ReportWire

Tag: Economics

  • Melany Of MList: My wintertime beauty regimen

    Melany Of MList: My wintertime beauty regimen

    [ad_1]

    Skincare is difficult in a cold climate, and you have to be proactive about it. Neglect your skin, especially on your face, and you’ll end up with a host of ailments that are harder to cure than they are to prevent. I’ve been lucky enough to have wonderful skin, but I also put a lot of time and energy into ensuring my skin stays hydrated and well taken care of. So I thought I’d share my wintertime beauty regimen with you.

    Eat well. Diet has a major impact on your skin. Eat too many greasy or fattening foods and you’ll notice unwanted or unexpected breakouts (even at our age!). So eat lots of colourful fruits and veggies – not only will your skin thank you, but your immune system and overall health will benefit too.

    Hydrate. It’s easy to remember to drink water in the summertime when it’s hot and humid, but all too often, we forget to heed the same advice in the colder months. Keep that bottle of water on you at all times. Add some lemon, cucumber or fresh herbs for some refreshing flavours.

    Moisturize every.single.day. Yes: EVERY SINGLE DAY. Don’t miss even one day of moisturizing. The cold, dry air will suck all the moisture out of your skin, leaving it dry, flaky and itchy. Find a face cream that works well with your skin type and apply it regularly.

    Keep applying that sunscreen. Sunscreen is just as important in the wintertime as it is in the warmer months. Wear it every.single.day.

    Go for a facial. A great face treatment could really help to keep your skin on track (and give you a little R&R too). Visit our beauty vendors to find great locations all around the city where you can book a facial and save money.

    Don’t forget about your lips. Winter wreaks havoc on our lips in the winter months. Apply lipbalm liberally throughout the day to stave away cracked, dry puckers.

    Melany xx

    Married with three kids, MList’s Melany is a jack-of-all-trades. Not only is she a hardworking mom but she’s a serial saver (she loves her MList Card!), she loves to cook, she is very spiritual, and she is very organized. She is also chronically busy. Get her take on what to see, do and buy in Montreal and beyond.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Identity, not income, drives desire to secede

    Identity, not income, drives desire to secede

    [ad_1]

    Newswise — DALLAS (SMU) – What most sparks a region’s desire to seek independence from their country – income or identity?

    A new study from SMU (Southern Methodist University, Dallas) and UC3M (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain) found that the group people identify with tends to play a bigger factor in secession than differences in per capita income between regions. 

    Identity was shown to be a larger factor than income for many real-life examples of pro-independence movements in recent years – such as Tibet in China and Tigray and other Southern Nations in Ethiopia. Researchers looked at a total of 173 countries with 3,003 subnational regions, like Texas and California in the United States or Canadian provinces in Quebec and Ontario.

    The mathematical model that SMU and UC3M created also would have correctly predicted that the Soviet Union was in danger of collapsing before its eventual demise in 1991 and which Soviet republics would have been the first to declare independence.     

    “What we found is striking: separatism would be alive and well even if there were no income differences between regions, whereas it would almost completely die out if everyone spoke the same language,” said Klaus Desmet, Ruth and Kenneth Altshuler Centennial Interdisciplinary Professor of Economics at SMU and author of the study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “From this we can conclude that the key driver of secessionist sentiment is identity, rather than income.”

    Desmet and economists Ignacio Ortuño-Ortín and Ömer Özak used their model to test if support for secession would grow stronger or weaker if there was no difference in the incomes of the people who lived there or no difference in their identity. 

    Across the globe, they found that support for secession would drop from an average of 7.5 percent of a region’s population to 0.6 percent in the absence of identity differences. Yet eliminating income differences would do almost nothing in terms of weakening the desire for secessionism, the study shows. 

    Ortuño-Ortín is a professor of economics at UC3M. Özak is an associate professor of economics at SMU and a research fellow at IZA.  

    The research team wanted to identify the major cause of secessionism because there are often questions of whether economic policies could potentially ease tensions. 

    “Of course, the drivers of separatism are complex, but if we want to simplify a bit, there are two key reasons why certain subnational regions might prefer to become independent,” Desmet said. “A first is income per capita: if my region is relatively rich, I may feel that I am ‘subsidizing’ the rest of the country, and that I would be better off if my region became independent. A second is identity: if my region has a separate ethnic or linguistic identity, I may feel less connected to the nation, and prefer to secede.”

    Desmet, Ortuño-Ortín and Özak were particularly curious about what was driving secessionist tensions in two of the team’s home countries – with Flanders in Belgium having a strong pro-independence movement and Catalonia having made a bid for independence from Spain a few years ago.  

    “Interestingly, because Flanders and Catalonia are relatively rich, the push for independence has been couched in economic terms,” Desmet said. 

    However, the study indicates that economic forces tend to be secondary when it comes to understanding secessionism.

    How the study was done

    The research team’s mathematical model ran on two options – whether subnational regions chose to form their own country or stay in the country they’re currently part of. 

    The economists then plugged different scenarios into the model – such as if the income per capita was the same throughout a country or if everyone spoke the same language. They also looked at what the income and languages spoken in those regions actually were.  

    Income per capita data for the different countries and subnational regions came from a source that economists widely use – Geographically Based Economic Data from Yale University, known as G-Econ 4.0 – for the year 2000.  

    Language was used as a measure for identity, as it has been shown to be a major identity marker that differentiates populations in other studies. The SMU-UC3M team relied on a detailed database of languages that they developed using information from the World Language Mapping System.

    The tricky part was determining how much weight income and identity should get in the model’s calculations.

    “For example, if we gave too much weight to linguistic identity, we would see too much separatism, and if we gave too little weight to linguistic identity, everyone would want to join and stay together,” Desmet said. 

    To gauge how their model matched up with the real world, the research team looked at how the predictions they got mirrored known breakups around the world, like the dissolution of the Soviet Union to create sovereign countries like Ukraine, Armenia and Lithuania.

    Their mathematical model generated predictions for the stability of 173 countries and 3,003 subnational regions. They then looked at how well these predictions lined up with actual secessionist movements and with the actual stability of states. Data for secessionist movements came from Wikipedia. A total of 2,529 hotspots were identified. Desmet, Ortuño-Ortín and Özak also consulted which countries were labeled as unstable in the Fragile States Index, an annual report put out by Washington, D.C.-based Fund for Peace. 

    “When doing these ‘checks,’ it turns out that our model performs very well,” Desmet said. 

    For instance, the model – based on data from the late 1980s – predicted that Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Georgia had a strong likelihood of seceding from the Soviet Union. All of those countries wound up being among the first to leave the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).  

    The identity model also showed that Tibet in China, Tigray in Ethiopia, Bavaria and Saarland in Germany, Aceh in Indonesia and Lombardia and Sardinia all have the potential of wanting to secede from their country. Many of those same subnational regions regularly make the news for pro-independence movements today. 

     

    About SMU

    SMU is the nationally ranked global research university in the dynamic city of Dallas. SMU’s alumni, faculty and over 12,000 students in eight degree-granting schools demonstrate an entrepreneurial spirit as they lead change in their professions, communities and the world.

    [ad_2]

    Southern Methodist University

    Source link

  • What Does the Debt-Ceiling Fight Mean to You?

    What Does the Debt-Ceiling Fight Mean to You?

    [ad_1]

    Hitting the debt ceiling – how much money the federal government can borrow to pay its bills – could lead to economic catastrophe if the situation isn’t handled appropriately, said John Longo, a professor of professional practice at Rutgers Business School.

    The U.S. government is borrowing up to the $31.4 trillion debt limit, which has prompted Senate and House discussions on whether to raise it or risk economic disaster.

    Finance and economic expert Longo explained what this means for the average taxpayer and who is the most vulnerable if there is a default.

    What is the debt limit and why does it have to be raised?

    The federal government runs a persistent budget deficit. That is, its annual inflows, which largely come from taxes and fees, are less than its yearly spending. The U.S. Constitution allows Congress to control the federal government’s finances. Therefore, it must approve federal debt increases, which may be viewed as the sum of our country’s annual deficit from its founding until the present. Unless Congress approves increasing the debt ceiling, there is a risk that the U.S. government cannot pay its bills, which would have severely negative economic implications. 

    So what does this mean for the average taxpayer?

