When a rare bottle of Scotch whisky sold for US$2.7 million in November 2023, I was stunned, but I wasn’t surprised. The whiskey market has been booming for some time. Bourbon brands like Pappy Van Winkle from Buffalo Trace distillery are selling for astronomical prices in the secondary market. Japanese whiskies, which have become popular...
Financial technology (FinTech)—innovation in the delivery of financial services and products—has grown in popularity, expanding access to finance for millions of people. But while promoting inclusive finance to accelerate economic growth and financial sustainability is considered a good idea, there are challenges to balancing the socioeconomic tradeoffs. In a new study, researchers sought to determine...
Many online platforms (e.g., Huffpost, Wikipedia) host user-generated content (UGC) and content developed by professional reporters. In a new study, researchers examined data from more than 120 local news outlets hosted by a large online news platform in Austria to determine how UGC by citizen journalists affected the amount and type of content produced by professional...
Why do some corporate expressions of solidarity with marginalized groups register as genuine, while others seem performative or even backfire? An analysis of statements by Fortune 500 companies following the 2020 police killing of George Floyd finds that costly actions, such as donating money to social justice groups, aren’t enough to convey allyship to Black...
The company that created ChatGPT was thrown into turmoil Monday after Microsoft hired its ousted CEO and many employees threatened to follow him in a conflict that centered in part on how to build artificial intelligence that’s smarter than humans. The developments followed a weekend of drama that shocked the AI field and fueled speculation about the...
Greenwashing litigation has been making headlines in fashion and beyond, with H&M, Allbirds, Nike, and Canada Goose being among some of the big-name companies that have been targeted with lawsuits as a result of their focus on sustainability or broader ESG claims (think: the use of product/service claims in the vein of “sustainable,” “green,” “eco-friendly,” “conscious,” etc.) in their advertising...
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s spectacular rise and fall in the cryptocurrency industry — a journey that included his testimony before Congress, a Super Bowl advertisement and dreams of a future run for president — hit rock bottom Thursday when a New York jury convicted him of fraud for stealing at least $10 billion from customers and investors....
Online grocery carts tend to include less variety and fewer fruits and vegetables than those in a trip to a brick-and-mortar supermarket – but online shoppers are less susceptible to unhealthy impulse buys, according to a new Cornell University study. In an analysis of nearly 2 million shopping trips, the researchers found that within a given...
Book publishers cried foul – in the form of numerous legal challenges – nearly two decades ago when the Google Books project digitized and freely distributed more than 25 million works. The publishers argued that free digital distribution undermines the market for physical books, but new research from Cornell University’s Imke Reimers and a collaborator reveals that...
Research underscores the hidden cost of abusive leadership, revealing that employees who prioritize career advancement suffer more than employees who prioritize job security If your boss stomps and yells, criticizes you, and then proceeds to take the credit for your work – even it is an isolated incident – it can take a profound toll...
