10.21
Education, Business, & Law
Tariff troubles: Will consumers feel the pinch?
Businesses are preparing for an economic downturn, while economists predict a reduction in corporate profits, fewer jobs, lower wages, and an agricultural bailout.
When business blows up policy: How to regulate disruptions
Wharton professor Sarah Light outlines the challenge of regulating traditional business disruptors such as Uber and Airbnb, two companies with platforms that have no precedent in the business sector for regulation.
Revitalizing and expanding Penn GSE’s space for modern learning
The planned building expansion for the Graduate School of Education adds more than just space: It brings a new approach to building design to accommodate new technologies and spaces for collaboration.
Report shows MSI leaders connecting with students through social media
A new report from Penn GSE’s Center for Minority Serving Institutions examines how presidents of Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) are using social media to interact with students, and what lessons leaders at all colleges could learn from them.
STEM and business classes mesh for Philadelphia high schoolers
As part of the SMASH Wharton program, 35 students live and breathe college life in the summer, staying for three years in Harnwell College House and taking classes at Huntsman Hall.
The business of voting
The chaos that befell the 2000 election sparked a revamping of the election technology industry. Wharton experts have drafted a report detailing the business side of modernizing voting technology.
Digital currency ‘Initial Coin Offerings’ expose investors to risks
A research team led by Penn Law professor David Hoffman has conducted the first detailed analysis of Initial Coin Offerings of virtual currencies, revealing the estimated $25 billion dollar industry’s protections against self-dealing may leave investors exposed to risks they don’t anticipate from issuers.
Talking philosophy, privacy, and race with Anita Allen
On July 1, the Vice Provost and professor of Law and Philosophy became the first female African-American president of the American Philosophical Association’s Eastern Division.
Pardon power: Rogers Smith on presidential privilege
The political science professor discusses the legality of the current president applying the power of presidential pardon to himself, and concludes that there's no definitive constitutional answer.
Leadership lessons from the Thai cave rescue
Wharton's Michael Useem and Andrew Eavis from the International Union of Speleology discuss the combination of leadership, cooperation and altruism that freed the Thai soccer team.
In the News
Philadelphia Inquirer
Trump-friendly Newsmax bundled into Comcast’s Xfinity service
The Annenberg School for Communication’s Victor Pickard discussed conservative news channel Newsmax and its recent deal with Comcast. If Comcast is “feeling the heat from the right, it will make sense to appease some of those critics,” said Pickard.
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CNBC
Dieting is out. That poses a problem for a company named Weight Watchers as it rebrands itself WW
Kevin Volpp of the Wharton School and Perelman School of Medicine offered commentary on the “universal challenge” of dieting. “People generally speaking are much more successful in achieving initial weight loss than maintaining weight loss,” he said.
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Bloomberg
Barbara Kahn discusses the retail revolution (podcast)
Barbara Kahn of the Wharton School was interviewed about changes in the world of retail and marketing. “People talk about [contemporary online shopping] as ‘omnichannel’ but right now it’s just retail. Retail has now become a seamless integration between online and offline,” said Kahn.
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Bloomberg
Sears bankruptcy hits close to home for Trump
Speaking about Sears’ decline, the Wharton School’s Daniel Raff said that expressions of nostalgia for the store, which has long catered to blue-collar Americans, “may well resonate with [Trump’s] core voters.”
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Economic Times
Bigger Billion Days: How this year’s festive season could prove transformative for Flipkart
Discussing Indian e-commerce, the Wharton School’s Kartik Hosanagar said that the ratio of customer acquisition costs to customer lifetime value is “even more lopsided than in the U.S., Europe, and China.” The key to profitability, he said, is reducing those acquisition costs and improving customer retention.
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