Business Exodus from Russia Was No Bonanza for Putin

Sometimes, political reporters without a background in business journalism make egregious errors in their coverage of the business exodus from Vladimir Putin’s Russia—and even fall for the strongman’s Potemkin Village-like economic façade. A recent article, entitled “How Putin Turned a Western Boycott Into a Bonanza”, wrongly suggested that the historic…

Commercial Real Estate Downturn or Crisis?

“We’ve had a change, perhaps a permanent change, in the usage of space,” said Yale SOM’s Andrew Metrick. Swipe card data show about half as many people coming into offices as pre-pandemic. “There ain’t no way we’re going to keep the same amount of commercial real estate if that stays…

When Companies Reverse Their Climate Commitments

Should we hold accountable companies that fail to meet their climate commitments? There is important research by Professor Kelly Shue that shows in some cases, investing in “brown firms”—or firms that are transitioning to lower emissions in greenhouse gas-intense sectors—has a greater benefit to the environment than investing in firms…

The Israel-Hamas War and the Fundamental Flaws of Social Media

Today, the images and videos circulating, especially across social media, are offering a very poor representation of the truth of what happened on October 7 in Israel. This is partly due to the Israeli government’s understandable efforts to protect the privacy and dignity of the victims, and abstaining from publishing…

A Light into the Black Box of the Art Market

Q: What’s the state of the art market? Over the last decade, the size of the art market has maintained a relatively constant level, remaining close to the $60 billion mark. Although this seems like a large number, it significantly falls short when compared to FedEx’s revenue, which exceeded $90…

Does Having a Choice Provide an Illusion of Control?

The theory has held for decades: give people a choice and you’re also giving them an illusory sense of control. For example, a much-cited 1975 study found that if people are allowed to pick the numbers on a lottery ticket rather than having them randomly assigned, they’re more likely to…

Peace and Prosperity in Middle East Can Still Be Reached

As three longtime advocates for Mideast peace, from both Democratic and Republican presidential administrations, we believe that a silver lining could eventually emerge from the shocking invasion of Israel by Hamas and the tragic slaughter of over 1,300 civilians. Despite Hamas’ intention to prevent wider Mideast peace from emerging from…

The Russian Oil Price Cap Can Work Again

  As Mark Twain might say, reports of the death of G-7 Russian oil price cap have been greatly exaggerated. Devised by the U.S. Treasury Department and adopted by all the G-7 and European Union countries, the novel oil price cap was designed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to limit…

For Companies Eyeing AI, the Question Is ‘When, Not If’

As computers evolved from room-sized contraptions wrangled by specialists to machines that displaced typewriters on more and more desks, the change was met with excitement, anxiety, hype, and skepticism. Workers feared being replaced by machines; managers weren’t sure, despite the eyewatering expense of equipping everyone with a computer, whether the…

How a Time Out Can Help Address Bias

Q: You are two of the co-authors of a paper, “The Bias Time Out: A Practical Tool for Advancing DEIB in the Healthcare Space” that proposes a real-time process for reducing errors and negative outcomes due to bias. How did you develop this tool? Dr. Cecelia Calhoun: Five of us…

What Awaits Ukraine Once the War Ends? Prosperity, For One Thing

Last week, three questions dominated the coverage of indefatigable Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s high-profile visit to the United Nations in New York and meetings with President Joe Biden and bipartisan legislators in Washington: How much longer will this war last? How will it end? And what are Ukraine’s prospects as…

Does Capital Spending on Schools Improve Education?

As anyone who is planning to move to a new city or neighborhood with a school-aged child knows, not all public schools are created equal. Some have shinier athletic facilities or bigger classrooms or newer equipment in the science and computer labs, all indications to anxious parents that their children…

Forms of Wisdom: Lessons from Public Health Entrepreneurs

Coming from a public health background myself, the intention of the class is to provide a framework for utilizing entrepreneurial pathways to achieve public health goals. My own public health training was largely about analyzing problems and less about envisioning, creating, and implementing solutions. I wanted public health students to…

Debating Vivek Ramaswamy

As the great illusionist Harry Houdini once said, “The secret of showmanship consists not of what you really do, but what the mystery-loving public thinks you do.” Entrepreneurial huckster Vivek Ramaswamy has graduated from being the court jester of corporate governance to now becoming a serious contender for the GOP…

What Can Other Companies Learn from Patagonia’s Model?