    The odds are that it will mean nothing for the average taxpayer in the short run since the debt ceiling has been extended roughly a hundred times since it was instituted in 1917. If the taxpayer receives some payment from the federal government, there may be a delay in receiving a promised payment. 

    If the debt ceiling is not extended and the federal government defaults on its U.S. Treasury obligations, it may result in a crash in financial assets, severely impacting most taxpayers. In the long run, taxes may increase, or federal government spending must come down. This is because there is growing frustration on both sides of the political aisle with regularly facing the debt-ceiling issue. 

    Who will be most affected?

    The immediate effect will be on those reliant on the federal government for payments. There may be a delay in receiving promised payments or receiving less than what they are owed. First in line is likely external government vendors or contractors. Then it can get quite serious since U.S. military members and those receiving federal government entitlement benefits won’t get paid on time. These entitlement beneficiaries include those receiving payments from programs that support Social Security, Medicaid and food and housing assistance. Overall economic spending would be reduced, likely pushing the U.S. economy into a recession. 

    Perhaps most seriously, if the U.S. Treasury does not meet its debt obligations, it would result in a default on trillions of dollars of assets. These assets, currently considered high investment grade, would turn into “junk” bonds overnight and may result in a cascade of selling across many financial assets. The U.S. Treasury can utilize accounting gimmicks to postpone the day of financial reckoning for several months, but it cannot go on indefinitely. Congress knows these issues and usually agrees to a deal at the last minute. Since the federal government almost always runs a budget deficit, it basically amounts to kicking the can down the road, which is why the debt-ceiling issue resurfaces every year or two. 

    What does the fight over the House Speaker foreshadow about the debt-ceiling fight? 

    The majority of the House and Senate must approve the debt-ceiling expansion. The current speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, was barely elected after more than a dozen failed elections. A sizable contingent of those opposing his nomination want greater fiscal austerity and said they would not vote to raise the debt ceiling. Some congresspeople want concessions, primarily in the form of spending cuts or increased taxes, to vote for an extension of the debt ceiling. In short, there is often a lot of political wrangling going on behind the scenes before the limit is increased, yet again. 

    Why are politicians even fighting about this in the first place? 

    Congress controls the federal government’s purse strings. They won’t let the federal government run an unlimited budget deficit, so the debt-ceiling issue is likely to resurface every year or so. It is highly unlikely that the federal government will run a persistent budget surplus since most congresspeople like to spend money. An aspirational goal may be to have a balanced federal budget in the long run. Several states have operated on this model, so it is not an impossible task.

    However, I think the odds are we will continue to do what has happened since the current model was adopted in the early 1900s. We will continue to face this issue every year or two until there is bipartisan agreement on a more rational model. 

    [ad_2]

    Rutgers University-New Brunswick

    Source link

  • Beans IN toast could revolutionise British diet

    Beans IN toast could revolutionise British diet

    [ad_1]

    Newswise — Researchers and chefs at the University of Reading aim to encourage British consumers and food producers to switch to bread containing faba beans (commonly known as broad beans), making it healthier and less damaging to the environment.

    The £2 million, three-year, publicly-funded ‘Raising the Pulse’ project has officially begun and is announced today (18 January 2023) in the Nutrition Bulletin journal.

    Five teams of researchers within the University of Reading, along with members of the public, farmers, industry, and policy makers, are now working together to bring about one of the biggest changes to UK food in generations.

    This is by increasing pulses in the UK diet, particularly faba beans, due to their favourable growing conditions in the UK and the sustainable nutritional enhancement they provide.

    Despite being an excellent alternative to the ubiquitous imported soya bean, used currently in bread as an improver, the great majority of faba beans grown in the UK go to animal feed at present.

    Researchers are optimising the sustainability and nutritional quality of beans grown here, with a view to encouraging farmers to switch some wheat producing land to faba bean for human consumption.

    Faba beans are particularly high in easily digested protein, fibre, and iron, nutrients that can be low in UK diets. But the majority of people are not used to cooking and eating faba beans, which poses a major challenge.

    Professor Julie Lovegrove is leading the ‘Raising the Pulse’ research programme. She said: “We had to think laterally: What do most people eat and how can we improve their nutrition without them having to change their diets? The obvious answer is bread!

    “96% of people in the UK eat bread, and 90% of that is white bread, which in most cases contains soya. We’ve already performed some experiments and found that faba bean flour can directly replace imported soya flour and some of the wheat flour, which is low in nutrients. We can not only grow the faba beans here, but also produce and test the faba bean-rich bread, with improved nutritional quality.”

    ‘Raising the Pulse’ is a multidisciplinary programme of research, funded by the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, as part of their ‘Transforming UK Food Systems’ initiative.

    As well as consulting and working with members of disadvantaged communities, there will be studies using our novel foods at the University of Reading’s students halls of residence and catering outlets.

    This links ‘Raising the Pulse’ with Matt Tebbit, who runs the University’s catering service and leads the University’s ‘Menus for Change’ research programme. He said: “Students will be asked to rate products made or enriched with faba bean, such as bread, flat bread, and hummus. They will be asked questions about how full they felt, for how long and their liking of the foods. It is hoped that faba bean will improve satiety, as well as providing enhanced nutritional benefits in products that are enjoyable to eat.”

    Before there are products to be tested, the beans must be grown, harvested and milled. ‘Raising the Pulse’ seeks to improve these stages as well. Researchers will be choosing or breeding varieties that are healthful as well as high yielding, working with the soil to improve yield via nitrogen fixing bacteria, mitigating environmental impacts of farming faba beans, planning for the changing climate, and more.

    [ad_2]

    University of Reading

    Source link

  • Nordstrom Report Hints at Weaker Spending by Wealthy Shoppers

    Nordstrom Report Hints at Weaker Spending by Wealthy Shoppers

    [ad_1]

    Nordstrom’s holiday season sales were softer than prepandemic levels, the company said.


    Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Nordstrom

    If
    Nordstrom’s
    latest sales update is anything to go by, high-income shoppers are finally starting to feel the pinch of a slowing economy.

    The luxury department store, whose product lineup is aimed mainly at wealthier people, said late on Thursday that holiday sales were softer than hoped. It is the latest retailer to warn that consumers took a more cautious approach to holiday shopping in 2022.

    “The holiday season was highly promotional, and sales were softer than prepandemic levels,” said CEO Erik Nordstrom in a news release late Thursday. “While we continue to see greater resilience in our higher income cohorts, it is clear that consumers are being more selective with their spending given the broader macro environment.”

    Shares of Nordstrom (ticker:
    JWN
    ) were largely unchanged in early Friday trading, with a gain of 0.1% to $17.47.

    The company also updated its financial forecasts for fiscal 2022, the 12 months ending January 2023. It now expects revenue growth to be at the low end of the range of 5% to 7% it had forecast. Holiday sales fell by 3.5% in 2022, driven by a 7.6% decline in the company’ Nordstrom Rack banner and a 1.7% decrease in core Nordstrom sales.

    Nordstrom also said that the need to sell off outdated inventory weighed heavily on profit and margins. Adjusted earnings per share will range between $1.50 and $1.70, compared with the company’s prior call for $2.30 to $2.60. The consensus call among analysts surveyed by FactSet was for earnings to land at $1.81 for fiscal 2022.

    Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes margin will be 3.1% to 3.3%, compared with the 4.3% to 4.7% management had predicted.

    While costly to the bottom line, discounting heavily during the holiday season may actually be better for Nordstrom in the long run. The company expects year-end inventory levels to be down by a double-digit percentage compared with last year, putting them roughly at 2019 levels.

    “We believe this reduction, coupled with cleaner inventory (~flat to 2019), may actually have been better than feared,” wrote BMO Capital Markets analyst Simon Siegel in a research note. Siegel maintained a Market Perform rating and trimmed his target for the stock price to $20 from $23.

    Still, it isn’t an easy time to be a department store. Nordstrom’s announcement comes weeks after
    Macy’s
    provided investors with a similar update, saying sales would come in at the low to middle end of the range it had forecast as a result of unexpected lulls in demand outside of the peak shopping weekends.

    On Wednesday, the Census Bureau reported that department stores’ retail sales fell by 6.6% in December from November, and were down 0.6% from December 2021.

    Analysts have also expressed concern about what Nordstrom’s guidance means for demand from high-end consumers, whose buying has remained fairly resilient despite macroeconomic challenges.

