https://phys.org/science-news/economics-business/ en-us The latest news on economics research, business research, management sciences Gender differences in poverty rates in the United States may be associated with women's differing circumstances—particularly the burden of dependent children—rather than inherent to gender itself, according to a study published in PLOS One by Patti Fisher of Virginia Tech, U.S. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-childcare-burden-gender-gap-poverty.html Social Sciences Wed, 11 Mar 2026 14:00:13 EDT news692367481 Employment can be a powerful gateway to independence, dignity, and belonging. Yet for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), that gateway remains limited. Although work supports better health, social connection, and a sense of purpose, only about 15% of individuals with IDD are employed in competitive, integrated work settings. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-augmented-reality-job-boosts-people.html Economics & Business Wed, 11 Mar 2026 13:40:01 EDT news692444443 More stock trading is moving away from traditional public stock exchanges and into places called "dark pools." These are private, electronic markets where investors buy and sell stocks without showing their orders to the public. Even as dark pools have grown increasingly popular, a recent study from the University of Missouri suggests they may make public stock markets less transparent and increase the risk of sudden stock price crashes. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-links-dark-pool-higher-sudden.html Economics & Business Thu, 19 Feb 2026 15:20:01 EST news690730105 A new study finds entrepreneurs become more committed to their business ventures when they are told they will fail, increasing their efforts to make those businesses successful. "Most entrepreneurs—people who start their own businesses—actually identify with the business they're running," says Tim Michaelis, an assistant professor of psychology at North Carolina State University and corresponding author of a paper on the work published in the Journal of Business Venturing. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-negativity-founders-links-greater-persistence.html Social Sciences Wed, 18 Feb 2026 14:20:03 EST news690645973 Climate change is not just reshaping the planet, it's already affecting how people feel about their lives, their health and their financial security, according to a new study from the Universities of Portsmouth and Dundee. The research shows that prolonged changes in weather linked to climate change, particularly abnormal temperatures, are quietly but significantly undermining people's mental well-being and confidence about their finances, with effects equivalent to losing hundreds of pounds a month. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-worse-money-climate.html Social Sciences Wed, 18 Feb 2026 11:08:14 EST news690635281 For years, Iceland, Switzerland, and Norway have ranked near the top of the United Nations' annual index of countries based on indicators of well-being and quality of life. Countries with more poverty and less access to health care and education tend to rank lower on the list, known as the Human Development Index, or HDI. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-satellite-imagery-ai-reveal-hidden.html Social Sciences Tue, 17 Feb 2026 15:27:17 EST news690564421 Supermarket shelves can look full despite the food systems underneath them being under strain. Fruit may be stacked neatly, chilled meat may be in place. It appears that supply chains are functioning well. But appearances can be deceiving. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-humans-machines-truckloads-food-stranded.html Economics & Business Sat, 14 Feb 2026 16:00:01 EST news689956557 Hunter-gatherers like the Hadza of Tanzania are famous for their egalitarianism. A resource redistribution experiment conducted with the Hadza suggests many tolerate inequality—as long as it benefits themselves. Published in PNAS Nexus, Duncan N.E. Stibbard-Hawkes, Kris M. Smith, and colleagues asked 117 Hadza adults to redistribute food resources between themselves and an unspecified campmate after receiving either advantageous or disadvantageous initial allocations. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-egalitarianism-hunter-food-reveals.html Social Sciences Tue, 10 Feb 2026 13:20:02 EST news689945557 Why did the rotisserie chicken cross the aisle—and end up in your shopping cart? Maybe you grabbed the container that was closest to you, or maybe you examined all of the chickens, checking dates and timestamps to see when they were cooked. Markets follow various display strategies for prepared foods, with many stores making older items more visible so they'll be sold before they spoil. However, a theoretical model created by an NJIT researcher suggests that customers prefer finding the freshest items at the front of the displays. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-supermarkets-fresh-meals-front.html Economics & Business Sun, 08 Feb 2026 09:40:01 EST news689765594 Over the last several decades, urban planners and municipalities have sought to identify and better manage the socioeconomic dynamics associated with rapid development in established neighborhoods. The term "gentrification" has been lingua franca for generations of urbanites who have seen their communities change and property values, and commensurate taxes, shift in ways that can make it difficult for longtime residents to stay. But identifying its unmanaged creep can be a challenge, particularly in densely populated areas, as its visual hallmarks—such as new facades, mixes in building materials and changes in building heights—present differently in different cities and regions. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-philadelphia-communities-ai-machine-gentrification.html Social Sciences Thu, 05 Feb 2026 14:20:06 EST news689519501 Ages ago, when societies were organized around small villages, a person's security and sense of belonging depended partly on how close they were to the village chiefs and elders. If the village was attacked, those closest to the powerful had a better chance of survival. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-volunteers-link-social-exclusion-higher.html Social Sciences Wed, 04 Feb 2026 13:20:01 EST news689425586 California's most devastating wildfire—the 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 85 and destroyed nearly 19,000 structures—forced nearly half of all residents living within designated fire perimeters to relocate within a year. