Business

Kartik Hosanagar of the Wharton School spoke about the tech industry in India, noting the pressure investors place on young startups to yield high returns. “These companies have raised massive amounts of money at sky-high valuations and they need to grow at a fast clip to justify those valuations,” he said.

The Wharton School’s Susan Wachter discussed the risks of more complicated home loans, like interest-only adjustable-rate mortgages. “If you do need to sell to move or get a better job, or your own financial circumstances change, having a mortgage that exceeds the value of the home will put you in a spot,” said Wachter.

The Wharton School’s Peter Cappelli said that tech workers may feel more empowered to critique their employers because their labor is in high demand. “They also feel that some of their identity is tied up with the image of the company where they work, so it really does hurt them when that image gets tarnished,” said Cappelli.

Ben Keys of the Wharton School endorsed the idea of de-emphasizing the option for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages. However, he warned, if lenders stop guaranteeing those mortgages, “we should expect house prices everywhere to go down, which could be a potentially large shock to the housing market.”

Harbir Singh of the Wharton School discussed the difficulties of corporate alliances in and beyond the auto industry. He attributed the low success rate to companies overestimating their savings and underestimating the challenges of merging businesses.

The Wharton School’s Peter Fader discussed how retailers prioritize customers based on their spending habits. “If we see you engaging with the company more deeply, we have a sense that you’re going to be worth that much more in the future,” said Fader.

The Wharton School’s Katja Seim spoke about her research on diamond pricing, which found that the gems can cost 12 to 21 percent higher when purchased from leading online retailers.

Steve Viscelli, a Senior Fellow and a lecturer in the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and the Department of Sociology, was cited for his book about the trucking industry. “The biggest threat to the truck drivers is not job loss in the near term,” he said. Rather, job quality is at risk.

The Wharton School’s Sigal Barsade discussed workplace friendships and the negative effects of loneliness on job performance. Loneliness can spread, Barsade cautioned. “We catch emotions from each other like viruses.”