Co-authored with Emmanuel Saez, professor of economics Coronavirus threatens the world’s economic life, and current proposals from governments around the globe are failing to match the scale of the crisis. Today, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, [UK Chancellor of the Exchequer] announced £330 billion of loans and that some companies would not have to pay business … Continue reading »
business
Is burnout the best business model?
By Christina Maslach and Cristina Banks In the recent New York Times article “Inside Amazon,” Amazon claims that its culture is peculiar. Actually, it is peculiarly American. There is a long history, in many U.S. workplaces, of carving business success out of the dedication and self-sacrifice of workers. As practiced, this model reflects the philosophy of American … Continue reading »
The mining disaster in Turkey made an ongoing massacre visible
[An explosion at a coal mine in the Turkish city of Soma on 13 May 2014 has resulted in the death of at least 284 miners. With another 100 miners still unaccounted for, it is the worst such disaster in Turkish history. The subsequent demonstrations seen in numerous Turkish cities appear to transcend solidarity … Continue reading »
Avoiding the traps of big data
By now it’s well known that Target Corporation (Target) “knew a teen girl was pregnant before her father did.” Not only was the story told many times over in the New York Times, but it also became one of the lead examples illustrating the intrinsic value of “big data.” A bit creepy, yes, but basically … Continue reading »
Overinterpreting short-term market movements: The S&P U.S. Treasury rating downgrade threat
James Fallows asks a question: Today’s (Needless) Hysteria: the S&P Panic: I agree with Clive Crook’s puzzlement about the S&P downgrade “bombshell” today: S&P adduces no new information that I can see. Competent ratings of opaque instruments such as, oh, mortgage-backed securities would be very useful to investors (not that ratings agencies troubled to provide … Continue reading »
What does archaeology have to do with health care reform?
That’s what I was left wondering when my periodic browsing of press coverage of my discipline brought me to an online story posted by San Jose Mercury News business editor Drew Voros, under the headline “Health care reform can slow down aging process”. Written as a dialogue between a father and son, the column presents … Continue reading »