Q: In 2012, you and Yvon Chouinard co-authored The Responsible Company: What We’ve Learned from Patagonia’s First 40 Years. Now, you have released The Future of the Responsible Company: What We’ve Learned from Patagonia’s First 50 Years. Why the new book?   So much of what is going on in…

Horatio Alger Is a Hoax, But We Can Still Celebrate the American Dream

  The Horatio Alger Myth has resurfaced in headlines this summer in political controversy that shows little insight into the true character behind this myth of American success. Alger was a scandalized failure whose recreated image was later manufactured by publicity seeking publishers in the 1920s several decades after his…

Dating, Marriage, Parenting, and the Gender Wage Gap

On average, women earn 79 cents on the dollar compared to men—a figure that has been repeated by economists and politicians for years. It has proven a simple way to underscore a persistent and complex problem in the United States. Although factually correct, the finding that women make less than…

Reinventing the Way We Work (Again)

The last time we talked about returning to the office, you suggested that we take this opportunity to think about the workplace—not just how to organize workers and cubicles, and whether we mask, and what the hybrid policy is, but to assess how our organization works, and how we‘re working…

How China can Reverse Its Economic Slump

Why did the Chinese central bank cut rates? The modest monetary easing of mid-August—just 10 to 15 basis points off short-term repo rates —is a limited response to a Chinese economy that is under serious downward pressure. Most, including myself, were expecting sustained momentum in the economy in 2023 to…

‘Lockdown Fatigue’ Diminished the Effectiveness of COVID-19 Restrictions

In early 2020, as restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus swept across the world, concerns about “lockdown fatigue” followed closely in their wake. As early as spring and early summer in the U.S., media commentators worried that lockdown policies were chafing, and that a critical mass of weary rule-breakers could…

Behind The Secret of the Barbie Movie’s Marketing Success

Many current TV shows and movies are reboots of existing franchises. Why has this one been so culturally omnipresent? The marketers at Warner Bros are being touted as geniuses, credited with the blockbuster success of the Barbie movie. The movie has already grossed $1 billion in box office sales, with…

Finally, The Critics of Bidenomics Are Being Proven Wrong

Cynics often know the price of everything but the value of nothing. Remember how, just months ago, leading economic voices were predicting a catastrophic “Category 5 economic hurricane” this year? The astounding 2.4% GDP growth revealed this week, with plunging inflation, historically low unemployment, and corporate profit reports soaring past…

Alan Friedman: To Err Is Human

Harlan Krumholz: Welcome to Health & Veritas. I’m Harlan Krumholz. Howard Forman: And I’m Howie Forman. We’re physicians and professors at Yale University. We’re trying to get closer to the truth about health and healthcare. We have an exciting interview coming up with Dr. Alan Friedman of Yale New Haven…

The Art and Science of Delivering Impact

Q: What are the core values that led you to the work you do? Passion and compassion drive me professionally and personally. I have a fervency for service to others that comes out of my roots in Judaism: You don’t have an obligation to perfect the world, but you do…

Why, As Incomes Rise, Variability in Happiness Shrinks?

For more than a decade, the World Happiness Report—a collaboration among several top universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada—has published annual data on the happiest countries in the world; Finland has held the top spot for six years in a row. Part of a vast body…

Melissa Davis: Can a Radiologist Trust AI?

Harlan Krumholz: Welcome to Health & Veritas. I’m Harlan Krumholz. Howard Forman: I’m Howie Forman. We’re physicians and professors at Yale University. We’re trying to get closer to the truth about health and healthcare. This week, we’ll be speaking with Dr. Melissa Davis. But first, we’d like to check in…

What Does It Mean to Be Generous?

Q: Are there key questions that have guided your career? All my research looks at judgment and decision making. I’ve done work on couples’ financial behavior. I’ve looked at how emotion influences our perception of risk. I’m quite interested in our moral intuitions and how they align with our actual…

Can You Make a Donation Today—and Tell All Your Friends?

In the summer of 2015, a woman named Dawn Dorland donated a kidney to a stranger. She set up a private Facebook group to update her friends about the surgery and her recovery. Unbeknownst to Dorland, some group members decided that sharing the news of her generosity was a form…

Beyond the Hype: How CEOs actually plan to use AI

The headlines are full of grand and sometimes terrifying speculation about the potential of artificial intelligence. At Yale SOM’s CEO Summit recently, Prof. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld asked business leaders for some real talk about how their companies are using the technology. Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies &…

Twitter Data Can Predict Ascent of Crypto Coins

Cryptocurrencies are notoriously volatile. But listening carefully to social media chatter can help identify winning short-term investments in crypto, according to a new Yale study carried out as the crypto bubble expanded and finally popped. The methodology in the study, co-authored by Prof. Tauhid Zaman and PhD student Khizar Qureshi,…

Anti-Woke business Is Falling Flat

Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian write that the exchange-traded funds that boycott companies taking action on social issues are underperforming the market and struggling to find investors.   In commenting on Bob Iger’s defence of Disney’s values and brand in the face of threats from Florida Governor DeSantis,…