In a Financial Times article on paying executives in the age of stakeholder capitalism, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School Professor Camelia Kuhnen notes that performance-related compensation packages can have negative consequences.
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and his family will transfer ownership of the company – valued at roughly $3 billion – to two newly created environmental trusts. In this Kenan Commentary, we ask four questions to determine how Chouinard’s move fits into the framework of the institute’s annual theme, stakeholder capitalism, and whether a better comparison is the laudable but more common idea of an altruistic business owner.
London Business School Professor Alex Edmans, a 2022 Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow, followed up his recent virtual presentation on “The Power of Purposeful Business” by answering key questions from the audience. This week’s Kenan Insight offers a curated Q&A with a few of our favorites, with Professor Edmans tackling topics such as which issues government is best equipped to regulate and which may require shareholders to step in, the limits of using data in ESG measurement, and how best to encourage purposeful thinking throughout an organization.
Eleven students have been selected as members of the 2022 class of MBA Kenan Scholars. The year-long program sponsored by the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise is the premier research opportunity for UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA students.
From exploring the concept of stakeholder capitalism to welcoming world-class speakers, Kenan Institute Executive Director Greg Brown shares some exciting things to look forward to in 2022.
Kenan Institute Chief Economist Gerald Cohen highlights five hot topics – from labor shortages to cryptocurrency – that business leaders and policymakers will grapple with in 2022.
The jumps in the inflation rate over the last few months have been larger and longer-lasting than expected. For much of 2022 economic forecasters, including those at the Federal Reserve, assumed that higher inflation rates would be short-lived—or “transitory” using the preferred jargon of the day. Inflation was expected to start shifting back towards the Fed’s 2% target as supply-chain bottlenecks were resolved and a pandemic-induced shift in demand for consumer goods swung back toward consumer services. Instead, recent inflation prints have set 40-year records and we are seeing more discussion about the possibility of a “wage-price” spiral.
The Kenan Institute recaps a panel on the business of women's health from the Center for Business of Health's November 2022 conference.
2022 was a tumultuous year: NASDAQ, a tech-heavy stock index, closed the year down more than 30%; inflation proved more stubborn than policymakers initially thought and reached 40-year highs; Russia invaded Ukraine, sending commodity prices even higher; and central banks cranked up rates in response, the Federal Reserve raising interest rates at an unprecedented pace in recent history from around zero to over 4%. As we entered 2023, the global economy stood “on a razor’s edge,” the World Bank warned in its latest projections. Add to that a divided Congress with razor-thin majorities, political wrangling over the debt ceiling, and increasingly frequent catastrophic weather events, and it leaves one wondering where we are all headed.
Since March 2022, the Federal Reserve has battled the highest inflation in decades with interest rate increases whose effects are only now starting to be seen. So does this mean the era of rate hikes is coming to an end?
As we approach the one-year mark of state-issued stay-at-home orders, the short- and long-term impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on state coffers is still being assessed. With businesses forced to close and unemployment at near-record levels, state policymakers are scrambling to find ways to make up for lost tax revenue. In this Kenan Insight, we look at both the challenges and opportunities for balancing state budgets in light of this new economic reality.
Every year, millions of students enroll in post-secondary programs with hopes of attaining the education they need to get ahead in the job market. But in the U.S. higher education system, “college acts like a lottery,” says Ben Miller, director of the Postsecondary Education Center for American Progress. Some students graduate with applicable skills and higher earning potential, while others leave unemployed with ever-increasing piles of debt.
CEO pay is the latest point of contention in the political fight over ESG, but the arguments have become oversimplified. When we think about good corporate governance, what does the evidence say about CEO pay? The results may surprise you.
American Growth Project models project that all 150 of the top Extended Metropolitan Areas will see slower growth in 2024 than they did last year and that 56 of them will contract. See what else the data tell us.
The year ahead is full of economic uncertainty, but institute Chief Economist Gerald Cohen knows that some topics will be in the thoughts of many business leaders and policymakers. Find out five trends he has in mind.
American Growth Project Dashboard The American Growth Project is distinct from other analytical endeavors in its microeconomic focus and its broad scope. Our data come from government and academic sources...
Our country's cities, towns and rural communities hold the key to understanding current and forecasted national trends – but for far too long, our nation’s microeconomic data has been lacking. The American Growth Project is here to help.
Kenan Institute Chief Economist Gerald Cohen kicks off 2025 with a rundown of five issues that will be top of mind for business leaders and policymakers, accompanied by his analysis.
The Kenan Institute's projected 2025 GDP growth rates for 150 Extended Metropolitan Areas across the United States anticipate a slowdown, but our data indicate that all of those areas will see GDP growth this year.