Category Archives: Economy

Chinese Americans Don’t Over Borrow, MU Study Finds

*Financial education needed to help U.S. economy

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Bad mortgage loans and rampant consumer debt were two of the primary causes for the recent economic recession in the U.S. Despite a national trend of debt problems, a University of Missouri researcher has found one American population that holds almost no consumer debt outside of typical home mortgages. (more…)

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Rich Country, Poor Country: Economists say Financial Sector Key Driver of Economic Growth

Economists have long suspected that one reason developing countries struggle to emerge from poverty is that they lack robust financial sectors, especially when compared to wealthier nations.

Although it may seem obvious that a weak financial sector would stifle growth within a developing country, few economists until now have tried to determine just how this phenomenon occurs. This has made it difficult for policymakers and investors to understand how financial markets may be failing and to create effective solutions to correct them.

Economists Francisco J. Buera of UCLA and the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Joseph Kaboski of the University of Notre Dame, and Yongseok Shin of Washington University in St. Louis present important insights into this phenomenon in a paper recently published in the journal American Economic Review. (more…)

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Anderson Forecast: U.S. Economy stalled, Employment ‘Horrible,’ but No New Recession

In its third quarterly report of 2011, the UCLA Anderson Forecast says the outlook for the nation’s economy is “far worse” than it was just three months ago.

Considering the weak, revised data for the first half of the year, the forecast calls for average gross domestic product growth of just 0.9 percent on average for the five quarters — this year’s four and the first quarter of 2012.

However, Forecast economists remain steadfast in their assertion that the U.S. is not currently in a recession, nor is there a recession in the forecast through 2013. (more…)

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Better Ways to Hire, Announce a New CEO

*Two studies by a UA business professor examine the hiring of CEOs, finding that new CEOs make better decisions when their self image is tied to the firm and that “strategic noise” can soften market response to a new hire.*

Two new papers co-authored by assistant professor of management Steven Boivie at the University of Arizona uncover novel facets of CEO and firm performance.

The first of the papers, out now in the Academy of Management Journal, finds a new remedy to the CEO agency problem. Instead of trying to design incentives and controls to keep corporate leaders acting in the best interest of the company, Boivie and his co-authors demonstrate that boards should try to hire leaders who strongly identify with the company itself. (more…)

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Bailed-out Banks Issued Riskier Loans

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Banks that received federal bailout money ended up approving riskier loans and shifting capital toward risky investments after getting government help, say University of Michigan researchers.

In a new study on risk-taking by banks that received funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, finance professors Ran Duchin and Denis Sosyura of Michigan’s Ross School of Business found that the overall risk level of TARP banks increased 10 percent. Further, these banks were no more likely to issue loans, overall, than non-TARP banks, in contrast to the declared objective of the federal program to increase lending. (more…)

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USGS Releases Resource Estimate for Afghanistan Rare Earth Prospect

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimates at least 1 million metric tonnes of rare earth element resources within the Khanneshin carbonatite in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. This estimate comes from a 2009-2011 USGS study funded by the Department of Defense’s Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO). (more…)

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