https://phys.org/science-news/economics-business en-us The latest news on economics research, business research, management sciences People around the globe often depend on informal financial arrangements, borrowing and lending money through social networks. Understanding this sheds light on local economies and helps fight poverty. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-social-people-money.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Thu, 26 Sep 2024 10:22:05 EDT news646564922 When given the choice, people prefer to collaborate on work projects with higher-paid colleagues, but they want to hire subordinates with a lower pay history than theirs, according to research published in the journal American Psychologist. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-high-pay.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Mon, 23 Sep 2024 09:00:01 EDT news646300021 As income inequality widens, debates around redistribution policies are heating up. New research from the Universities of Zurich, Lille and Copenhagen reveals that support for these policies stems not only from individuals' financial situations but also from an inherent aversion to inequality. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-aversion-inequality-redistribution-policies.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Thu, 19 Sep 2024 10:17:03 EDT news645959822 When making economic decisions, humans can be driven by various factors, including their goals and emotions. Past studies have hypothesized that emotions play a crucial role in economic decisions, particularly those that involve risk or trade-offs between immediate and future benefits. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-relationship-emotions-economic-decision-differ.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Thu, 19 Sep 2024 09:49:38 EDT news645958172 Income and wealth inequality in the U.S. remain near all-time highs. Analysts say this disparity is a "major issue of our time." Experts have spotlighted deep policy failures fueling the problem and helpful economic fixes to alleviate the suffering. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-toddlers-bias-wealth.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Wed, 18 Sep 2024 17:05:04 EDT news645897901 People selectively underestimate how rich the world's richest people are, according to a study. Increasing income inequality in many countries is driven by steep gains among the top 1% of earners. In the United States, support for policies that would redistribute wealth has not increased since the 1970s, even as the share of incomes held by the top 1% of Americans jumped from 10% to 19%. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-people-underestimate-income.html Economics & Business Political science Tue, 17 Sep 2024 12:44:50 EDT news645795886 Countries globally are rapidly transitioning to a cleaner energy future—accelerating their push for electric vehicles alongside ambitious targets to phase out gasoline and diesel in transportation. Global electric car sales surged by around 25% in the first quarter of 2024 from the same period in 2023 and are projected to reach approximately 17 million units by the end of the year, accounting for more than one in five cars sold globally. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-links-ev-stations-local-business.html Economics & Business Wed, 11 Sep 2024 13:10:02 EDT news645278618 Land was once set aside as Native American reservations because it was undesirable and low in resources, but now interested Native Americans may have economic leverage in the growing industry of clean energy. A team of researchers led by UW–Madison professors Dominic Parker and Sarah Johnston quantified the economic potential of wind and solar energy projects on these lands and discussed the regulatory barriers for tribes wishing to tap into it. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-energy-native-american-reservations-alleviate.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Tue, 10 Sep 2024 17:30:03 EDT news645208201 Opportunity hoarding has gained attention over the last several years, particularly after the 2019 Varsity Blues Scandal in which wealthy, well-known parents used their money, status and privilege to illegally get their children into university. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-privileged-parents-economic-upward-mobility.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Wed, 04 Sep 2024 12:50:28 EDT news644673024 New findings provide quantitative criteria for classifying social organizations in human history, together with potential explanatory variables that can be empirically measured for anthropology, history and archaeology, according to a study published September 3, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS Complex Systems by Kenji Itao and Kunihiko Kaneko from the University of Tokyo, Japan and Copenhagen University, Denmark (Kaneko) and the RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Japan (Itao). https://phys.org/news/2024-09-simulation-explores-gift-social.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Tue, 03 Sep 2024 14:00:01 EDT news644572622 Conventionally, decision-making is portrayed as a rational process: individuals calculate potential risks and aim to maximize benefits. Yet, our brains do not always endorse rational action, particularly when an immediate response is required. Sometimes, individuals mistakenly choose objectively worse options because of how these options are perceived in a given context. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-wrong-context-human-rationality-decisions.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Tue, 03 Sep 2024 13:11:07 EDT news644587864 Millions of women who work in the fisheries industry are being left behind as technologies develop to counter the effects of climate change and economic pressures. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-women-global-fisheries-industry-falling.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Tue, 27 Aug 2024 05:00:02 EDT news643895641 According to a new study, as of April 2021, US Congress members whose ancestors enslaved 16 or more people had a net worth that was five times higher than that of legislators whose ancestors did not have slaves. Neil Sehgal of the University of Pennsylvania, US, and Ashwini Sehgal of Case Western Reserve University, US present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on August 21, 2024. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-congress-members-wealth-statistically-linked.html Economics & Business Political science Wed, 21 Aug 2024 14:00:01 EDT news643450501 ChatGPT, the generative artificial intelligence technology developed by OpenAI, could help humans with daily, creative tasks—even those typically thought to require the human ability to "read between the lines," according to new research by the University of Houston and Rice University. Its capability has proven to be superior compared to traditional Google search or even human brainstorming without any technical assistance, the study authors argue. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-chatgpt-people-creativity-everyday-tasks.