Education, Business, & Law

Person wearing a mask hanging a “We’re Open” sign on a window of a retail store.

Why some retailers succeed despite big disruptions

The retail industry was already in the midst of unparalleled disruption—then came COVID-19. Wharton’s Barbara Kahn discusses the growth of “new retail” in China, how Amazon has emerged even stronger from the pandemic, and shifts from “bad” to “good” retail.

From Knowledge@Wharton ・

Two senior citizens look at a calculator while seated at a table covered in paperwork.

Why older Americans are taking on more debt

Older Americans are accumulating more debt as they near retirement, according to research from the Wharton School that reveals a troubling trend in personal finance among people in their 50s and early 60s.

From Knowledge@Wharton ・

Marcus Wright

COVID communications and first generation students

Marcus Wright, undergraduate program manager and academic coordinator in the Department of Sociology and doctoral student at the Graduate School of Education, analyzes academic messaging to expose blind spots.

From OMNIA ・



In the News


The Washington Post

As Aaron Rodgers saga shows, keeping a franchise QB happy is almost as important as finding one

Peter Cappelli of the Wharton School spoke about managing talent in business and beyond. “There’s an art to giving people the perception of influence without giving them control,” he said. “Some of that is when you take their advice, let them know you took their advice. Which is a simple thing, but it matters.”

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Wired

Don’t buy into Facebook’s ad-tracking pressure on iOS 14.5

Ron Berman of the Wharton School spoke about how a new Apple feature that allows users to block apps from tracking their online activities might affect Facebook’s revenues. “There are some types of ads, mostly retargeting, that will be harder to display, since now Facebook wouldn’t know who visited an app, put an item in the shopping cart, etc.,” he said.

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Inside Higher Ed

The fight for diverse, inclusive, antiracist, and just democracies

Ira Harkavy and Rita Hodges of the Netter Center for Community Partnerships and others co-wrote an op-ed about higher education and systemic oppression. “Just as many colleges and universities are reckoning with their own institutional histories of exclusion, higher education as a field must recognize where it has failed and come up short. Only then can it come honestly to tables with communities, governments, and citizens to build inclusive, antiracist democracies together,” they wrote.

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Bloomberg

A return to the office is a great chance to make a fresh start

Excerpts from “How to Change: The Science of Getting From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be” by Katy Milkman of the Wharton School address how workers and bosses can adopt better habits upon returning to the office.

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The Wall Street Journal

Should young adults stretch financially to buy a home?

Susan Wachter of the Wharton School said that young potential home buyers should resist the temptation to stretch their finances to take advantage of low interest rates. “Stretching to borrow can seem like the right thing to do, to take advantage of low rates, especially when young buyers think about all the years they have to both pay down the mortgage and to increase their earnings,” she said. “But buyer’s remorse can take over if and when housing prices plummet, especially if this occurs along with a recession.”

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