Category: Finance

Consider the following scenario. Suzy is 63, recently retired, and trying to decide when to start receiving Social Security and how to manage her retirement savings to minimize the tax hit. She opens an AI chatbot, types in the details and gets a calm, well-organized and confident answer: Claim now, convert this much, here is […]

Shareholder activists are investors who leverage their ownership in a company to push for change. When those activists target a company, they usually want managers to change strategy, cut costs, improve performance or address issues such as climate change and worker rights. If managers resist, activists may seek board seats, call for leadership changes or […]

Low-income Americans need more help getting enough to eat, but not much of the food retailers that sell groceries could potentially donate is given away. Only 13% of it ends up at food banks, according to a 2026 report produced by ReFED, a nonprofit that studies and tries to prevent food waste. The rest is […]

Most Americans understand that their avocado toast and Super Bowl guacamole depend on a green fruit imported from Mexico. But few realize that Mexico is the United States’ top trading partner, both as the largest source of U.S. imports and the largest market for its exports. Mexico supplies everything from fruits and vegetables to computers, […]

The Federal Reserve, under pressure from President Donald Trump to cut interest rates and bend to his will, just got an important assist from the U.S. Supreme Court. In Trump v. Cook, the justices took up the case involving Trump’s decision to terminate Lisa Cook, a member of the powerful policymaking Board of Governors of […]

It’s a mantra among business executives that slashing their workforce will streamline operations and increase productivity – a strategic boost to the bottom line. And recent downsizing announcements have been no different, especially at tech companies citing massive disruptions caused by artificial intelligence. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, for example, stated in May 2026 that “this […]

For a country already facing serious humanitarian needs, the two powerful earthquakes that shook Venezuela on June 24, 2026, have made life even harder. Millions of Venezuelans were already struggling to get enough food, medicine, fuel and basic services to survive before this disaster. Now, even more people there urgently need shelter, medical care, clean […]

As the United States celebrates the 250th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence, the global data we collect and analyze shows that the country is failing to “promote the general Welfare,” as the Constitution’s framers promised a little more than a decade later. We are scholars of human rights. Alongside the Human Rights Measurement Initiative, […]

Cuba’s economy is collapsing, and its government assets in the United States remain largely frozen. But U.S. corporations have a right to seek compensation from assets the Cuban government seized from American companies more than six decades ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 23, 2026. In Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Corporación Cimex, a […]

It’s almost midnight when the phone buzzes – a client text, a comment that needs a reply, a trend that will be stale by morning. For the people who run brand accounts on social media, the workday never really ends. We’re marketing researchers who study digital and social media wellness and teach the students who […]