894 Posts Found

Some thoughts for executives on how to use an economic forecast: First, the economy involves myriad variables and interrelationships of varying measurability and complexity. Not every business depends for its prosperity on the same variables and relationships. Executives should know the key economic drivers of their business and focus on forecasting them. Having said that, economic growth is big for almost everyone; a rising tide … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: John McCallum | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subjects: Economics, Future

The marketplace does only one thing. It puts a price on everything.

Content: Quotation | Author: Dana Gioia | Source: Stanford University | Subject: Economics

The abiding, distinctive feature of all crashes, whether in stock prices, housing values, or hit-TV-show ratings, is that they startle but don’t surprise. When the euphoria subsides, when the volatile graph lines of excitability flatten and then curve down, people realize, collectively and instantly (and not infrequently with some relief), that they’ve been expecting this correction. The signs were everywhere, the warnings clear, the researchers … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Walter Kirn | Source: The Atlantic Monthly | Subject: Economics

The greatest obstacle to making decisions regarding money is the money itself.

Content: Article | Author: James Krohe Jr. | Source: Across the Board (ATB) | Subjects: Economics, Management

The lesson of nearly thirty years of research into the psychology of economic decision-making is that the ways we feel about money — having it, making it, losing it — seldom add up. As hundreds of experiments since the 1970s have confirmed, we are haunted by the prospect of loss. Our perceptions are easily skewed according to how a problem is presented. We turn blind … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Across the Board (ATB) | Subjects: Economics, Personality / Behavior

If you think about the WTO and the way we measure trade flows around the world, it assumes a very simple model, in which a product is made in Country A and it is shipped to Country B to be consumed. That is the fundamental assumption of the model. The question is where does the substantive transformation that creates the product take place…because that is … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Knowledge@Wharton | Subjects: Economics, International

A society whose practices are premised only on economic growth is going to self-destruct, because materialism, if left unchecked, destroys the best aspects of being human and brings out our baser qualities.

Content: Quotation | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Economics, Miscellaneous

As a century of industrialism before the introduction of environmental and labor laws illustrated, the free market does not appropriately “price” the cost of natural resources or pollution. So the idea that responsible investment practices can be used in conjunction with intelligent regulation and consumption to serve the greater good is reasonable. The challenge comes in figuring out how best to do it.

Content: Quotation | Source: The Atlantic Monthly | Subjects: Economics, Social Responsibility (ESG)

A study of history yields important clues about what helps economies enjoy sustained economic growth.

Content: Article | Authors: George David Smith, Richard Sylla, Robert E. Wright | Source: STERNbusiness (NYU) | Subjects: Economics, History

By taking the conditions of supply and demand as given and declaring government intervention the ultimate evil, laissez-faire ideology has effectively banished income or wealth redistribution. I can agree that all attempts at redistribution interfere with the efficiency of the market, but it does not follow that no attempt should be made…Wealth does accumulate in the hands of its owners, and if there is no … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: The Atlantic Monthly | Subject: Economics

Economists have long counseled reliance on markets rather than on government to decide a wide range of questions, in part because allocation through voting can give rise to a “tyranny of the majority.” Markets, by contrast, are believed to make products available to suit any individual, regardless of what others want. But the argument is not generally correct. In markets, you can’t always get what … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Author: Joel Waldfogel | Subject: Economics

To the beginner investor and most noninvestors, it seems as though the Federal Reserve System acts in a cloak-and-dagger manner. Eight times a year, the Federal Open Market Committee issues its determination for policy on the federal funds rate, and this tends to be the most covered and visible action that comes out of the Fed. But as recent events show, there is more that … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Scott Rothbort | Source: thestreet.com | Subjects: Economics, Finance

Why do some shopping malls, retail stores, popular magazines, and even Internet portals seem to purposefully make it hard for consumers to find what they want? HBS professor Andrei Hagiu and Bruno Jullien challenge the conventional wisdom that intermediaries create value by reducing search and transaction costs. Their paper sheds light on the economic motivations that in some contexts may lead intermediaries to make it … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Andrei Hagiu, Bruno Jullien | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) | Subjects: Economics, Strategy | Industry: Retail

The economy has produced great benefits for consumers and investors in the last thirty years: The Dow Jones has gone from 600 in 1975 to 13,000 today; we have countless TV channels; automakers are producing much better cars; we have many more choices for every kind of product, at lower prices. Capitalism has won. There’s no longer a contest between capitalism and communism.

But inequality is … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Across the Board (ATB) | Subjects: Capitalism, Economics

I don’t think people are cognizant at all [of the tradeoffs they’re making]. Where do we suppose the great deals come from? They come from companies that are buying abroad, pushing down real wages, fighting unions, rewarding any executive ruthless enough to slash costs, doing all sorts of things to get the best deals for consumers and investors. The citizen side of our brains might … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Across the Board (ATB) | Subjects: Capitalism, Economics

U.S. News and World Report talks with Robert Hodrick, a finance professor at Columbia Business School, about the various factors that determine the dollar’s value. [Hat Tip to FinanceProfessor.com]

Content: Article | Author: Rick Newman | Source: U.S. News & World Report | Subject: Economics

Content: Online Resource | Subjects: Courses / Tutorials, Economics

Content: Online Resource | Subjects: Courses / Tutorials, Economics

Content: Online Resource | Subjects: Courses / Tutorials, Economics

Content: Online Resource | Subjects: Courses / Tutorials, Economics