Behavioral Theory highlights the crucial role of social comparisons in attention allocation in adaptive aspirations. Yet, both the specification of social reference points and the dynamics of attention allocation have received little scholarly examination. We address performance feedback from two social reference points relative to divisions in multidivisional firms: economic reference point and political reference point.
“We’re in a unique and transformative time in global history,” said General Mark A. Milley, chief of staff of the U.S. Army, speaking at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Kenan Institute Chief Economist Gerald Cohen discusses the power of productivity and what that means for the U.S. economy.
Our 2025 Grand Challenge examines the skills gap – the difference between the skills that employers seek and those that workers possess – which is being driven by technological breakthroughs, demographic changes and cultural shifts in the workplace.
As a once-orderly world grows messier in the post-pandemic era, UNC Kenan-Flagler's Christian Lundblad discusses strategic planning for low-probability, high-impact events.
The institute's Distinguished Fellows comprise an exemplary set of global scholars leveraging their individual expertise to further the institute’s efforts to examine and drive solutions to issues facing business and the economy today.
Since 1965, average idiosyncratic risk (IR) has never been lower than in recent years. In contrast to the high IR in the late 1990s that has drawn considerable attention in the literature, average market-model IR is 44% lower in 2013-2017 than in 1996-2000. Macroeconomic variables help explain why IR is lower, but using only macroeconomic variables leads to large prediction errors compared to using only firm-level variables. As a result of the dramatic change in the number and composition of listed firms since the late 1990s, listed firms are larger and older. Larger and older firms have lower idiosyncratic risk. Models that use firm char-acteristics to predict firm-level idiosyncratic risk estimated over 1963-2012 can largely or completely ex-plain why IR is low over 2013-2017. The same changes that bring about historically low IR lead to unusu-ally high market-model R-squareds.
Many providers of defined-contribution investment plans, such as 401(k) plans, have advocated for broader access to private investments. In this Kenan Insight, we examine the operating, regulatory and legal constraints involved in allowing that access, and explore what, if anything, retail investors are likely to gain from investing in private funds.
While the COVID-19 pandemic was devastating for many, research shows its impact was not felt equally. Black Americans experienced disproportionate health and economic ramifications, which compounded the financial, social and psychological strain many felt pre-pandemic, and have contributed to growing inter-generational wealth disparities. In today’s Kenan Insight, our experts explore whether the multi-trillion dollar “Build Back Better” plan proposed by the Biden administration holds the potential to begin closing pervasive gaps in American society.
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.
The pandemic taught us that equity investors would be wise to seek to invest in firms with resilient supply chains. But is there a reliable way to identify firms whose supplier-customer relationships are less vulnerable to disruptions?
This intellectual approach takes an unorthodox view of the nature of government taxation and expenditure, arguing (among other things) that a sovereign nation that can spend, tax and borrow in its own currency faces very different constraints than often modeled in traditional economics textbooks.
As the U.S. continues to face COVID-19 and supply chain disruptions, experts debate just how worked up the economy is in its current state. This week’s Insight serves as the first in a two-part point-counterpoint series, in which Kenan Institute Executive Director Greg Brown and Chief Economist Gerald Cohen hash out the arguments both for and against an overheating economy.
Johnson, director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center, discusses how his research sheds light on key issues that will help determine the state's economic future.
With the upcoming November election and calls by President Trump for 1 or more vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to be ready before the end of the year, if not by the election, many have started to wonder whether the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can withstand this type of political pressure.
NCGrowth develops a web-based tool that helps connect communities with information and inspiration.
The enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) on Dec. 22, 2017 dropped the U.S. corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, creating the prospect of substantially improved cash flows for many U.S. companies. While the effects of this tax cut are still working their way through the economy, it’s not too early to ask an important question: where did (or will) the money go?
The list of stores that have closed or gone bankrupt in 2020 reads like a “who’s who” of venerable retail giants. Although retailing has been experiencing tectonic shifts for several years, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated both challenges and opportunities. In this Kenan Insight, we explore four major trends in retail, with a particular focus on food retailing.
With direct care facilities and workers in crisis, we explore trends behind the labor shortages in the industry as well as a menu of solutions that could possibly alleviate the issue.
Professor Paige Ouimet has been named executive director of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School effective Aug. 21. She succeeds Professor Greg Brown, who led the institute’s growth for eight years.