Category: Finance

It’s February, and you grab a box of cheap Valentine’s chocolate from the grocery store on your lunch break. Later, you’re eating it at your office desk when you realize someone else is watching. Suddenly, you feel a flicker of embarrassment. You hide the box away, make a joke or quietly wish they hadn’t noticed […]

With an upcoming FIFA World Cup being staged across the nation, 2026 was supposed to be a bumper year for tourism to the United States, driven in part by hordes of arriving soccer fans. And yet, the U.S. tourism industry is worried. While the rest of the world saw a travel bump in 2025, with […]

National economies are increasingly moving in sync and responding to the same booms and busts as a result of near-instantaneous communications and interdependent global supply chains. This is a sharp change from much of the 21st century, when economies were primarily affected by economic shocks in neighboring countries. That’s what we found in a paper […]

Grocery prices have risen by 25% in Colorado over the past five years, more than wages have grown over that same period. One of the top issues facing Americans is the cost of living relative to housing, health care and food, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey from December 2025. Food prices are a more acute […]

When U.S. Border Patrol agents entered a Target store in Richfield, Minnesota, in early January, detaining two employees, it marked a new chapter in the relationship between corporate America and the federal government. Across the Twin Cities, federal immigration enforcement operations have turned businesses into sites of confrontation — with agents in store parking lots […]

When it comes to political polarization in the United States, the Pittsburgh region offers a useful window into what communities can do about it. Pittsburgh is a “comeback city.” The once-prosperous steel industry may have declined, but universities, hospitals and technology are driving reinvention and a new emphasis on manufacturing. It’s also a city where […]

For many women in the U.S. and around the world, motherhood comes with career costs. Raising children tends to lead to lower wages and fewer work hours for mothers – but not fathers – in the United States and around the world. As a sociologist, I study how family relationships can shape your economic circumstances. […]

More than 6 million Americans receive paper tax refund checks annually. Often, those refunds go to purchase groceries or pay the bills. But this year, those taxpayers may be surprised to learn that the paper check they’re waiting for no longer exists. That’s because of executive order 14247, which President Donald Trump signed in 2025. […]

Historically, corporate board rooms have been mostly white and mostly male. Yet the trend started shifting in the 1970s, in part due to gains from the civil rights era and pro-diversity efforts by activists and business groups. I have been monitoring the degree of diversity in the corporate and political worlds for decades. One useful […]

How would you feel if someone gave you a gym membership as a holiday or Valentine’s Day gift? What about Botox? Laser hair removal? Services like those are part of the estimated US$48 billion self-improvement industry. Does this suggest that many people would appreciate self-improvement gifts? Retailers seem to think so. The Planet Fitness chain […]