Author: EconLearner

In an age of social distancing, it’s a constant question. And, unfortunately, opinions differ. The impatient customer behind you in the grocery line may have no problem breaching your sacred six-foot bubble, for example.But even for reasons that have nothing to do with the pandemic, we often disagree about how close we want to be to each other. Just ask the introvert who hides from an extroverted roommate or the parent who craves a moment alone from the child who just wants to cuddle.To Alvaro Sandroni, professor of managerial economics and decision science at the Kellogg School, these riddles bring…

But what happens to a core discipline without an applied counterpart? Social science aims to investigate how people and societies behave. But who uses its basic principles to understand and solve the many problems that organizations and societies face? And is this essentially a problem for the sector?Contractor Noshirprofessor of behavioral sciences at the McCormick School of Engineering, as well as professor of management and organizations at the Kellogg School and of communication studies at the School of Communication at Northwestern, recently sat down with Duncan Watts, a principal researcher at Microsoft and an expert on how social influence spreads…

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – SEPTEMBER 2, 2019: A skyscraper in Nashville, Tennessee, housing WeWork … [+] cooperation offices. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)Getty Images WeWork seemed like the dream startup. At first glance. Founder Adam Neumann’s company took a stifling sector—commercial property—and redesigned it for a new generation. He anticipated the desire for more collaborative work, especially among young creatives, and gave them what they wanted. WeWork rented office space, turned it into a fun, lively co-working environment with free coffee and beer, and then rented it out to individuals and small businesses for a profit. At least that was the…

Pipes writes, “single-payer health care puts patients on endless waits for inferior care—and … [+] he charges them dearly for the privilege.”getty Michigan is the latest state to flirt with a government takeover of its health insurance system. Earlier this year, Democratic Rep. Carrie Rheingans, who represents Ann Arbor, and several of her colleagues was introduced House Bill 4893, which would create a single-payer state health care system. It’s part of a national trend. Lawmakers in 21 states introduced 66 different single-payer bills between 2010 and 2019, according to a study published in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Like…

But how much does all this advertising matter, negative or positive?Voters may be so tired of politics that they don’t feel swayed by ads. Some people say, “No ad has ever convinced me to do anything,” says Brett Gordon, a marketing professor at Kellogg.But in a new study, Gordon and his colleagues report that TV ads influence voter turnout and choice — and that the tone of the ad makes a difference. Based on data from the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, the team found that positive ads encouraged more people to show up on Election Day, while negative ads…

Political and social polarization affects work: 37% of workers report changing their views … [+] of a colleague based on political beliefs.getty In the biblical story of Babel, the human race, united by a single language and an aligned vision, begins to build a magnificent tower to reach the heavens. Threatened by this plan, God cancels the work, confusing their speech so they can no longer understand each other, and scattering them to different parts of the world. Thousands of years later, we live out Babel’s legacy: confused, scattered, and more at odds with each other than ever. The world…

Ivory Tower Syndrome can be devastating when companies lose touch with their remote workers.getty Ivory tower syndrome is not new. It’s been around for a long time to refer to situations where leaders and companies lose touch with employees. And the consequences can be devastating. The syndrome has been recognized post-pandemic with increases in telecommuting—not because of telecommuting per se but because of the lack of constant employer-employee contact. Science shows that workplace connections pay off. According Gallup, when that connection is broken, employees feel like they don’t belong, performance suffers and engagement drops. Gallup data shows that “Employees who…

When you look for a jug of eco-friendly detergent at the store, are you buying it because you want to protect the environment? Or do you think it’s more effective than a traditional cleanser? Or is it some combination of the two?Understanding how consumers perceive sustainable products has become increasingly important as these products, once considered niche, crowd retail shelves. The share of consumer goods available on a sustainable market has increased approx seven times faster than that of conventional products.In this context, marketing professor Kellogg Alexander Chernev recently was investigated The connection between knowledge of a product was made…

But there’s another area of ​​contention that gets less attention: how raising the minimum wage might affect worker productivity.”The average person would imagine that when wages go up, including the minimum wage, workers would be more committed to their employer and could become more productive because they care more about keeping their jobs,” he says. Nikola Persiko, Kellogg professor of managerial economics and decision sciences. This could be a win for both employees and employers.The problem is that economists don’t know much about the effects of a higher wage on productivity. There just hasn’t been much research on the question,…

American policymakers and patients across the political spectrum generally agree that rising health care prices are a concern, but the question of how to bring them down has sparked contentious, mainstream debates. Some advocate expanding the government’s public health care option — often referred to as the acronym “Medicare for All” — which would pay hospitals and other providers far less for most services than private insurers currently do. Others called on the government to immediately regulate health care prices.While lower prices sound attractive to consumers, Kellogg professors Amanda Stark and Craig Garthwaite wondered what the domino effects of legislating…