Join the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise for a virtual talk featuring London Business School Finance Professor Alex Edmans, who will critically examine the case for purposeful business using rigorous evidence and real-life examples to show what works – and, importantly, what doesn’t.
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.
Purpose is the corporate buzzword of today, with politicians, the public and even shareholders calling on businesses to serve wider society. But purpose is also controversial, because companies have a responsibility to deliver returns to investors. Is there a trade-off between purpose and profit, or is it possible for companies to achieve both? The Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise hosted a virtual talk featuring London Business School Finance Professor Alex Edmans, who critically examined the case for purposeful business using rigorous evidence and real-life examples to show what works – and, importantly, what doesn’t. He discussed practical ways for businesses of all sizes to put purpose into practice, how investors and citizens can play their part, and how we can distinguish businesses that are truly purposeful from those that are greenwashing.
Much attention is being focused on energy supply security issues, especially for European oil and gas supplies. The latest Russian decision to halt natural gas sales to Poland and Bulgaria has reinforced that continent’s awareness of the perils of unreliable suppliers. Europe’s short-term focus is on sanctioning Russia and then backfilling the forgone oil and gas from other sources.
Unions seem to be popping up everywhere these days. In fact, the National Labor Relations Board reported that requests for union elections during the last nine months are up 58% over the prior fiscal year. This trend has received significant coverage in the media, with particular interest in successful organization efforts at Amazon, Starbucks and Apple.
We study the microstructure of the U.S. housing market using a novel data set comprising housing search and bargaining behavior for millions of interactions between sellers and buyers. We first establish a number of stylized facts, the most prominent being a nearly 50--50 split between houses that sold below final listing price and those that sold above final listing price. Second, we compare observed behavior with predictions from a large theoretical housing literature.
Institute Director of Research Paige Ouimet spoke to Ned Barnett for The News & Observer’s Opinion section on how the pandemic has changed workers’ lives. The wages of lower-skilled workers have increased by a higher percentage than those of high-skilled workers, but inflation has effectively wiped out those gains.
Economists and investors traditionally see uncertainty as a bad thing that suppresses growth and valuations, but new research shows that downstream uncertainty from customers in the U.S. supply chain can foretell expansion for firms and the economy.
Nonwage benefits have become more important to employers and employees alike. A new look shows where you work plays a far greater role in the level of benefits you receive than it does your paycheck.
China’s remarkable economic transition was going to face slowing growth at some point, but misallocation of resources and the country’s zero-COVID policy further complicate the picture.
Can investing in polluting industries be a tool for fostering sustainability? Yes, according to research by Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow Jacquelyn Pless, and it may be more effective than divesting.
Apprenticeship programs have not historically been successful in reaching a diverse array of people. A report by the institute-affiliated NCGrowth examines trends within apprenticeship and offers a set of best practices to continue diversifying these programs
Research indicates that groups are most effective at achieving gender equity goals when men and women advocate together.
As President Xi Jinping officially begins his third term leading China, his ideological approach will be tested by instability - both within and outside his country.
2022 has not been kind to many investment portfolios; as Kenan Institute Executive Director Greg Brown argues, this is all attributable to the change in real interest and inflation rates.
Kenan Institute Chief Economist Gerald Cohen explains the vital importance of productivity to the health of our economy, both domestically and globally, and why that is only one metric of societal health.
The United States may be a highly productive society as a whole, but regionally results vary widely. Institute Chief Economist Gerald Cohen discusses the success stories and trends identified from our American Growth Project study of the top producing cities.
...signaled their intent to expand integration of clean hydrogen to power their businesses. Given younger job-seekers show particular interest in environmental careers, these developments indicate positive growth prospects for the...
UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School Clinical Associate Professor of Finance Arzu Ozoguz discusses the SEC's anticipated new rules around sustainability.