Category Archives: Economy

How to Find the Right Business Credit Card

Even in a volatile economy, business can still flourish with the right attitude and the proper financial discipline. Liquidity and cash flow is essential to the continued operations of a business in the short term and in the long-term. With many of the traditional financing options unavailable to small businesses, the only course of action for many business owners is to find the right business credit card.

The right business credit card can provide a business owner with liquidity in emergency situations. It can also be a lifesaver in that the business owner will not have to wait on any bureaucracy or paperwork in order to get the money that he or she needs to fix a short-term situation. (more…)

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The Heart Rules the Head When We Make Financial Decisions

Our ‘gut feelings’ influence our decisions, overriding ‘rational’ thought, when we are faced with financial offers that we deem to be unfair, according to a new study. Even when we are set to benefit, our physical response can make us more likely to reject a financial proposition we consider to be unjust.

Conducted by a team from the University of Exeter, Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit and University of Cambridge, the research is published in the journal Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioural Neuroscience.

The research adds to growing evidence that our bodies can sometimes govern how we think and feel, rather than the other way round. It also reveals that those people who are more in tune with their bodies are more likely to be led by their ‘gut feelings’. (more…)

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Criminology and the Global Financial Crisis

The first overt indications of the impending global financial crisis manifested themselves in August 2007, when BNP Paribas announced it was severing ties with three hedge funds specializing in mortgage debt for American real estate properties. The crisis was exacerbated by the immediate freeze on credit by banks to their customers – and to each other. The crisis came to a head in 2008 when the United States government refused to rescue investment firm Lehman Brothers from financial collapse. Subsequent actions by the American government and by foreign governments, as well as actions taken by commercial enterprises world wide, have been focused on repairing the financial damage to sovereign economies and to individuals thrown out of work – and out of their homes. (more…)

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Income Inequality Leads to More U.S. Deaths, Study Finds

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study provides the best evidence to date that higher levels of income inequality in the United States actually lead to more deaths in the country over a period of years.

The findings suggest that income inequality at any one point doesn’t work instantaneously – it begins increasing mortality rates 5 years later, and its influence peaks after 7 years, before fading after 12 years.

“This finding is striking and it supports the argument that income inequality is a public health concern,” said Hui Zheng, author of the study and assistant professor of sociology at Ohio State University. (more…)

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Q&A: Economic ‘Prophet’ Now Showing Classes How Theory Translates into Practice

Stephen Roach is a respected authority on Asia — China in particular — and an often-cited and widely recognized prophet on the global economy.

Until recently chair of Morgan Stanley Asia and long the firm’s chief economist, Roach came to Yale in 2010 as a senior fellow in the newly inaugurated Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, with a joint appointment at the School of Management (SOM). This spring Roach announced he would be retiring from Morgan Stanley after 30 years with the firm to teach full time at Yale.

YaleNews recently met with the economist in his office to discuss his new career as a teacher and to get his prognosis on the future of the world economy. (more…)

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Uncollected Internet Sales Taxes Cost Missouri $468 Million Annually, MU Study Shows

MU researchers recommend legislative action to help local economy, state revenue

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Internet, or e-commerce, sales have increased over the past two decades, comprising nearly 17 percent of the total U.S. sales in 2009. However, many states, including Missouri, have no effective means of collecting taxes on those sales. Researchers at the University of Missouri Truman School of Public Affairs found that the state lost approximately $468 million annually in sales tax revenue during the past decade.

Federal law and U.S. Supreme Court rulings only allow states to levy sales taxes on a business with a physical presence in the state. For example, Amazon.com does not charge sales tax in Missouri because it is physically located in California. However, Wal-Mart charges sales tax, since it has stores in Missouri. In the study, researchers analyzed historical data on e-commerce activity and estimated that the state will miss out on $1.4 billion in potential revenue from 2011 to 2014. (more…)

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