    For
    Piper Sandler
    ‘s Edward Yruma, who the revision indicates that high-income shoppers may be “undergoing a cyclical slowdown,” driven by layoffs in white-collar industries, a volatile stock market, and a weak housing market. He maintained a Neutral rating on the stock.

    Write to Sabrina Escobar at sabrina.escobar@barrons.com

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Melany Of MList: 5 Outdoor family ideas

    Melany Of MList: 5 Outdoor family ideas

    [ad_1]

    There’s only one way to enjoy all that white stuff: Embrace the snow! Here are five outdoor family ideas that are loads of fun and educational too.

    1. Fill up spray bottles with water and food coloring. Use them to draw in the snow or to add some detail and colour to your snowmen or snow forts. 

    2. Snow tic tac toe. Kids love the challenge of this simple tried-and-true game, and it’s even more fun when you play it in the snow.

    3. Glow sticks. Put them under the snow for some light up fun. This is a great witching hour activity to play after the sun goes down. Get a game of hide-and-go-seek with the glowsticks and see where you can discreetly tuck them – and how many you can find.

    4. Ice discoveries. This takes a bit of prepwork but it’s super easy to do: freeze small toys in ice and then arm your kids with protective eyewear and a small hammer to see who can “discover” what;s frozen in the ice.

    5. Outdoor science lab. Kids can get super messy as long as it’s outside. Set up a few plastic jars or bottles with coloured water or vinegar, and give them a bowl of baking soda. You never know what they’ll “invent”!

    Have fun!

    Melany xx

    Married with three kids, MList’s Melany is a jack-of-all-trades. Not only is she a hardworking mom but she’s a serial saver (she loves her MList Card!), she loves to cook, she is very spiritual, and she is very organized. She is also chronically busy. Get her take on what to see, do and buy in Montreal and beyond.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Too Much Government Debt Could Become a Big Problem for the Stock Market

    Too Much Government Debt Could Become a Big Problem for the Stock Market

    [ad_1]

    It’s always fun until the bill comes due—and the bill always comes due. In fact, it’s coming due right about now.

    On Friday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Congress that the U.S. would hit its debt ceiling this coming Thursday, earlier than many had expected. That doesn’t mean the government will be forced to stop paying its bills then—Yellen believes that the Treasury has enough cash and other ways to raise money to last it until early June—but it does mean that an issue that was still purely theoretical has become far more pressing as the X date approaches.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Utah’s Consumer Sentiment rises in December

    Utah’s Consumer Sentiment rises in December

    [ad_1]

    Newswise — January 6, 2023 (Salt Lake City) – Utah’s consumer sentiment increased from 64.1 in November to 68.7 in December, according to the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute’s Survey of Utah Consumers. A similar survey by the University of Michigan also found sentiment rose from November (56.8) to December (59.7) among Americans as a whole. The Gardner Institute has now measured Utah Consumer Sentiment for 27 consecutive months. The December 2022 Index for both Utah and the US increased over the prior month, suggesting a slightly better outlook.

    “Current economic challenges from an overheated economy include high inflation, rising interest rates, and slowdowns in construction and real estate.  Consumer sentiment has reflected these challenges,” said Phil Dean, Chief Economist at the Gardner Institute.  “Yet, there are many often under-appreciated economic buffers.  Extremely low employment coupled with improving supply chains and strong overall household, business, and state and local government financial reserves provide a hedge against these challenges in the new year.” 

    The full results and methodology are now available online.

    ### 

    ABOUT THE GARDNER POLICY INSTITUTE

    The Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute serves Utah by preparing economic, demographic, and public policy research that helps the state prosper. We are Utah’s demographic experts, leaders on the Utah economy, and specialists on public policy and survey research. We are an honest broker of INFORMED RESEARCH, which guides INFORMED DISCUSSIONS, and leads to INFORMED DECISIONS™. For more information, please visit gardner.utah.edu or call 801-587-3717. 

    ABOUT THE DAVID ECCLES SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

    The Eccles School is synonymous with ‘doing.’ The Eccles experience provides a world-class business education with a unique, entrepreneurial focus on real-world scenarios where students put what they learn into practice long before graduation. Founded in 1917 and educating more than 6,000 students annually, the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business offers nine undergraduate majors, four MBAs, eight other graduate programs, a Ph.D. in seven areas and executive education curricula. The School is also home to 12 institutes, centers, and initiatives, which deliver academic research and support an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation. For more information, visit Eccles.Utah.edu or call 801-581-7676.

    [ad_2]

    University of Utah

    Source link

  • New study suggests Mayas utilized market-based economics

    New study suggests Mayas utilized market-based economics

    [ad_1]

    Newswise — More than 500 years ago in the midwestern Guatemalan highlands, Maya people bought and sold goods with far less oversight from their rulers than many archeologists previously thought. 

    That’s according to a new study in Latin American Antiquity that shows the ruling K’iche’ elite took a hands-off approach when it came to managing the procurement and trade of obsidian by people outside their region of central control. 

    In these areas, access to nearby sources of obsidian, a glasslike rock used to make tools and weapons, was managed by local people through independent and diverse acquisition networks. Overtime, the availability of obsidian resources and the prevalence of craftsmen to shape it resulted in a system that is in many ways suggestive of contemporary market-based economies. 

    “Scholars have generally assumed that the obsidian trade was managed by Maya rulers, but our research shows that this wasn’t the case at least in this area,” said Rachel Horowitz, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of anthropology at Washington State University. “People seem to have had a good deal of economic freedom including being able to go to places similar to the supermarkets we have today to buy and sell goods from craftsmen.” 

    While there are extensive written records from the Maya Postclassic Period (1200-1524 AD) on political organization, much less is known about how societal elites wielded economic power. Horowitz set out to address this knowledge gap for the K’iche’ by examining the production and distribution of obsidian artifacts, which are used as a proxy by archeologists to determine the level of economic development in a region. 

    She performed geochemical and technological analysis on obsidian artifacts excavated from 50 sites around the K’iche’ capital of Q’umarkaj and surrounding region to determine where the raw material originally came from and techniques of its manufacture. 

    He results showed that the K’iche’ acquired their obsidian from similar sources in the Central K’iche’ region and Q’umarkaj, indicating a high degree of centralized control. The ruling elite also seemed to manage the trade of more valuable forms of nonlocal obsidian, particularly Pachua obsidian from Mexico, based off its abundance in these central sites. 

    Outside this core region though, in areas conquered by the K’iche, there was less similarity in obsidian economic networks. Horowitz’s analysis suggests these sites had access to their own sources of obsidian and developed specialized places where people could go to buy blades and other useful implements made from the rock by experts. 

    “For a long time, there has been this idea that people in the past didn’t have market economies, which when you think about it is kind of weird. Why wouldn’t these people have had markets in the past?” she said. “The more we look into it, the more we realize there were a lot of different ways in which these peoples’ lives were similar to ours.”

    The Middle American Research Institute at Tulane University loaned Horowitz the obsidian blades and other artifacts she used for her study. The artifacts were excavated in the 1970s. 

    Moving forward, Horowitz said she plans to examine more of the collection, the rest of which is housed in Guatemala, to discover further details about how the Maya conducted trade, managed their economic systems, and generally went about their lives.

    [ad_2]

    Washington State University

    Source link

  • BEST OF 2022: Melany Of MList: Effective ways to save on food expenses

    BEST OF 2022: Melany Of MList: Effective ways to save on food expenses

    [ad_1]

    Food has gone up a lot in overall price these last few months, which have hit our wallets hard. But there are ways that you can cut your food expenses down a bit, and here’s how:

    Buy whatever is in season, and avoid “exotic” items. Look for the items that are in season right now. That may have been tricky during the winter months (I mean, how many root vegetables can you really eat in a week?!), but try and stick to what’s in season, buy in bulk, and freeze or preserve the leftovers.

    Make a list… and stick to it. There’s nothing worse than aimlessly wandering around the grocery store, throwing things haphazardly in your cart. Impulse buying will add to your bill, so create a quick list and only buy the things listed there.

    Take advantage of savings. That means checking flyers. Know the prices of foods so you can really decipher between deals and non-deals. And, of course, use your MList Card – we have a whole section of food vendors who offer great discounts on groceries, restaurant purchases, and more.

