https://phys.org/science-news/economics-business/ en-us The latest news on economics research, business research, management sciences When brands spend millions every year to transport Super Bowl audiences back in time during commercials, what happens if they choose the wrong era? Knowing who prefers which part of history is valuable marketing knowledge, and a new tool developed at the University of Arizona offers a way to measure which era evokes the most nostalgia. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-eras-audience-perspective-nostalgia.html Social Sciences Wed, 29 Jul 2026 07:00:01 EDT news704518201 To explain the stock market's reaction to earnings results, investors and other market participants have used a standard tool for decades: the earnings surprise. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-day-stock.html Economics & Business Tue, 28 Jul 2026 07:20:03 EDT news704441797 Encouraging people to contribute to a common good can have a surprising drawback: a risk that rewards become concentrated among a smaller group, putting the rest at a disadvantage. Put more simply, "equality and cooperation are often in conflict," says Joshua Plotkin, Walter H. and Leonore C. Annenberg Professor of the Natural Sciences in the School of Arts & Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-cautions-spur-inequality.html Mathematics Mon, 27 Jul 2026 16:00:01 EDT news704380802 Infants exposed to respiratory illnesses through older siblings typically fare worse in education, income and health in adulthood, according to new research from the University of Copenhagen. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-early-respiratory-infections-higher-adult.html Social Sciences Wed, 22 Jul 2026 08:20:07 EDT news703925176 Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS), the Tübingen AI Center and Ellis Institute Tübingen have conducted a study that uncovers a mathematical strategy explaining how digital labor platforms can systematically suppress wages. The research, titled "Stochastic Wage Suppression on Gig Platforms and How to Organize Against It," develops a mathematical model motivated by digital labor markets, including crowdwork, ride-hailing and food delivery. It shows how a buyer that posts prices and can wait for workers to accept them may keep payments very low when some workers are willing to accept tasks at very low prices. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-gig-platforms-simply-workers-slash.html Mathematics Tue, 21 Jul 2026 19:20:01 EDT news703865110 Early-career funding has a bigger impact on women than men when it comes to their careers in science, according to a new study from City St George's, University of London. While the study found that successful applicants in both groups secure more future research funding than unsuccessful applicants, it also found that successful female applicants receive more citations and are cited more often in their field than female applicants who did not receive funding. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-early-career-funding-scientific-citations.html Economics & Business Mon, 20 Jul 2026 17:20:01 EDT news703781521 Gender pay gaps in academia are well documented. The harder question is why they persist. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences tested several leading answers to that question. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-gender-pay-gaps-academia.html Social Sciences Mon, 20 Jul 2026 15:00:10 EDT news703767001 Every day, billions of people travel from their homes to work, schools, health care facilities, restaurants, public venues and other destinations. The complex patterns that shape how people move between these different locations are broadly referred to as "human mobility." https://phys.org/news/2026-07-highlights-patterns-humans.html Social Sciences Wed, 15 Jul 2026 08:30:01 EDT news703319123 Hotter, drier weather threatens to double water bills by midcentury in some cities, according to a Stanford-led study. The research, published in Nature Sustainability, is the first to comprehensively model how climate change, infrastructure investment and household water demand can combine to compound an already growing affordability crisis. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-hotter-drier-weather-bills-cities.html Economics & Business Wed, 08 Jul 2026 05:00:09 EDT news702638393 Relationships are all about compromise. From deciding on where to eat dinner with a friend to negotiating chore lists at home, we often experience situations that require some flexibility. But what happens when we must work with others—especially people we don't know—to make a risky decision? That's what Caltech's Dean Mobbs, professor of cognitive neuroscience, and members of his lab set out to explore in a recent study. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-compromise-risky-decisions-biased-blame.html Social Sciences Thu, 02 Jul 2026 17:30:02 EDT news702230102 The COVID-19 pandemic transformed the way people work, making remote and work-from-home (WFH) jobs far more common than ever before. Even after social distancing ended, many companies and employees chose to stick with this model because it offers greater flexibility. People can work from where they already live, avoid long commutes, and enjoy a better work-life balance. For primary caregivers in particular, remote work has made it easier to juggle professional and personal responsibilities. A recent study has found that WFH isn't all sunshine and roses. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-mismatched-worklife-boundaries-home-couples.html Social Sciences Wed, 01 Jul 2026 09:40:03 EDT news702116669 The world is urbanizing fast. In 1975, about 11% of the global population lived in cities with more than 1 million inhabitants. "Today, we estimate that share to be about 24%," says Andrea Musso, junior fellow at the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) and Ph.D. student at ETH Zurich. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-urban-growth-big-cities-smaller.html Social Sciences Mon, 29 Jun 2026 17:40:06 EDT news701957521 When people think of workplace segregation, they usually think of race or gender. Yet Americans are also sorted at work by something employers rarely measure: how they vote. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-politics-door-workplaces.html Economics & Business Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:40:06 EDT news701609214 Pothole season, summer construction season or maybe bad weather. No matter the time of year, it's no surprise commuters who drive to work may start their day already feeling a bit on edge. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-commute-stress-fuel-workplace-conflict.html Social Sciences Thu, 25 Jun 2026 12:40:09 EDT news701600521 A study examining Fair Workweek laws across five major U.S. jurisdictions finds that labor regulations have made work schedules more predictable for service-sector workers, without triggering wage cuts or benefit reductions. Published in Science Advances, the research titled "Fair Workweek Laws in the U.S.: An Appraisal of Intended and Unintended Consequences" is the most comprehensive evaluation to date of Fair Workweek (FWW) laws, enacted in places like Seattle, Oregon, New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago. These laws require large retail and food-service employers to provide at least two weeks' advance notice of schedules, compensate workers for last-minute changes and ban back-to-back closing and opening shifts. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-fair-workweek-laws-pay-benefits.html Economics & Business Wed, 24 Jun 2026 16:20:08 EDT news701531850 Conventional wisdom says the best predictions are the ones that minimize mistakes, but new research suggests that is not necessarily how people see it. A study published in Management Science has found that when people make or evaluate predictions, they care more about the possibility of being exactly right than about reducing the size of potential errors. In many cases, people prefer predictions that increase the chance of a perfect outcome, even if doing so creates a greater risk of larger mistakes. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-people.html Social Sciences Tue, 23 Jun 2026 19:30:04 EDT news701451061 A study of funded AI startups provides a glimpse of which jobs may be most affected by AI. As AI tools are embraced by industry after industry, the impacts of these tools on jobs remain unclear. Previous analyses have focused on the theoretical capabilities of LLMs, but social factors are also likely to play a role in shaping what aspects of work see AI integration—or full automation. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-startups-jobs-affect.html Economics & Business Tue, 23 Jun 2026 11:40:14 EDT news701426942 Men and women achieve similar economic outcomes in negotiations, but female negotiators foster stronger interpersonal relationships, which lead in turn to greater satisfaction with the result and a greater desire to negotiate with that woman again in the future. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-women-effectively-men-people-happier.html Social Sciences Mon, 22 Jun 2026 19:30:01 EDT news701367001 People who are hesitant to try insect-based foods may enjoy the experience more than they expect—and can become more open to expanding their diets in the future, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-youd-bugs.html Social Sciences Mon, 15 Jun 2026 09:00:03 EDT news700481402 Digital matching platforms—from professional networking to ride-sharing and accommodation services—add value by bringing supply and demand into balance. But deep-seated asymmetries can prove difficult to expunge, causing platforms' functionality and productivity to suffer. This imbalance is common for many dual-matching platforms, including online dating services where men vastly outnumber women. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-gender-gating-secret-success-online.html Social Sciences Sun, 14 Jun 2026 07:45:14 EDT news700641877 Financial markets are blind to the economic costs of biodiversity loss, leaving several countries at risk of defaulting on debt, according to new research published in Nature. While environmental degradation is recognized as a serious financial risk, sovereign debt markets currently have no way of accounting for it, leaving US$83 trillion in assets open to mispricing. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-biodiversity-loss-deepen-debt-worldwide.html Economics & Business Wed, 10 Jun 2026 13:40:01 EDT news700310702 Birth rates have been declining worldwide since the peak of the post-Second World War baby boom. Birth rates have now reached below replacement in most of the world, including Australia. Put simply, populations on average aren't replacing themselves. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-birth-declining-world.html Social Sciences Sat, 06 Jun 2026 08:00:05 EDT news699529233 Approximately 88% of organizations around the world implemented artificial intelligence (AI) into at least one business function by the end of 2025, the latest McKinsey Global Survey on the state of AI found. Despite promised productivity gains, passive AI use at work, where employees copy-and-paste AI responses to complete tasks, can make people doubt their skills and find their work meaningless, according to a study co-authored by a faculty member from Penn State's Smeal College of Business that published in Scientific Reports. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-passive-ai-meaninglessness.html Economics & Business Fri, 05 Jun 2026 13:40:07 EDT news699881808 Working from home comes with some major pluses. It's more flexible, there's no more pesky commute, work-life balance improves, and you can even stay in your pajamas all day if you want. But according to a major study of more than 580,000 American workers published in Science, remote work is taking its toll on people's mental health. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-remote-toll-mental-health-american.html Social Sciences Fri, 05 Jun 2026 12:20:03 EDT news699871293 The concept of the "15-Minute City" has gained global traction as a blueprint for more livable, sustainable communities by placing daily essentials—such as grocery stores, schools, restaurants and parks—within easy reach of residents. The idea envisions neighborhoods where people can meet most of their daily needs within a 15-minute walk, bike ride or transit trip from home, reducing automobile dependence while improving quality of life. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-minute-cities-nearby-jobs-streets.html Social Sciences Thu, 04 Jun 2026 16:20:01 EDT news699795787 The rise of remote work since the pandemic has made businesses more reluctant to hire young, inexperienced workers and is the key driver of higher unemployment rates for recent college graduates, a study released Monday has found. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-young-unemployed-remote-ai-problem.html Economics & Business Mon, 01 Jun 2026 14:08:12 EDT news699541669 Global food systems are fragile. Recent shocks such as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have raised prices and exacerbated food insecurity. Governments are increasingly trying to shield themselves from future food crises, whether caused by conflict, climate shocks, disruptions to global trade or failed harvests. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-global-food-reveals-sufficiency-crises.html Economics & Business Thu, 28 May 2026 16:10:01 EDT news699199681 Artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) tools are capable of mass-producing academic finance papers that are nearly indistinguishable from human-authored research, according to a new study published in the Journal of Economic Literature. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-ai-mass-papers-indistinguishable-human.html Economics & Business Thu, 28 May 2026 15:30:01 EDT news699198721 The world's urban population increased by 785 million people between 2000 and 2020, but that tells only part of the story. Now, a research team including an expert from the University of Michigan has dug into the demographics of more than 10,000 individual cities to obtain insights that can be lost in the aggregate. The findings are published in the journal Nature Cities. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-analysis-cities-reveals-hidden-people.html Economics & Business Wed, 27 May 2026 17:10:01 EDT news699119942 Fashion and media have become visibly more diverse over the past quarter-century. Yet beneath that surface change, a new study suggests that the industry's central female body ideal has barely shifted. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-bodies-fashion-diversity-ideal-stays.html Social Sciences Fri, 22 May 2026 14:00:06 EDT news698668021