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Wed, 21 Aug 2024 11:17:16 EDT news643457831 A new national study provides the best evidence to date that generous unemployment insurance benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic helped reduce reliance on high-cost credit use. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-states-residents-debt-hard.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Fri, 16 Aug 2024 10:15:57 EDT news643022154 A mathematical framework that builds on the economic theory of hidden-action models provides insight into how the unobservable nature of effort and risk shapes investigators' research strategies and the incentive structures within which they work, according to a study published August 15 in PLOS Biology by Kevin Gross from North Carolina State University, U.S., and Carl Bergstrom from the University of Washington, U.S. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-safe-risky-aversion-science.html Economics & Business Thu, 15 Aug 2024 14:00:01 EDT news642930001 While the U.S. federal government has clean energy targets, they are not binding. Most economically developed countries have mandatory policies designed to bolster renewable electricity production. Because the U.S. lacks an enforceable federal mandate for renewable electricity, individual states are left to develop their own regulations. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-renewable-energy-policies-benefits-state.html Economics & Business Political science Thu, 15 Aug 2024 12:49:03 EDT news642944941 As the Paris Olympics captured the world's attention, it proved apparent that winning medals often hinged on the success of teamwork. While such an approach clearly works in sports, new research suggests teamwork is not always the desired method … especially for young scientists trying to find an academic job. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-larger-teams-academic-worsen-career.html Economics & Business Education Wed, 14 Aug 2024 11:00:01 EDT news642847982 The atmosphere within a group can influence the outcome of strategic decision-making, according to a new study co-authored by Bayes Business School (formerly Cass). The research is published in the Academy of Management Journal. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-atmosphere-room-affect-strategic-decision.html Economics & Business Tue, 13 Aug 2024 16:23:47 EDT news642785022 Involving women in implementing solar energy technologies in developing countries not only has great climate impact. A new study published in Nature Energy and carried out by researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, shows that empowering women through energy care work can change unjust, gendered norms and long-lived injustices. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-empowering-women-key-sustainable-energy.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Tue, 13 Aug 2024 14:48:05 EDT news642779281 Sydney research reveals that trends in international trade are exacerbating inequalities between the Global North and the Global South, undermining efforts to reach the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-reveals-global-north-inequality-international.html Economics & Business Fri, 09 Aug 2024 08:47:31 EDT news642412047 In a new survey study, Dutch employees who worked from home tended to report higher levels of productivity and less burnout if they were more satisfied with their home office setup. The study also linked more air ventilation in the home office to higher self-reported productivity. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-dutch-survey-links-air-ventilation.html Economics & Business Wed, 07 Aug 2024 14:00:01 EDT news642231254 Products and services alluding to financial mindfulness abound, but what exactly are they promising? https://phys.org/news/2024-07-key-financial-mindfulness.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Tue, 30 Jul 2024 12:24:47 EDT news641561083 Remote and hybrid working may be great for employees' work-life balance, but it may be stifling innovation, according to new research. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-home-stifles.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Tue, 30 Jul 2024 11:10:58 EDT news641556647 The high levels of consumption enjoyed by wealthy countries in the Global North are only possible because of mass appropriation of labor from the population of the Global South. This is evidenced by research from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), which indicates that this appropriation takes place through unequal exchange in international trade and global commodity chains. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-massive-appropriation-labor-global-south.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Mon, 29 Jul 2024 11:13:08 EDT news641470384 As restaurants increasingly embrace technology for placing food orders, a new University of South Florida study reveals that digital ordering platforms significantly influence consumer behavior, often leading to more indulgent food choices and increased spending. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-digital-food-indulgence-reveals.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Tue, 23 Jul 2024 16:03:04 EDT news640969381 A new paper published in Science Advances today finds that life expectancy in India was 2.6 years lower in 2020 than 2019, with women and marginalized social groups suffering the greatest declines. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-international-highlights-large-unequal-life.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Fri, 19 Jul 2024 14:00:01 EDT news640518758 Researchers have developed and validated a new tool for comparing gender inequality among different regions of a country, highlighting links between gender inequality, well-being, and participation in the #MeToo movement within the US. Bruno Gabriel Salvador Casara of New York University Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and colleagues present the tool and findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on July 17, 2024. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-gender-inequality-states-revealed-tool.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Wed, 17 Jul 2024 14:00:01 EDT news640428361 Billions of dollars in foreign aid could be spent more effectively if international poverty statistics were more accurate, according to new research led by King's College London. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-current-international-poverty-line-shortcut.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Tue, 16 Jul 2024 05:00:01 EDT news640277941 Rising water prices are forcing many households in the United States to choose between rationing water or risking shutoff by leaving bills unpaid. A study in Environmental Research Letters shows that government agencies and water utilities may be underestimating the true number of households at risk of losing affordable access to basic water service—and offers a solution. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-tools.html Economics & Business Political science Wed, 10 Jul 2024 16:08:14 EDT news639846491