    Take advantage of technology. flipp is a cool app where it sends you your flyers digitally through a mobile device. You can even put in your grocery list and it will tell you what’s on special and at what grocery stores.

    What can you prepare at home? Sure, that Starbucks coffee is amazing every morning, but those purchases can quickly add up. Invest in an awesome travel mug and start making your brew at home.

    Melany xx

    Married with three kids, MList’s Melany is a jack-of-all-trades. Not only is she a hardworking mom but she’s a serial saver (she loves her MList Card!), she loves to cook, she is very spiritual, and she is very organized. She is also chronically busy. Get her take on what to see, do and buy in Montreal and beyond.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Study finds anger over COVID-19 layoffs keeping hospitality workers from returning to jobs

    Study finds anger over COVID-19 layoffs keeping hospitality workers from returning to jobs

    [ad_1]

    Newswise — Researchers at the University of Houston Conrad N. Hilton College of Global Hospitality Leadership say many skilled hospitality workers who were furloughed or laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic are angry and unlikely to return to the industry.

    During the first few months of the pandemic in 2020, travel and dining out declined rapidly putting severe financial strain on hospitality organizations, especially those in the lodging and food and beverage sectors. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the hospitality industry lost nearly 8 million hospitality jobs were lost, making it the hardest-hit industry in the U.S. by the pandemic in terms of workforce reduction.

    “I don’t think any industry was prepared, but the hospitality industry really wasn’t prepared,” said Juan Madera, the Curtis L. Carlson endowed professor at Hilton College. “Their solution to cutting costs and saving the business was to let people go and then try to rehire them when it was over.”

    Fast forward nearly three years, and the overall U.S. jobs market has surpassed pre-pandemic levels. But the hospitality industry remains far behind in its recovery with roughly 1.3 million jobs still available as of July 2022.

    Madera and his Hilton College colleague, Ph.D. candidate and teaching fellow Iuliana Popa, along with two of his former students, wanted to figure out why. In a study published in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, the team focused on two basic emotions: anger and fear. They collected data from over 300 online surveys and over 100 responses to a scenario-based experimental study. Participants included hospitality students, as well as current, former, and aspiring hospitality industry professionals.

    “Your job, your livelihood is taken away, so a natural response is fear for your future,” Madera said. “But we found anger was a bigger driver in explaining why these workers aren’t coming back. They were angry over how the industry responded to the pandemic.”

    According to Popa, the results of the study point to a problematic trend for the industry. If skilled workers switch industries due to job loss amidst another industry-wide negative event, it may be difficult for businesses to find qualified employees once the recovery and rehiring begins.

    “I think by and large, people who were laid off or furloughed during the pandemic probably moved on to different industries altogether,” she said. “Something more stable and less dependent on those in-person interactions where their skills were transferable, like business or real estate.”

    Unlike other industries, the hospitality industry already faced challenges in finding and retaining highly skilled workers due to the nature of the business, according to Popa.

    “Workers in the hospitality industry already had it hard, whether it’s low wages or having to work weekends, overnights and holidays,” Popa said. “It’s a very demanding job, so to go through all of that and then be laid off was kind of the last straw.”

    The research team came up with recommendations for businesses to consider going forward, including offering higher compensation and better benefits and doing a better job of protecting workers’ health.

    But Popa said the most important priority should be rebuilding trust with their employees.

    “It’s important that organizations understand this anger among workers and build better communication with them,” she said. “If there’s another crisis in the industry, they’ll want to know there’s a plan in place and that they’ll be protected, financially, emotionally and physically.”

    Despite the massive impact of the pandemic and the ongoing challenge to restore the workforce, Madera said not all hope is lost.

    “There are people who are still motivated to work in hospitality because it’s a unique industry,” he said. “You can travel the country or the world, you have a lot of personal interaction. Even people from outside the industry could be attracted to that.”

    [ad_2]

    University of Houston

    Source link

  • Law scholar behind bipartisan supply chain bill calls it critical to economic development

    Law scholar behind bipartisan supply chain bill calls it critical to economic development

    [ad_1]

    CORNELL UNIVERSITY MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
    FOR RELEASE: Dec. 21, 2022

    Newswise — Last week, Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Ro Khanna introduced legislation aimed at addressing supply chain shortfalls exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Development Strategy and Coordination Act of 2022 is meant to address both long and short-term supply issues in order to prevent widespread shortages of critical supplies like baby formula or medical supplies.

    Robert Hockett, professor of corporate law and financial regulation at Cornell Law School, conceived and drafted this legislation in the fall of 2020. Professor Hockett addresses why this legislation is critical to the United States and will restore “Hamiltonian America.”  

    Hockett says:

    “To its detriment, America has forgotten three things about economic development in recent decades – namely that it is national, that it’s forever, and that it is always cross-regional and cross-sectoral in character. This legislation will rectify that.

    “The National Development Strategy and Coordination Act of 2022 makes creative new use of existing (and democratically accountable) federal instrumentalities – the White House Cabinet, reconfigured into a National Development Council in analogy to the National Security Council, and the U.S. Treasury’s Federal Financing Bank – to develop, regularly update, and finance the execution of a National Development Strategy. 

    “This creative repurposing of existing institutions will restore the Hamiltonian America that we lost sight of over three decades of misguided offshoring that hollowed-out our productive capacity, undermined our national security, and exported most of our best, most middle-class-sustaining jobs.”     

    Cornell University has dedicated television and audio studios available for media interviews.

    – 30 –

    [ad_2]

    Cornell University

    Source link

  • American University Experts Look Ahead to 2023

    American University Experts Look Ahead to 2023

    [ad_1]

    What: Uncertainty in the economy and a possible global recession, the quest for normalcy after the COVID-19 pandemic; the continued war in Ukraine; record numbers of migrants surging across the U.S.-Mexican border… As 2022 concludes, American University experts share their insights on this year’s headlines and their outlook for 2023.

    When: Tuesday, December 20, 2022 – ongoing

    Background:  American University experts who are available for interviews include those listed below as well as some who have provided insights.

     

    U.S. Politics & Elections

    David Barker is the Director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University’s School of Public Affairs. He is a nationally recognized expert on a broad range of topics, including American political parties, campaigns and elections, representation, culture and polarization, ideology and attitudes, information and communication, political institutions. His latest book is The Politics of Truth in Polarized America.

    Prof. Barker said: “Both at home and abroad, after several years of democratic backsliding, 2022 offered some modestly encouraging signs regarding democracy’s resilience and its prospects for renewal.  However, we cannot allow ourselves to become complacent.  Freedom is always precarious; it must be vigilantly protected and persistently pursued.”

    Amy Dacey is Executive Director of the Sine Institute of Policy & Policy at American University. For more than two decades, she managed prominent national organizations, advised leading elected officials and candidates, including President Barack Obama and Senator John Kerry, and counseled a variety of nonprofits and companies. During the 2016 presidential election, she served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Democratic National Committee.

    Amy Dacey said: “The midterms showed yet again that while all issues matter, certain issues motivate voters. The passion we saw from voters — and particularly young voters – about access to abortion, may have been what prevented the ‘red wave’ that so many observers predicted. But while campaigns are about contrasts, governing is about consensus. That won’t be easy in this age of extremism and political polarization. The number one task for 2023 is to keep our democracy intact and functional.”

    Dean Sam Fulwood, III of American University’s School of Communication is a prominent journalist, public policy analyst and author, whose work addresses key issues of media influences on American life. In addition to his work at SOC, Fulwood is a nonresident senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, where he was a senior fellow and vice president for race and equity programming.

    Dean Fulwood said: “Every sector of U.S. society remains in recovery mode from the aftershocks of the COVID pandemic. While most Americans are fatigued by the lingering restrictions the pandemic imposed, it’s perhaps a bit overly optimistic to expect that 2023 will bring an immediate return to past normalcy. In fact, the U.S. – and the world – are creating pathways to a new normal. This will continue well into the New Year.

    I think this emerging new normal will be evident both in our national and local politics and will be revealed primarily in our various media modes. 2023 will not be an election year for most Americans, but politics will continue to be front and center as presidential aspirants jockey for positioning to run in 2024. Campaigns are likely to be particularly contentious among GOP hopefuls as they navigate internal struggles and come to grips with the legacy of the Trump/MAGA hold over much of the party.”

