10.21
Education, Business, & Law
Why people don’t prepare for disasters
Wharton's Robert Meyer discusses the lack of disaster preparedness individuals take in response to hurricane season, and the psychology of decision-making in relation to disasters.
College opportunity at risk: A Penn GSE report on 50 states
A new report by Professor Joni Finney finds the U.S. is “woefully unprepared” to meet 21st-century workforce challenges, and all states must make significant changes in their approach higher education. The College Opportunity Risk Assessment is the first state-by-state analytic tool to compare the risks to higher education.
Perspectives on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh
On July 9th, Brett Kavanaugh was announced as President Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee. Penn faculty provide their analyses of the nomination.
Is an apology an effective marketing campaign?
Companies have been issuing mea culpas to its customers for decades. But the quality, timing and audience for the corporate apology has to be nuanced in order to be effective. Wharton professors discuss the efficacy of the numerous corporate messages broadcast to the public.
Boosting testosterone makes men prefer higher-status products
A study out of the Wharton School found that a single dose of testosterone increased men's preference for luxury, high-status items, mimicking animal behavior.
On the ground in Washington, D.C.
Rising junior Louis Lin is pursuing his interest in policy making via an International Leadership Foundation Fellowship and an internship with the Federal Aviation Administration.
Howard Stevenson teaches racial rapport 101
Since 1990, Howard Stevenson has been conducting research on racial socialization and interventions, and teaching racial literacy as a professor in the Graduate School of Education
Facing ‘a new era of catastrophes,’ book by Wharton profs offers tips for business leaders
Wharton’s Howard Kunreuther and Michael Useem’s recent book “Mastering Catastrophic Risk: How Companies are Coping with Disruption” dives into the ways top companies have rebounded after their own worst-case scenarios.
Teachers view immigrant and minority parents as less involved in their children’s education
A study from Penn Sociology revealed that such perspectives from educators can end up hampering the academic trajectory of the students.
Making sense of what’s happening at the border
Despite a recent executive order, serious questions remain regarding the 2,300 migrant children who have been separated from their families and detained in the U.S. Penn experts weigh in on many of the issues involved.
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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