-
How Iconic Chocolate Brands Are Improving Conditions for West African Farmers - By Tensie Whelan
If you are like me and believe chocolate is one of the five major food groups, you also may think of it as a guilty pleasure due to its caloric content. The good news: A few pieces of dark chocolate don’t have much sugar or calories. The bad news: Depending on what company makes it, you probably should feel guilty about eating chocolate. The reality is, you and the companies that are making it may not be paying enough to the farmers who produce the cacao.
—— Opinion
-
Improving US Monetary Policy Communications - By Kim Schoenholtz
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Federal Reserve group that sets monetary policy for the United States, publishes a vast amount of information regarding its goals, strategy, outlook, and more. Over the past quarter century, the FOMC has developed a transparent communications framework that promotes accountability and allows for credible policy commitments. In a Federal Reserve-invited paper, NYU Stern Professor Kim Schoenholtz and co-author Stephen G. Cecchetti offer suggestions for further improving FOMC communications about monetary policy.
—— Research Highlights
-
The Fair Labor Association: A Useful Tool For Investors - By Michael Posner
Last week, the Fair Labor Association (FLA) marked its 20th year of protecting worker rights around the world with the voluntary cooperation of major corporations. The FLA model brings major apparel and agriculture companies to the table with universities and civil society activists. Companies commit to abiding by the FLA code, which is based on international human rights standards developed by the International Labor Organization and the UN.
—— Opinion
-
The “Digital Revolution” of Wellbeing - By A. Michael Spence
Western attitudes toward digital technology have soured in recent years, as once-celebrated innovations have begun to reveal their downsides. But, like all technological revolutions, the digital one is a double-edged sword, offering substantial benefits alongside daunting challenges – and certainly not only in the West.
—— Opinion
-
Lowering the Bar on Financial Regulation is Fraught with Risk - By Richard Berner, Kim Schoenholtz & Lawrence White
The Financial Stability Oversight Council’s recent proposals to retreat from supervising certain large nonbank financial companies would unnecessarily expose Americans to damaging instability in the financial system and economy.
—— Opinion
-
What to Do When You’re the Only Woman in the Room - By Dolly Chugh
In my first job out of college, at an investment bank, I spent a year as the only woman — and only person of color — on a seven-person team.
—
Being the only one had some benefits (I guess): I was usually noticed and remembered. I suspect that my ability to keep up — and even surpass the performance of my male peers — was at times unexpected, and thus viewed positively by some in the firm.— Opinion
-
How Leaders Can Balance Confidence and Humility - By Elizabeth Morrison & Elad Sherf
Knowing how well you are performing at work is often difficult. To accurately assess your own performance, you typically need information from others, information which is not often voluntarily provided. Because of this, academics and practitioners advise employees and managers to seek feedback from others. Extensive organizational research supports the benefits of such direct feedback seeking and documents its positive effects on performance, evaluations of effectiveness by key internal stakeholders, and creativity.
—— Opinion
-
Rapid Growth is Absolutely Necessary – By Nicholas Economides
The upcoming snap elections provide Greece with the opportunity to turn a page politically and financially. How can Greece leave the 10-year crisis behind? The only way out of the ten-year crisis is rapid growth. The Greek economy must run at a very fast pace of growth.
—— Opinion
-
The Coming Sino-American Bust-Up - By Nouriel Roubini
The nascent Sino-American cold war is the key source of uncertainty in today’s global economy. How the conflict plays out will affect consumer and asset markets of all kinds, as well as the trajectory of inflation, monetary policy, and fiscal conditions around the world. Escalation of the tensions between the world’s two largest economies could well produce a global recession and subsequent financial crisis by 2020, even if the US Federal Reserve and other major central banks pursue aggressive monetary easing.
—— Opinion
-
Actually, Consumers Do Buy Sustainable Products - By Tensie Whelan & Randi Kronthal-Sacco
For years, brand managers have groused that while consumers say they intend to buy sustainable products, in store they don’t actually purchase them. This conventional wisdom has been used by many brands as justification for not making their products more sustainable. NYU Stern’s Center for Sustainable Business just completed extensive research into U.S. consumers’ actual purchasing of consumer packaged goods (CPG), using data contributed by IRI, and found that 50% of CPG growth from 2013 to 2018 came from sustainability-marketed products.
—— Opinion
-
We Can Do Better than Universal Basic Income - By Arun Sundararajan
Our stable world of full-time employment and steady occupations is being upended by digital change. Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics technologies are gradually automating tasks in occupations ranging from factory work and retail checkout to customer service and long-haul trucking. Across retail, transportation, media and education, AI and digital platforms are creating new business models that rely on a very different mix of human and machine labor, and a reimagined blend of in-house and on-demand talent. The embrace of platform strategies in large corporations will further chip away at the dominance of full-time employment, spawning an array of micro-entrepreneurship, freelancing and part-time gig work arrangements.
—— Opinion
-
How Social Media Companies Need To Address Disinformation Globally - By Michael Posner
Political activists and autocratic governments are misusing the Internet to distribute massive amounts of deliberately false information. This harmful content is undermining political discourse and encouraging extremism in the U.S. and elsewhere. The debate about this issue has focused disproportionately on the U.S. and Europe, and partly for this reason, the big Internet companies have dramatically underinvested in their operations in the global South.
—— Opinion
-
The Growing Risk of a 2020 Recession and Crisis - By Nouriel Roubini
Last summer, my colleague Brunello Rosa and I identifiedten potential downside risks that could trigger a US and global recession in 2020. Nine of them are still in play today.
—— Opinion
-
A Primer on Regulating Big Tech - By Robert Seamans
A bi-partisan consensus has emerged around the need to regulate Big Tech. Both Republicans and Democrats have increased their scrutiny of the role of dominant technology firms in our economy, primarily Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. Complaints against these and other large tech platforms include that they censor right-wing content, stifle competition and innovation, and misuse sensitive consumer data.
—— Opinion
-
Why A New Commission Could Undercut The US' Human Rights Efforts - By Michael Posner
On May 30, the State Department announced the creation of a new “Commission on Inalienable Rights,” an ill-conceived initiative that calls into question the Department’s decades-long record of support for human rights and the promotion of democracy. Commissioners will be charged with providing “fresh thinking about human rights,” an unsubtle dig at those who already work daily on these issues within the State Department.
—— Opinion