     

    Economy & Finance

    Valentina Bruno is a professor of finance in the Kogod School of Business where she studies topics at the intersection of macroeconomics and finance and opened new lines of inquiry into how global financial markets interact with the real economy. Before joining American University, she worked at the World Bank in the Financial Sector Strategy and Policy Group and in the International Finance Team.

    Prof. Bruno said: “Many indicators point to a global recession coming in 2023. And yet, in the past recent weeks financial conditions have loosened, stocks have rallied, and mortgage rates have fallen from their recent peaks. The US dollar has reaffirmed its dominant role, and data shows that 88% of all foreign exchange transactions have the dollar on one side. And yet, emerging markets have been quite resilient so far. Consumer demand and a tight labor market have partially undone the actions of the Fed. As Chairman Powell said recently, we have a long way to go to get back to price stability. However, once inflation is under control, we will see the light at the end of the tunnel. A soft landing is still possible.”

    Jeffrey Harris is the Gary D. Cohn Goldman Sachs Chair in Finance at the Kogod School of Business. He has an extensive background in market microstructure and regulatory issues. Dr. Harris recently served as Chief Economist and Division Director for the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

    Prof. Harris said: “With higher rates in store, I expect variable rate mortgages to pinch consumer spending along with dismal house prices. These higher rates will likely tame inflation but will pinch the economy.  Most businesses will persevere, but the housing and financial sectors will slow. The uncertainty in Ukraine will continue to keep energy prices high, but this bodes well for the energy and defense sectors. I expect GDP growth south of 2% but a continuing strong job market as more boomers retire.”

    Dean David Marchick leads the Kogod School of Business to support more than 2,000 students and offer more than two dozen undergraduate, graduate degree, and certification programs. He previously was a managing director at the Carlyle Group and served as Chief Operating Officer of the US Development Finance Corporation during the first year of the Biden Administration, and also served in Clinton administration in various roles.

    Dean Marchick said: “The biggest uncertainty for the global economy is not based on what happens at the Federal Reserve but rather what happens with COVID in China. This month, in the wake of protests in China, Chinese authorities lifted the drastic COVID restrictions across the country.  Now the question is whether China will be shut down not based on policy, but disease. More than 600 million PRC nationals remain unvaccinated or unboosted weeks before the Lunar new year, when more than 300 million PRC nationals travel to see family and friends. Not only could we see a humanitarian crisis worse than the peaks in India, New York or Italy, but the crisis could further stress supply chains, exacerbate political instability and slow China’s economy. Since China accounts for almost 20% of global GDP, the level of China’s growth, or lack thereof, has global implications.  At 4.4% growth in 2023, China is projected to contribute 30% of aggregate global growth next year. But if China’s growth rate falls to zero, global GDP could drop by more than 1%.  Thus, the US and other countries have a deep interest in helping China avoid a humanitarian disaster, but also a self-interest in seeing China grow.”

     

    Extremism & Polarization

    Carolyn Gallaher is an expert on extremism and the right-wing, organized violence by non-state actors and urban politics, including the politics, internal dynamics, and patterns of violence of militias, paramilitaries, and private military contractors, among others. Gallaher is the author of On the Fault Line: Race, Class, and the American Patriot Movement.

    Prof. Gallaher said: “This year, the January 6th Committee revealed how President Donald Trump inspired a failed insurrection that almost toppled 245 years of American democracy. Much of 2022 was spent on holding insurrectionists and other participants to account. The Department of Justice has arrested more than 900 people who participated in the assault and recently successfully prosecuted several members of the violent Oathkeepers militia, including two for seditious conspiracy. As 2023 begins, Trump’s star may be growing dimmer, but right-wing conspiracy theories, online disinformation, and a distressing lack of trust in the basic institutions of democracy continue apace. In particular, it will be important to see whether the Republican Party will reject those within its ranks who have embrace election disinformation and spread false claims about the so-called ‘deep state.’  The fate of the party, and American democracy may hinge on whether the party embraces or rejects right wing extremists within its ranks.”  

    Brian Hughes is the Co-Founder and Associate Director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL), where he develops studies and interventions to reduce the risk of radicalization to extremism. His scholarly research explores the impact of communication technology on political and religious extremism, terrorism, and fringe culture.

    Prof. Hughes said: “This year saw a troubling continuation of ongoing trends in the radicalization of mainstream American politics. Anti-LGBTQ violence and antisemitism in particular were on the rise, while racism, male supremacy, and other forms of extremism have not abated. Unfortunately, these trends are spurred on and exploited for profit and power by a large cohort of media and political figures. It is all the more crucial that in 2023 we continue our work inoculating the public against their divisive, hateful, and manipulative rhetoric.”

    Janice Iwama is an assistant professor in AU’s School of Public Affairs. Her research focuses on examining local conditions and social processes that influence hate crimes, gun violence, racial profiling, and the victimization of immigrants. Iwama has served as a co-principal investigator and lead researcher in projects funded by the Department of Justice Civil Rights Unit and the National Institute of Justice. Prof. Iwama said: “Following the recent spike in hate crimes, I expect federal and state legislators to introduce new legislation in 2023 that will actively seek to improve our data collection on hate crimes, develop better preventative measures against bias incidents, and improve law enforcement responses to hate crimes.”

    Pamela Nadell is director of AU’s Jewish Studies Program and an award-winning historian and expert on the history of antisemitism in America and around the world. Nadell can provide commentary on current trends and problems of antisemitism.  

     

    Foreign Policy – War in Ukraine, Refugees & Immigration

    Ernesto Castañeda is Associate Professor of Sociology at American University and the Director of the Immigration Lab. He is an expert on international migration, borders, social movements, and ethnic and racial inequality. He is currently working on research projects about health disparities, Central American migration, and Afghan refugee integration.

    Garret Martin is the co-director of the Transatlantic Policy Center and Senior Professorial Lecturer at the School of International Service.  He has written widely on transatlantic relations and Europe, security, U.S. foreign policy, NATO, European politics, and European foreign policy and defense.

    Jordan Tama is an associate professor in the School of International Service, he specializes in U.S. foreign and national security policy, foreign policy bipartisanship, presidential-congressional relations, national security strategic planning, the politics of economic sanctions, the foreign policy views of U.S. elites, and the value of independent commissions. He is currently working on a book Bipartisanship in a Polarized Age: When Democrats and Republicans Cooperate on U.S. Foreign Policy.

    Joseph Torigian, assistant professor at the School of International Service, is an expert on politics of authoritarian regimes with a specific focus on China and Russia. His research draws upon comparative politics, international relations, security studies, and history to ask big questions about the long-term political trajectories of these two states.

    Guy Ziv is an associate professor at the School of International Service and expert in U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East, U.S.-Israel relations, and Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. He is the author of Why Hawks Become Doves: Shimon Peres and Foreign Policy Change in Israel.

     

    Media & Technology

    Dean Sam Fulwood, III of American University’s School of Communication.

    Dean Fulwood said: “For journalists and media observers, the runup to the 2024 presidential campaign will dominate much of the 2023 news cycles. While some stories are evergreen, journalists will continue struggle to find audiences as the new normal unfolds with changes in media delivery modes. Twitter, Facebook, Tik-Tok and other forms of social media will continue to erode advertising base for traditional, mainstream media outlets, exacerbating an ongoing trend toward declining local news and expanding news deserts in small American communities without comprehensive media presence.”

    Filippo Trevisan is an Associate Professor of Public Communication at American University’s School of Communication and Deputy Director of the Institute on Disability and Public Policy. His research explores the impact of digital technologies on advocacy, activism, and political communication.

    Prof. Trevisan said: “In a year without elections, no Olympics, and in which the pandemic seems to finally be waning, we likely need to wait until the next “crisis” to know what the media are going to focus on in 2023. The war in Ukraine is certainly going to stay at the top of the agenda and invite a fair bit of misinformation, especially if negotiations will start and each side will try its best to win the narrative “war.” A lot will also depend on what will happen to Twitter following Elon Musk’s takeover. Whether or not more companies will withdraw their advertising dollars from it, its brand is already badly damaged, which threatens to put the platform into a vicious circle. Musk’s seemingly erratic moves will continue as it’s one way to keep the company relevant in the news, but it may only be a matter of time before the news media stop reporting every one of his moves verbatim.”

