Category: Finance

The world of professional sports is flush with cash, thanks to multibillion-dollar TV deals, sponsorships and ticket sales. Yet some of the biggest investments in major franchises come from taxpayers. Between 1970 and 2020, state and local governments spent US$33 billion in public funds on sports arenas, including nearly $20 billion since 2000 at an […]

Albertsons announced on Dec. 11, 2024, that it had called off an attempted merger with Kroger and would sue Kroger for breach of contract. The US$25 billion deal, first announced in 2022, would have combined Cincinnati-based Kroger, already the largest traditional U.S. supermarket chain, with Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons, which is currently the third-biggest grocer. The […]

CC BY-ND In an era marked by both significant advances and setbacks for LGBTQ+ people, charitable giving to LGBTQ+ organizations more than doubled in a recent 10-year period. Despite that swift growth, those donations still amount to only 0.16% of total U.S. charitable contributions, according to the latest edition of the LGBTQ+ Index, developed by […]

Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching. Title of course: “Economic Realities of the American Dream” What prompted the idea for the course? One of us – Steve Fazzari – was trained as an economist, and the other – Mark Rank – as a sociologist. We’ve shared […]

Cities tackle a vast array of responsibilities – from building transit networks to running schools – and sometimes they can use a little help. That’s why local governments have long teamed up with businesses in so-called public-private partnerships. Historically, these arrangements have helped cities fund big infrastructure projects such as bridges and hospitals. However, our […]

In 2018, L.L. Bean ended its century-old “lifetime” return policy, limiting returns to one year after purchase and requiring receipts. The demise of this popular policy sparked backlash, with several customers filing lawsuits. It also inspired my team of operations management researchers to study how customers respond when retailers make their return policies more strict. […]

Late in December 2023, the former top editor of The New York Times’ editorial page, James Bennet, dropped a bombshell in an article for The Economist. “The leadership of the New York Times is losing control of its principles,” he wrote, saying slanted coverage at the institution is “pervasive.” In the article, Bennet talked about […]

Strong enforcement of insider trading laws doesn’t just protect investors – it encourages businesses to be more innovative, according to our new peer-reviewed research. In fact, we found that after a company is hit with an insider-trading indictment, it generally produces more patents – which in turn are cited more by other patents – than […]

Imagine this: Two days before your family holiday party, you get a text about an online order you placed a week ago, saying the package is at your door. It comes with a photo – of someone else’s door. When you click the attached link, it takes you to the online store, where you enter […]

Wegovy and Ozempic are weight loss drugs that promise to transform the treatment of obesity, heart disease and other chronic conditions that afflict millions of Americans. But while everyone agrees these drugs have the potential to transform lives, no one can agree on how best to pay for them. Wegovy sells for a list price […]