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.
A recent trend in corporate culture has been an increase in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs meant to increase awareness of these critical issues and support underrepresented groups and minorities in the workplace. But what exactly is DEI, and how should we approach conversations about race and discrimination? On Friday Oct. 30, our Kenan Scholars engaged in a DEI training, led by Antoinetta Mosley of I Follow the Leader LLC, to answer just that.
From romance to finance and from the media to markets, data can help answer questions faster and provide critical insights to make smarter decisions. Data is power. Knowing how to read data can help identify patterns to end labor trafficking or to provide more affordable housing. Analyzing peaks and troughs can lead to game changing technological breakthroughs and new business opportunities. In the current error of ‘fake news’, how confident are you in your ability to read, work with, analyze and argue with data and assess facts? Join us at this interactive session and learn just how data literate you are.
Join our panel of experts who will share their technological, legal and social expertise to answer the questions raised by the real-world performance of risk assessment instruments.
Join our panel of industry and academic leaders, who will share their technological, legal, organizational and social expertise to answer the questions raised by emerging artificial intelligence capabilities.
“Every business I enter is looking for employees” was a common refrain in our Carolina Across 100 survey, with 79% of the total survey sample selecting employment/staffing concerns among their top three negative impacts of COVID-19 on their organization. Is the staffing shortage just a function of COVID-19 that will correct itself as COVID abates or are there larger demographic and economic forces at work? The answer is a bit of both.
Chief Economist Gerald Cohen compared wage growth with inflation to answer some questions from USA Today.
In a recent episode of his award-winning show, “United Shades of America,” W. Kamau Bell interviews a Black man about systemic racism in America who said, “This country is not designed for us and, in fact, is designed against us.” As an African American, this observation triggered three critical questions.
A daunting tangle of problems defines the global energy space as 2022 winds down. On the one hand, the war in the Ukraine combined with curtailed Russian oil/gas supplies into Europe has reminded many that unfriendly energy suppliers can also deliver inflation and hardship to their customers. On another side, efforts to increase oil/gas supplies both in Europe and globally, face stout resistance to anything that might further entrench hydrocarbons into national economies. Inflation is prompting monetary policies to tighten even as fiscal indiscipline continues via historically high government deficit spending. Concerns over climate change remain an article of faith among leaders of many countries. Other voices decry the folly of calls to suppress oil/gas production when greener alternatives are not ready to replace them. Electorates seem both confused and restless. The risk that they vote in leaders less insistent on decarbonizing economies is palpable.
While call centers have recently invested in callback technology, the impact of this innovation on callers’ behavior and call center performance has been less clearly understood. Using call center data from a US commercial bank, we perform an empirical study of callers’ decisionmaking process in the presence of a callback option.
We show that in the years following a large broad-based employee stock option (BBSO) grant, employee turnover falls at the granting firm. We find evidence consistent with a causal relation by exploiting unexpected changes in the value of unvested options. A large fraction of the reduction in turnover appears to be temporary with turnover increasing in the third year following the year of the adoption of the BBSO plan. The increase three years post-grant is equal in magnitude to the cumulative decrease in turnover over the three prior years, suggesting that long-vesting BBSO plans delay, instead of prevent, turnover.
This paper examines how tax uncertainty created by highly aggressive tax planning affects a firm's investment decisions. The tax uncertainty that we study arises from tax choices of such inadequate merit that the firms themselves believe that they will lose if audited. Consistent with a simple model that we develop, we find that investments in fixed assets and research and development are increasing, at a decreasing rate, in the tax savings from these aggressive plans.
Courtney Edwards, associate director of the Kenan Institute's affiliate UNC Tax Center, was recently featured in a Charlotte Parent Magazine article about the effects of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on families. Edwards says the legislation will include fewer exemptions, higher deductions, a child tax credit increase and changes to 529 plans.
The Private Equity Research Consortium this fall plans to make fund holdings data available for academic research—a development that helps mark the 10-year partnership between data provider Burgiss and the Institute for Private Capital, an affiliate of UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School’s Frank H. Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.
On Feb. 8, Peloton Co-founder John Foley announced his plans to step down as CEO and become its executive chairman – but can such a move help or hurt a company’s future? Entrepreneurship Center Faculty Director and UNC Professor Chris Bingham and UNC Kenan-Flagler Ph.D. graduate Travis Howell share their perspectives with NPR Marketplace.
Apple’s plans to build a new campus and engineering hub in the Research Triangle Park is estimated to bring about 3,000 new jobs to the region and boost the state’s economy by almost $79.8 billion over 39 years. Kenan institute Chief Economist Gerald Cohen answers questions from The Well just how far the company’s impact will reach in the local and state economies.
The Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise launched its State of the Economy Press Briefing, a quick-response roundup of information and commentary following the U.S. Department of Labor’s monthly employment report, with a virtual presentation May 6. Areas for analysis included how the jobs numbers may affect GDP growth, inflation, and the Fed’s plans, with an eye toward what it all means for business.
In the 9 a.m. ET briefing, Chief Economist Gerald Cohen offered additional insights into the effects of COVID-19 on employment and the labor market’s continuing recovery. He also answered questions on the likelihood of a recession and the EU’s response to economic conditions.
The availability of high quality and “clean” data documenting historical individual stock performance has had a profound impact on financial economics and the financial‐services industry.
Universities are under tremendous pressure related to declining resources, flat enrollments, and increasing stakeholder demands. Strategic questions are surfacing related to resource allocation – how to connect investments to outcomes in an increasingly competitive and dynamic environment.
As major health systems continue to merge, one of the main questions for commentators and researchers concerns the somewhat vague idea of community benefit. The Atrium Health–Advocate merger is set to provide approximately $5 billion in annual community benefit, targeted to aid vulnerable communities and individuals. Community benefit can be understood as any action, investment or program provided by a tax-exempt hospital or health system that promotes the health and wellness of the community they serve. In addition to community benefit, Advocate Health described a $2 billion pledge to disrupt the root causes of health inequities across the rural and urban communities it serves.