    Sherri Williams is an assistant professor in the School of Communication, her interests are at intersection of social media, social justice, reality television, mass media and how people of color use and are represented by these mediums. Prof. Williams teaches journalism and focuses on how marginalized groups, especially women of color, are portrayed in the media.

    Prof. Williams said: “I hope that next year will include more national and local news coverage about how inequality is embedded into law. We are at a critical time in history where extremely conservative legislators are codifying discrimination into law. State legislation that discriminates against transgender youth, limits protests, restricts education about state and national legacies of oppression and bans abortion all essentially legalize discrimination. Journalism that explores how legislators can help close equity gaps with legislation is essential to helping Americans understand that discrimination is often legal and can be remedied with policy, like the Respect for Marriage Act that President Biden just signed. I also hope to see more reporters localize U.S. Supreme Court stories and translate the importance of the court to the public and what is on its docket.”

     

    Environment/ Sustainability 

    Paul Bledsoe is an adjunct professorial lecturer at the Center on Environmental Policy at American University’s School of Public Affairs at. He was director of communications of the White House Climate Change Task Force under President Clinton from 1998-2001, communications director of the Senate Finance Committee under Chairman Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and special assistant to former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt.

    Todd Eisenstadt, professor and Research Director at the Center for Environmental Policy at American University’s School of Public Affairs, is an expert on climate change policy. He recently co-authored Climate Change, Science, and the Politics of Shared Sacrifice and has written extensively on climate finance and adaptation in the developing world. 

    Jessica Gephart is a U.S. Department of State Science Envoy and Assistant Professor of Environmental Science. She focuses on the intersection of seafood globalization and environmental change, evaluating how seafood trade drives environmental impacts, and how environmental shocks disrupt seafood trade. Gephart is currently working on the development of a global seafood trade database.

     

    About American University

    American University leverages the power and purpose of scholarship, learning, and community to impact our changing world. From sustainability to social justice to the sciences, AU’s faculty, students, staff, and alumni are changemakers. Building on our 129-year history of education and research in the public interest, we say ‘Challenge Accepted’ to addressing the world’s pressing issues. Our Change Can’t Wait comprehensive campaign creates transformative educational opportunities, advances research with impact, and builds stronger communities.

     

    [ad_2]

    American University

    Source link

  • Education boosts entrepreneurship in high growth industries

    Education boosts entrepreneurship in high growth industries

    [ad_1]

    Newswise — AMES, IA – A new study from Iowa State indicates more education increases entrepreneurship in the U.S., especially for women.

    Economics Professor John Winters and graduate student Kunwon Ahn co-authored the recently published paper in Small Business Economics.

    “The benefits of education are often debated. Some worry it’s mostly about signaling rather than skill development, but our study provides a piece of evidence that additional years of education after high school can boost self-employment in high growth industries,” said Winters.

    To build their economic model, the researchers relied on the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Ahn and Winters examined employment and education data on nearly 8.2 million people born in the U.S. between 1963 and 1990. They then spliced their samples by state and birth year to link changes in education levels to changes in self-employment rates. 

    The researchers categorized industries as “high growth,” “low-to-middle growth” and “shrinking” based on industry employment growth data between 2006 and 2019 from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.

    “Some of the high growth industries are what we’d expect: e-commerce and computer and data processing services. But they also included child care, veterinary services, and newer sub-industries in health, education and social services that emerged with smartphones and the explosion of apps,” said Winters.

    Food processing, trucking and grocery stores were among the low-to-middle growth industries. Automobiles, electronics and other sectors of manufacturing dominated the shrinking industries category, along with some retailers that sold clothing, movies and music.

    After crunching the numbers, the researchers found:

    • Additional schooling led to more self-employment in high growth industries for men and women.
    • Additional schooling led to more self-employment in low-to-medium growth industries for women but not for men.
    • Additional schooling led to less self-employment in shrinking industries for men. The researchers could not make any definitive conclusions about shrinking-industry self-employment for women because the results were not statistically significant.

    “Essentially, more education shifted the overall number of self-employed men from shrinking and low-to-medium-growth industries to high growth industries. For women, more education increased self-employment overall,” said Winters.

    Han Solo’s confidence

    As for possible explanations for the different effects education has on men and women, Winters said it may have something to do with confidence.

    “The percentage of businesses that fail early on is very high. So, nascent entrepreneurs need to be confident in order to take the leap into self-employment,” said Winters. “Think of Han Solo in Star Wars who said, ‘Never tell me the odds.’ He’s a textbook case of an overconfident entrepreneur.”

    Winters pointed to previous research showing men historically tend to be more confident and even overconfident compared to women. Along with increasing skills, education can help open doors and aspirations.

    “Education is empowering. For men who are overconfident, additional schooling may not affect their confidence much, but it can provide skills to help them in more productive and higher growth industries. For women, education may have an even greater impact on encouraging them to jump into entrepreneurship by increasing their confidence in addition to their skills,” Winters said.

    Data limitations and future research

    One of the challenges with the research project was measuring entrepreneurship. The American Community Survey asks people if they are self-employed, which Winters said is not necessarily the same as being an entrepreneur.

    “We tend to think of an entrepreneur as someone who wants to grow their business and have employees. Self-employment is broader,” said Winters.

    To shed further light on this, the researchers looked at whether the survey respondents who were self-employed had a business that was incorporated or unincorporated. Incorporating a business limits the owner’s personal liability for business debts. It provides legal protection but comes with additional paperwork and fees.

    Since businesses with more employees or aspirations to grow are more likely to be incorporated, the researchers used the legal status as a proxy for entrepreneurship. They found education increased incorporated self-employment for both women and men.

    In order to have large enough sample sizes for every state between 1963 and 1990, the researchers used employment and education data from white, non-Hispanic adults.

    “Our empirical method only allows us to look at people born in the United States, and we need large comparable groups for our approach to give accurate results,” explained Winters. 

    Winters said he’d like to see more research that explores how education can enhance entrepreneurship as a whole and for different demographic groups.

    “Education and entrepreneurship are both massively important topics, and better understanding how they work together is critical for a prosperous future,” notes Winters. “Our paper is only scratching the surface, but we hope future research sheds light on things like the influence of college major, student debt, and where entrepreneurs start their businesses.”

    [ad_2]

    Iowa State University

    Source link

  • Tulane researcher and Rosov Consulting to study economic insecurity among American Jews

    Tulane researcher and Rosov Consulting to study economic insecurity among American Jews

    [ad_1]

    Newswise — A first-of-its-kind research study, led by Tulane University’s Ilana Horwitz, PhD, in partnership with Rosov Consulting, will gather data on economic insecurity among American Jews as part of a broader effort to address Jewish poverty.

    The study, supported by the Jewish Funders Network through a grant from The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, will focus exclusively on the experiences of U.S. Jews facing poverty and economic insecurity. It builds on the work and commitment of the National Affinity Group on Jewish Poverty, a group of funders, service providers and other stakeholders dedicated to fighting poverty in the American Jewish community.

    “Collecting quantitative and qualitative data paints a fuller picture of the lived experiences of the Jewish poor and allows us to share that picture widely across the Jewish communal ecosystem,” Horwitz said. “The data and feedback from survey participants and human service professionals will provide important information that sheds light on the challenges and successes within the community to help enact positive change.”

    Horwitz holds the Fields-Rayant Chair in Contemporary Jewish Life at the Grant Center for the American Jewish Experience. Trained in both qualitative and quantitative research methods, she is a sociologist who examines how gender, ethnicity, race, social class and religious upbringing shape people’s lives. God, Grades, and Graduation: Religion’s Surprising Impact on Academic Success, her book published earlier this year, examines how a religious upbringing shapes the academic lives of teens. Rosov Consulting helps foundations, philanthropists, federations, and grantee organizations in the Jewish communal sector make well-informed decisions through professional research, evaluation and consulting services.

    The project will consist of several components and include multiple methods of data collection and analysis, including a survey of 1,000 U.S. Jews who are experiencing or who have previously experienced economic insecurity, as well as in-depth interviews with about 100 survey respondents and professionals who work in Jewish human service organizations.

    Survey and interview questions will focus on the causes and precipitating events of participants’ economic vulnerability; consequences of the economic insecurity, especially for their involvement in the Jewish community; experiences with interventions intended to address economic distress, both within and outside the Jewish community; challenges participants face in moving beyond economic insecurity; and feedback on successful journeys out of poverty.

