. With the recent rush of small investors into so-called meme...

Income Drives the Economy, Not Prices
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Income Drives the Economy, Not Prices

Politicians and business leaders often make claims about why certain sectors in the economy are shrinking, such as the decline in U.S. manufacturing is due to robotics or trade with China. Such assessments are flawed, as the sectoral composition of the economy is mostly driven by preferences and not by productivity, according to a recent...

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New Report Offers Recommendations to Strengthen U.S. Supply Chain

Shortages of personal protective equipment and medical devices, dairies pouring gallons of milk down the drain and delivery delays of online purchases. All are examples of how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted and changed the supply chain. Mike Crum, a professor and Ruan Chair of Supply Chain Management in Iowa State University’s Ivy College of...

The Gender Gap in Economics Is Huge – It’s Even Worse Than Tech
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The Gender Gap in Economics Is Huge – It’s Even Worse Than Tech

There is no shortage of disciplines and industries rife with sexism. The STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – are particularly well known for their misogynistic cultures. But I believe, based on my personal experience, the experiences of my fellow female economists and hard data, that there’s a strong case to be made...

How Is COVID-19 Changing Americans’ Online Shopping Habits?
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How Is COVID-19 Changing Americans’ Online Shopping Habits?

– Liisa Ecola, Hui Lu, Charlene Rohr, RAND Corporation Months into the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Americans’ online shopping habits are continuing to shift. We documented changes in online shopping habits at the beginning of the pandemic, comparing patterns from January and February (before the pandemic) with patterns from mid-March and April (when lockdowns...

Good Customer Service Can Lead to Higher Profits, Even for Utilities Without Competition
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Good Customer Service Can Lead to Higher Profits, Even for Utilities Without Competition

In Lily Tomlin’s classic SNL comedy sketch, her telephone operator “Ernestine” famously delivers the punchline, “We don’t care. We don’t have to. We’re the Phone Company.” But new research finds that satisfied customers mean increased profits even for public utilities that don’t face competition. Little is known about effect of customer satisfaction at utilities. As...

Gamestop Trade Clash Roils the Market, but Economic Fundamentals Will Prevail
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Gamestop Trade Clash Roils the Market, but Economic Fundamentals Will Prevail

What should we make of the spikes in the stock prices of companies like GameStop and AMC Entertainment? Has the pandemic suspended the laws of economics as they apply to share prices? Is there something more nefarious going on? Some brokerage firms have stopped customers from buying certain suddenly volatile stocks. Others have curtailed traders’ use of...

Boomerang Performance Is on Par with Internal Employees Who Never Left the Firm, New Paper Finds
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Boomerang Performance Is on Par with Internal Employees Who Never Left the Firm, New Paper Finds

Organizations seeking to fill internal roles traditionally have two options: promote from within or hire externally. Internal promotions benefit from being vetted talent who possess firm-specific skills while outside hires harbor external knowledge that can infuse an organization with new energy. Though this dichotomy is often accepted as unavoidable, there is a third option: boomerang...