Category: Finance

An average gender gap of about 6 percentage points in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), per the latest Findex 2025 data, means that approximately 740 million women are excluded from the financial system, highlighting the need for action. This gap is even higher in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa at about […]

Most Colorado homeowners do not have enough insurance coverage to rebuild their house after a total loss. That’s according to our new research examining whether homes destroyed in Colorado’s Marshall Fire — which burned more than 1,000 houses in suburban Boulder County — have been rebuilt. We are economists who study the financial resources available […]

Halloween is a fun, scary time for children and adults alike – but why does the holiday seem to start so much earlier every year? Decades ago, when I was young, Halloween was a much smaller affair, and people didn’t start preparing until mid-October. Today, in my neighborhood near where I grew up in Massachusetts, […]

The ongoing federal shutdown has resulted in a pause on regular government data releases, meaning economic data has been in short supply of late. That has left market-watchers and monetary policymakers somewhat in the dark over key indicators in the U.S. economy. Fortunately, the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers is unaffected by the impasse […]

Dangerous flooding has damaged neighborhoods in almost every state in 2025, leaving homes a muddy mess. In several hard-hit areas, it wasn’t the first time homeowners found themselves tearing out wet wallboard and piling waterlogged carpet by the curb. Wanting to rebuild after flooding is a common response. But for some people, the best way […]

Fossil fuels still power much of the world, even though renewable energy has become cheaper in most places and avoids both pollution and the climate damage caused by burning coal, oil and natural gas. To understand this paradox, it helps to look at how countries – particularly major greenhouse gas emitters, including the U.S., China […]

Kigali, 15 October 2025 — German biotechnology company BioNTech SE has obtained a $110 million financing package from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Commission to support the expansion of its mRNA vaccine plant in Rwanda. The Kigali facility, first inaugurated in 2023 with modular “BioNTainer” units, is designed to strengthen Africa’s vaccine […]

When Starbucks announced that it would phase out its mobile-order pickup-only locations beginning in 2026, it raised a question: Why abandon a format seemingly built for speed and efficiency? As Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol explained the decision in an earnings call, the pickup-only stores had a “transactional” feel, lacking “the warmth and human connection that […]

Lumber, especially softwood lumber like pine and spruce, is critical to U.S. home construction. Its availability and price directly affect housing costs and broader economic activity in the building sector. The U.S. imports about 40% of the softwood lumber the nation uses each year, more than 80% of that from Canada. President Donald Trump says […]

Surveillance pricing has dominated headlines recently. Delta Air Lines’ announcement that it will use artificial intelligence to set individualized ticket prices has led to widespread concerns about companies using personal data to charge different prices for identical products. As The New York Times reported, this practice involves companies tracking everything from your hotel bookings to […]