    The study will be completed by December 2023 and results will be made available to the public through the Berman Jewish DataBank and other platforms.

    [ad_2]

    Tulane University

    Source link

  • Student Loan Forgiveness on Ice: Insights for Borrowers

    Student Loan Forgiveness on Ice: Insights for Borrowers

    [ad_1]

    Newswise — With the proposed student debt relief program mired and stalled in legal battles, it’s now revealed that erroneous notices of student debt forgiveness application approvals were emailed to about 9 million Americans. At this point, says UMD Smith’s Samuel Handwerger, “the Biden administration might be asking themselves ‘Is the road to hell really paved with good intentions?’”

    Handwerger adds: “Whether the intent has been solely to boost the economy and promote higher educational achievement amongst Americans or a veiled political ad for Democratic votes in the latest election, find me an economist that believes an educated population is not good for the economy and I will show you that Joseph Stalin’s many 5-year plans really did succeed.”

    Handwerger, CPA and accounting lecturer for the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, gives more insights – especially for borrowers – in this Q&A:

    What are the essentials to know concerning the legal challenges?

    Handwerger: This boils down to two cases. First, in Texas, two individuals — backed by the conservative organization Job Creators Network Foundation — allege the forgiveness plan unfairly excludes them and shouldn’t be allowed. The other suit, “ Nebraska v. Biden,” comes from a group of states — Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina — claiming that the forgiveness would hurt them in the form of lost tax revenue. Normally, loan forgiveness results in taxable income for the individual whose loan has been forgiven. But based on the 2017 Trump Administration tax law, student loan forgiveness is not considered taxable income during the years 2018 thru 2025, after which that particular provision sunsets. Talk about a perfect storm of Republican and Democratic agendas.

    With another pause on repayments, is there anything different this time?

    Handwerger: Starting in 2020 under Trump, repayments for federal student loans have been in a state of suspended animation — no payments and no interest accruing. President Biden now has extended this original pause seven times with this latest move. But unlike previous extensions which expired by easily decipherable due dates, this latest extension almost requires a college degree to fully follow. But to put it as simple as possible, payments restart 60 days after whichever of the following scenarios happens first:

    • The lawsuits that have blocked the debt relief are resolved
    • Debt relief is implemented
    • The date is June 30, 2023

    In other words, if the debt relief is not implemented or the lawsuits are not resolved prior to June 30, 2023, then 60 days after this date, payments start to become due again and interest accrual resumes.

    Should borrowers make voluntary payments?

    Handwerger: Regarding this freeze-of-interest tolling, making voluntary payments in the interim is not an economically smart move, as normally one would be better served to earn some short-term interest on the funds. Even with a moving-target restart date making such financial planning tricky, the smart money move still is not to make payments while the freeze remains on. Adding to the efficacy of this argument is that the months during the pause still count as months with proper payment for many federal loan programs, where unpaid principal after a series of years is ultimately forgiven.

    How long before a resolution? What if Biden wins?

    Handwerger: It will be interesting to see how Biden will handle the applications for debt forgiveness if it legally can be resumed. Currently, loan forgiveness applications are suspended, and the government is not accepting any more applications. Originally the end date for applying was scheduled to be December 31, 2023. But the wheels on the legal process could go very slowly if the Supreme Court enters the picture. All of this makes for a lot of uncertainty for the 43 million-plus Americans holding unpaid student loan debt. The loan relief, in its original form, did not apply to loans originating after July 1, 2022. So, taking on more student debt needs to be carefully considered, as it always should be. My query: Would a win allowing for the loan forgiveness after a protracted legal battle entice Biden to expand the loans available for relief? I can’t wait for further developments to find out.

    [ad_2]

    University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business

    Source link

  • nTIDE November 2022 Jobs Report: People with disabilities continue to outperform people without disabilities in labor market

    nTIDE November 2022 Jobs Report: People with disabilities continue to outperform people without disabilities in labor market

    [ad_1]

    Newswise — East Hanover, NJ – December 2, 2022 – Job numbers rose again for people with disabilities, in contrast to people without disabilities, according to today’s National Trends in Disability Employment – Monthly Update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD). People with disabilities continued to show strength in the labor market in November, as evidenced by the substantial rise in their employment-to-population ratio.

    Month-to-Month nTIDE Numbers (comparing October 2022 to November 2022)

    Based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Jobs Report released today, the employment-to-population ratio for people with disabilities (ages 16-64) increased from 35.5 percent in October to 36.5 percent in November (up 2.8 percent or 1 percentage point). For people without disabilities (ages 16-64), the employment-to-population ratio decreased from 74.6 percent in October to 74.4 percent in November (down 0.3 percent or 0.2 percentage point). The employment-to-population ratio, a key indicator, reflects the percentage of people who are working relative to the total population (the number of people working divided by the number of people in the total population multiplied by 100).

    “Similar to last month, the employment-to-population ratio for people with disabilities increased and remains above historic highs. For those without disabilities, however, the ratio dropped,” said John O’Neill, PhD, director of the Center for Employment and Disability Research at Kessler Foundation. “This decline may be a sign of the Fed’s efforts to slow the labor market. This is interesting in light of this month’s strong gain for people with disabilities.”

    Findings were similar for November’s labor force participation rate. For people with disabilities (ages 16-64), the labor force participation rate was increased slightly from 38.7 percent in October to 38.8 percent in November (up 0.3 percent or 0.1 percentage point). Conversely, the labor force participation rate decreased slightly for people without disabilities (ages 16-64), from 77.1 percent in October to 76.9 percent in November (down 0.3 percent or 0.2 percentage point). The labor force participation rate is the percentage of the population that is working, not working, and on temporary layoff, or not working and actively looking for work.

    “While labor force participation for people with disabilities remains stable, increases in the employment to population ratio for people with disabilities suggest that more people with disabilities are succeeding in finding jobs,” remarked Debra Brucker, PhD, research associate professor at the UNH-IOD. “Keep in mind that gains in employment may in part reflect the need to boost income in the face of rising prices. Also, these data are not seasonally adjusted, so some of this increase may be due to seasonal employment.”

    Why have people with disabilities been outperforming people without disabilities? Favorable changes in the workplace as employers adapted to COVID-19 restrictions may be a factor. Our new survey compares the workplaces of 2017 and 2022, revealing gains in recruiting, hiring, accommodating, and retaining employees with disabilities. Read more about the 2022 National Employment & Disability Survey: Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic Supervisor Perspectives.

    Year-to-Year nTIDE Numbers (Comparing November 2021 to November 2022)

    Reflecting the continued strength of the employment of people with disabilities over the course of the year, the employment-to-population ratio for working-age people with disabilities increased substantially from 34.6 percent in November 2021 to 36.5 percent in November 2022 (up 5.5 percent or 1.9 percentage points). However, the employment-to-population ratio increased slightly for working-age people without disabilities, from 73.8 percent in November 2021 to 74.4 percent in November 2022 (up 0.8 percent or 0.6 percentage points).

    Similarly, for people with disabilities (16-64), the labor force participation rate increased substantially from 37.7 percent in November 2021 to 38.8 percent in November 2022 (up 2.9 percent or 1.1 percentage points). The labor force participation rate increased slightly for people without disabilities (ages 16-64), from 76.7 percent in November 2021 to 76.9 percent in November 2022 (up 0.3 percent or 0.2 percentage points).

    In November, among workers ages 16-64, the 5,962,000 workers with disabilities represented 4 percent of the total 148,009,000 workers in the U.S.

    Ask Questions about Disability and Employment

    Each nTIDE release is followed by an nTIDE Lunch & Learn online webinar. This live broadcast, hosted via Zoom Webinar, offers attendees Q&A on the latest nTIDE findings, provides news and updates from the field, as well as invited panelists to discuss current disability-related findings and events. On December 2, 2022 at 12:00 pm Eastern, Chai Feldblum, JD, vice chair the of Ability One Commission, a federal agency devoted to the employment of people with significant disabilities, joins Drs. O’Neill and Brucker, and Denise Rozell, Policy Strategist at the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD). Join our Lunch & Learns live or visit the nTIDE archives at: ResearchonDisability.org/nTIDE.

    NOTE: The statistics in the nTIDE are based on Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers but are not identical. They are customized by UNH to combine the statistics for men and women of working age (16 to 64). nTIDE is funded, in part, by grants from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) (90RT5037) and Kessler Foundation.

