Sep 12 Why is Wall Street becoming more bipolar? By Making Sen$e Editor There's something increasing volatility on securities markets. Researchers from the National Bureau of Economic Research take a closer look at Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), whose rapid rise over recent decades seems to be having a big impact on the stocks… Continue reading
Sep 11 That time Apple broke into your music library and left you a Bono By Wahyd Vannoni Marketing professor Wahyd Vannoni reacts to the presence of a new album in his iTunes library -- an album he never bought. Continue reading
Sep 10 Americans are more willing to be generous with their bodies than their money By Christian Smith, Hilary Davidson Generosity means giving money, time, energy and attention. But it also can mean giving a part of you – literally, in the case of blood and organ donations. In the third adaptation of their recently published book, "The Paradox of… Continue reading
Sep 05 Watch New job growth doesn’t indicate a strong labor market By PBS News Hour Though economists predicted a month of strong hiring, only 142,000 positions were added to the market in August. Paul Solman explains why the growth disappointed many. Continue watching
Sep 05 Noisy data aside, the big question from August’s jobs report is who’s dropping out of the workforce? By Simone Pathe The economy added a fewer than expected 142,000 jobs last month -- the lowest monthly gain of the year. But the unemployment rate ticked down to 6.1 percent, which is good news, right? Maybe not. That all depends on who's… Continue reading
Sep 04 No boss, no office, no problem! The rise of the freelance workforce By Simone Pathe Thirty-four percent of the American workforce, or 53 million workers, are freelancers, according to a survey commissioned by the Freelancers Union released Thursday. But just how independent those freelancers are depends on what type of work they're doing and whether… Continue reading
Sep 04 Why it’s not a beautiful day in the neighborhood By Christian Smith, Hilary Davidson Giving -- not just money -- but time and talent, too, is good for us. And yet, three-quarters of Americans don't volunteer. That's what Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson call "The Paradox of Generosity." In the second post adapted from… Continue reading
Sep 03 Are Americans a stingy lot of people? By Christian Smith, Hilary Davidson Given the popularity of the Ice Bucket Challenge this summer, you might think Americans are a fairly generous group. Indeed, more than $100 million has been raised for the ALS Association. But although we enjoy, and benefit from, giving money… Continue reading
Sep 01 Watch More part-time workers suffer instability, long hours to make ends meet By PBS News Hour As employers seek more control over labor costs, the number of part-time jobs has soared in the post-great recession period. But increasingly erratic work schedules -- an attempt to squeeze maximum efficiency from every part-timer -- has taken a toll… Continue watching
Sep 01 The high cost of labor efficiency — and the ‘Good Jobs’ alternative By Zeynep Ton What do Costco, Trader Joe's, QuickTrip and Spanish supermarket Mercadona have in common? They treat labor as assets, says Zeynep Ton, author of "The Good Jobs Strategy," and therefore, avoid even bigger costs than labor. Continue reading