Economy – Page 48 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Tightwads and Spendthrifts: A Black Friday Tradition

By Guest PostNovember 22, 2010Culture, Economyblack friday, characteristics, holiday shopping season, obama chia pet, pain, professor, psychological pain, scott rick, spending decisions, spendthrift, spendthrift-tightwad scale, thanksgiving, tightwad

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Every year about this time, on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that traditionally begins the holiday shopping season, early-morning consumers stand in long lines eager to purchase some sought after prize. From the outside, it looks as if these holiday shoppers can’t wait to plunk down their cash, but Ross School marketing professor Scott Rick says consumers often behave differently than they would ideally like to behave.

“Some consumers chronically spend more than they would like, and some consumers chronically spend less than they would like,” he said. “Where an individual falls within the range of desiring to spend more or less largely determines whether he or she is a tightwad or a spendthrift, characteristics that determine quite a bit about a person’s spending habits.” (more…)

Still Feels Like a Recession, But Slow Recovery Will Pick Up

By Guest PostNovember 18, 2010Economy

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—While the nation’s economy will gain some momentum in the second half of next year, it will take until 2012 before unemployment finally begins to subside, say economists at the University of Michigan.

After losing more than 8 million payroll jobs from the end of 2007 to the end of 2009—the highest two-year job loss in more than 50 years—the U.S. economy will have gained 900,000 jobs by the end of this year before adding another 1.5 million jobs during 2011 and 2.4 million jobs during 2012. (more…)

Rare Earth Elements in U.S. Not So Rare

By Guest PostNovember 18, 2010Economy, Environment, Scienceaustralia, bear lodge mountains, bokan mountain, China, department of defense, deposits, geochemical properties, marcia mcnutt, mountain pass, rare earth elements, ree, united states

*Significant Deposits Found in 14 States*

Rare Earth Elements. Image credit: USGS

Approximately 13 million metric tons of rare earth elements (REE) exist within known deposits in the United States, according to the first-ever nationwide estimate of these elements by the U.S. Geological Survey.

This estimate of domestic rare earth deposits is part of a larger report that includes a review of global sources for REE, information on known deposits that might provide domestic sources of REE in the future, and geologic information crucial for studies of the availability of REE to U.S. industry.

The report describes significant deposits of REE in 14 states, with the largest known REE deposits at Mountain Pass, Calif.; Bokan Mountain, Alaska; and the Bear Lodge Mountains, Wyo. The Mountain Pass mine produced REE until it closed in 2002. Additional states with known REE deposits include Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and South Carolina. (more…)

‘Nightmare’ Economy Still a Source of Restless Nights, says Krugman

By Guest PostNovember 11, 2010Economyben bernacke, China, columnist, economist, Economy, federal reserve, global markets, Great depression, japan worriers, japanese economy, martin luther king, microeconomic, new york times, nobel prize, obama administration, paul krugman, richard c levin, sprague hall, united states

Paul Krugman. Image credit: Yale University

Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman had some generally dismal news for the near capacity audience that came to Sprague Hall on Tuesday for his Jackson Institute-sponsored town hall meeting.

The gathering, aimed at undergraduates, was held in conjunction with Krugman’s visit to Yale to receive the Henry E. Howland Memorial Prize, one of the highest honors that the University bestows.

Krugman was introduced by President Richard C. Levin; the two were briefly colleagues in Yale’s Department of Economics in the 1970s. He kicked off the Q&A with background on the current economic situation. (more…)

Sick at Work and Surfing the Net? You’re Not Alone – or Are You?

By Guest PostNovember 10, 2010Culture, Economy, Generalabsenteeism, buzzword, environmental medicine, Health, presenteeism, reduced productivity, scholars, susan hagen, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Some scholars estimate that presenteeism, a relatively recent buzzword that applies to people who are less productive at work because of health issues, costs employers as much as three times the dollar amount as absenteeism in terms of lost productivity.

But researchers at University of Michigan believe those numbers may be inaccurate. A new opinion paper suggests that the tools for measuring and quantifying hours of lost productivity and translating those hours to dollars are unreliable and don’t capture the entire presenteeism picture, said Susan Hagen, an analyst from the U-M School of Kinesiology Health Management Research Center (HMRC). (more…)

BP Returns to Profit, Estimates Oil Spill at $40 Billion

By PravdaNovember 2, 2010Economybob dudley, bp, ceo, energy giant, gulf of mexico, oil spill, profit

Energy giant BP announced a return to profit on Tuesday but revealed new shock estimates for the cost of its Gulf of Mexico oil spill, putting the expected bill at close to $40 billion.

The new figure is far higher than expected. BP said it had taken an additional charge of $7.7 billion during the third quarter, bringing the company’s own total estimated clean-up and legal costs to $39.9 billion. (more…)

10 Million UK Consumers Sought Financial Advice Online in September 2010

By Guest PostNovember 2, 20102 commentsEconomy, Technologyadaptive affinity, american express, bgl group, Comscore, comscore media metrix, economic situation, finance, financial advice, financial information/advice sites, financial sector, internet users, mike read, moneysupermarket, quickcreditscore, uk, uk customers, uk financial information/advice sites, web

*More Than One Out of Three Financial Advice Seekers Visited Moneysupermarket.com*

London, UK, 02 November, 2010 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a ranking of top Financial Information/Advice Sites in the UK based on September 2010 data from its comScore Media Metrix service. Nearly 10 million internet users turned to the web for financial advice, spending an average of 15 minutes on sites in the category during the month.

Data from the comScore Ad Metrix service revealed that Adaptive Affinity ranked as the top online display advertiser amongst financial companies, reaching nearly 58 percent of the total UK online audience in September 2010, by promoting its site Quickcreditscore.co.uk. (more…)

USGS Oil and Gas Resource Estimates Updated for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA)

By Guest PostOctober 26, 2010Economy, General3 d seismic survey, alaska, conventional gas, crude oil, gas, giant alpine field, marcia mcnutt, national petroleum reserve, npra, oil, oil exploration, petroleum, reservoir, reservoir rocks, U.S. Geological Survey, undiscovered oil

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates 896 million barrels of conventional, undiscovered oil and 53 trillion cubic feet of conventional, undiscovered non-associated gas within NPRA and adjacent state waters. The estimated volume of undiscovered oil is significantly lower than in 2002, when the USGS estimated there was 10.6 billion barrels of oil. The new estimate, roughly 10% of the 2002 estimate, is due primarily to the incorporation of new data from recent exploration drilling revealing gas occurrence rather than oil in much of NPRA. (more…)

Category Archives: Economy