    About the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire

    The Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) was established in 1987 to provide a university-based focus for the improvement of knowledge, policies, and practices related to the lives of persons with disabilities and their families. For information on the NIDILRR-funded Research and Training Center on Disability Statistics, visit ResearchOnDisability.org.

    About Kessler Foundation

    Kessler Foundation, a major nonprofit organization in the field of disability, is a global leader in rehabilitation research that seeks to improve cognition, mobility, and long-term outcomes – including employment – for people with neurological disabilities caused by diseases and injuries of the brain and spinal cord. Kessler Foundation leads the nation in funding innovative programs that expand opportunities for employment for people with disabilities. For more information, visit KesslerFoundation.org.

    Stay Connected with Kessler Foundation

    Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | iTunes & SoundCloud

    [ad_2]

    Kessler Foundation

    Source link

  • Fed’s Powell Says Rate Hikes Might Slow in December

    Fed’s Powell Says Rate Hikes Might Slow in December

    [ad_1]

    Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell laid the groundwork on Wednesday for the central bank to slow its pace of monetary policy tightening as soon as December, all but solidifying the prospects that the Fed will raise interest rates half of a percentage point next month.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Black Friday 2022 outlook: Cloudy with a chance of solid sales

    Black Friday 2022 outlook: Cloudy with a chance of solid sales

    [ad_1]

    Analysts are split on projections for this year’s Black Friday. Markdowns could bring a solid haul for consumers and a stronger-than-expected economy may lead to a successful day for retailers. But the consensus seems to be that the biggest shopping day of the season could go either way. For example, there are concerns that price slashes will be on the stockpile of leftovers that didn’t sell earlier this year. And what about that whole supply chain bottleneck thing?

    The University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics boasts several experts who can help make sense of it all:

    Andong Cheng: Can provide tips on what to prepare for during this unique holiday shopping season. Her research focuses on defining and identifying the picky consumer segment, and explores how pickiness impacts other judgments and decisions. She advises consumers to consider the phenomenon of double mental discounting, where shoppers experience a “mental accounting phenomenon” when offered promotional credit.

    Jackie Silverman: Research examines several facets of judgment and decision making and consumer psychology. According to Silverman, there are many potential benefits of online shopping for consumers, including some unconventional approaches to gift giving this season.

    Matthew McGranaghan: Studies the economics of consumer attention and the indirect effects of marketing interventions. He explains that there is a difference in how businesses are innovating and utilizing online retail methods to connect with consumers this holiday season.

    Bintong Chen: Can discuss the systematic nature of supply chain issues. He recommends shoppers use major retailers like Amazon and Walmart, whose companies use their own shipping fleets to minimize disruptions.

    Caroline Swift: Examines supply chain transparency and the interactions between regulation and business performance.

    [ad_2]

    University of Delaware

    Source link

  • Do acquisitions harm the acquired brand? Identifying conditions that reduce the negative effect

    Do acquisitions harm the acquired brand? Identifying conditions that reduce the negative effect

    [ad_1]

    Newswise — Researchers from University of Leeds, University of Vienna, and University of Pennsylvania published a new Journal of Marketing article that examines why consumers develop negative reactions towards acquired brands and explains conditions that attenuate that negative effect.

    The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled “When and Why Consumers React Negatively to Brand Acquisitions: A Values Authenticity Account” and is authored by Alessandro Biraglia, Christoph Fuchs, Elisa Maira, and Stefano Puntoni.

    When Unilever acquired GROM, an Italian gelato company, 83% of consumers polled by a newspaper described the acquisition as “bad news.” This reduced consumer interest led to the closure of several GROM retail outlets, including the ice cream maker’s first store, four years after the acquisition. Similarly, consumer ratings for The Body Shop, a cosmetic brand, plummeted after L’Oréal acquired it.

    Companies often engage in mergers and acquisitions to expand their portfolio and generate growth – the global value of acquisitions amounted to $2.3 trillion in 2019, according to JP Morgan – but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence suggesting that brand acquisitions can potentially generate negative reactions among consumers. Yet little is known about when and why brand acquisitions might trigger these negative reactions.

    This new study explains why consumers develop negative reactions towards acquired brands in terms of lower brand choice and reduced purchase likelihood. As Biraglia explains, “We find that, across product categories, consumers often see an acquired brand as having compromised the authentic values upon which it was founded. This perception is triggered not only when a big company acquires a smaller one, but also when the sizes of the acquirer and acquired brand are comparable. Furthermore, the negative effect appears even in the case of partial acquisition such as 15% of ownership.”

    Conditions that Attenuate the Negative Effect of Acquisitions

    Across ten studies using different methods, research designs, product categories, and brands, the researchers demonstrate that negative brand reactions can be explained by the perceived loss of a brand’s unique values. “Building on this values authenticity account, we find that the negative effect of acquisitions depends on the acquired brand’s values, brand age, leadership continuity, and the alignment between acquiring and acquired brands,” says Fuchs. The conditions that attenuate the negative effect of acquisitions are as follows:

    • Consumers develop a lower purchase intention when a previously acquired brand is acquired again by another company, as the original values may have already been diluted during the first takeover.
    • Consumers seem less concerned when the original leadership team remains in charge after the acquisition because this may act as a reassurance that the authentic values are retained.
    • Consumers react less negatively if the values of the acquirer brand align with those of the acquired brand. The negative effect is mitigated if a brand that produces sustainable products is acquired by a brand with sustainability as a core value.
    • Consumers react less negatively when the acquired brand has been established with a strategic orientation towards growth. In these cases, they don’t see the takeover as a loss of the brand’s authentic values. For instance, many start-ups are founded with the desire to get bigger and many communicate this in their statements (e.g., Bill Gates often mentioned his vision to have a “PC on every desk in every home”). Sometimes founders even invoke growth values as the reason for selling the company (e.g., the founder of Dot’s Pretzels explained the acquisition by Hershey’s in November 2021 by saying she had “built the business with the idea of sharing them with everyone.”)
    • Consumers react less negatively if a young brand is acquired. Consumers consider the acquisition of a younger company less disruptive of values authenticity. Conversely, for older companies with a set of values crystallized over decades – or even centuries – we find a more severe negative effect.

    Managerial Implications

    Before the acquisition:

    • “Managers should examine the target brand’s communications and identify whether the vision statement, advertising, social media accounts, and other forms of branding contain any references to growth or reaching a broader range of customers. Such cues may make the acquisition process more favorable in the eyes of consumers,” explains Maira. Targeting brands aligned with the acquiring company’s core values and making this alignment salient can benefit the acquisition process.
    • Similarly, scouting for young, promising brands could prove beneficial, potentially giving the acquirer an aura of patronage and a reputation for investing in nascent businesses.

    After the acquisition:

    • “Managers should carefully plan how to effectively frame acquisition announcements. If the founders/original owners will not be involved after the acquisition, managers may want to consider retaining long-term employees and highlighting this in communications,” suggests Puntoni.
    • When the acquirer has values that align with those of the acquired brand, highlighting this can boost perceptions of the acquisition and nurture the acquired brand.
    • If there is no strong alignment of values between the acquirer and the acquired brand, the research team suggests that managers focus on other aspects that can benefit from the acquisition. For example, an acquirer could highlight an increase in R&D facilities or a potential increase in product quality.

    Full article and author contact information available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429221137817

    About the Journal of Marketing 

    The Journal of Marketing develops and disseminates knowledge about real-world marketing questions useful to scholars, educators, managers, policy makers, consumers, and other societal stakeholders around the world. Published by the American Marketing Association since its founding in 1936, JM has played a significant role in shaping the content and boundaries of the marketing discipline. Shrihari Sridhar (Joe Foster ’56 Chair in Business Leadership, Professor of Marketing at Mays Business School, Texas A&M University) serves as the current Editor in Chief.
    https://www.ama.org/jm

    About the American Marketing Association (AMA) 

    As the largest chapter-based marketing association in the world, the AMA is trusted by marketing and sales professionals to help them discover what is coming next in the industry. The AMA has a community of local chapters in more than 70 cities and 350 college campuses throughout North America. The AMA is home to award-winning content, PCM® professional certification, premiere academic journals, and industry-leading training events and conferences.
    https://www.ama.org

    [ad_2]

    American Marketing Association (AMA)

    Source link