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-neighborhood-insight-american-migration.html Social Sciences Tue, 03 Feb 2026 13:02:19 EST news689346121 Researchers with Lehigh University's Center for Catastrophe Modeling and Resilience, led by anthropologist David G. Casagrande, have identified two urgent challenges the United States faces in adapting to climate change: a potential disaster insurance crisis and the lack of comprehensive relocation policies for communities facing chronic flooding. Their paper, titled "Climate Change and Insurance: Embracing Resilience for Private Market Survival," is published in Sustainable Development. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-resilience-bonds-solution-climate.html Economics & Business Mon, 02 Feb 2026 15:56:35 EST news689270161 When a crowd gets something right, like guessing how many beans are in a jar, forecasting an election, or solving a difficult scientific problem, it's tempting to credit the sharpest individual in the room. But new research suggests focusing on the "expert" can lead groups astray. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-intelligence-incentivize-problem-groups.html Social Sciences Thu, 29 Jan 2026 14:40:03 EST news688919630 For millions of gig workers driving for companies such as Uber Eats, DoorDash and Deliveroo, there is no human manager to call, no supervisor to appeal to and no office to walk into. Decisions about pay, performance, penalties and access to work are made by algorithms. Increasingly, those algorithms are trying to explain themselves. This push towards "explainable AI" is often promoted as a way to improve fairness and trust. But new Macquarie University research suggests explaining too much can backfire. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-ai-bosses-problem-gig-workers.html Economics & Business Wed, 28 Jan 2026 10:00:01 EST news688816719 Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing our society and economy. A new study shows that the majority of people believe that artificial intelligence is displacing more human labor than it is creating new opportunities. Scientists at the University of Vienna and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) demonstrated a causal link: the stronger this perception, the more dissatisfied people are with democracy—and the less they participate in political debates about future technological developments. These effects occur even though artificial intelligence has had only a limited impact on the labor market so far. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-ai-job-killer-negatively-attitudes.html Economics & Business Mon, 26 Jan 2026 14:18:37 EST news688659481 When it comes to creative writing, score one for the humans over the machines. For now, anyway. New research finds that people evaluate creative writing less favorably when they learn it was generated in whole or part by artificial intelligence. And the anti-AI bias is persistent and difficult to reduce, even when steps were taken to lessen the aversion within the experiments. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-lit-bots-beware-ai-creative.html Social Sciences Mon, 26 Jan 2026 13:20:31 EST news688655942 Women perceive artificial intelligence (AI) as riskier than men do, according to a study. Beatrice Magistro and colleagues hypothesized that women are both more exposed to risk from AI and are more averse to risk in general than men. Their work was published in PNAS Nexus. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-women-ai-greater-skepticism-men.html Social Sciences Tue, 20 Jan 2026 10:30:43 EST news688127401 A missed birthday. A forgotten anniversary. A milestone that goes unnoticed. These small slights from a manager may seem like no big deal, but new research from Wharton reveals that even the mildest of mistreatment at work can affect more than just employee morale. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-employees-slighted-reveals.html Social Sciences Fri, 16 Jan 2026 07:53:18 EST news687772381 Which feels further back in time: the year 2016, or 10 years ago? And which feels closer: 2036, or 10 years from now? https://phys.org/news/2026-01-warp-affect-consumers-buy.html Economics & Business Wed, 14 Jan 2026 05:38:24 EST news687591482 Does living in an unequal society make people unhappy? Not necessarily, reveals the largest study ever conducted on the subject. Nicolas Sommet, a social psychologist and research manager at the LIVES Centre at the University of Lausanne, and his team have published the first social science meta-analysis in the journal Nature. Their conclusions—based on 168 studies covering more than 11 million participants from around the world—challenge the widely held belief that economic inequality is detrimental to well-being and mental health. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-meta-analysis-link-economic-inequality.html Social Sciences Tue, 13 Jan 2026 16:11:15 EST news687543061 When people talk about improving financial literacy, the conversation often focuses on teaching practical skills: how to budget, how to save, how to avoid debt. These lessons feel concrete and actionable. But recent research suggests that the most effective way to change your financial behavior might be something far less obvious: learning in a more abstract, flexible way. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-the-surprising-way-you-could.html Economics & Business Mon, 12 Jan 2026 11:12:13 EST news687438721 Wish you could save more money? A new study led by Katy Milkman, a Wharton professor of operations, information and decisions and the co-director of Penn's Behavior Change for Good Initiative (BCFG) finds that simple reminder emails give people a small push to transfer money into savings. The findings are published in the journal PNAS Nexus. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-regular-email-bank-customers-money.html Economics & Business Mon, 12 Jan 2026 10:58:55 EST news687437878 The old saying goes: Money can't buy happiness. But it sure can make or break a relationship. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-men-job-satisfaction-money-values.html Social Sciences Sat, 10 Jan 2026 06:30:12 EST news687248990 Waiting in an airport for a connecting flight is often tedious. A new study by MIT researchers shows it's bad for business, too. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-flights-multinational-firm-growth-globally.html Economics & Business Wed, 07 Jan 2026 09:46:17 EST news687001561 Artificial intelligence programs are not only helping us tackle complex challenges like diagnosing diseases and predicting weather patterns, but also assisting with more mundane matters such as correcting grammar and planning meals. However, when it comes to financial decisions, people are more likely to trust their romantic partner than AI, according to a new study published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-romantic-partners-ai-big-financial.html Social Sciences Tue, 06 Jan 2026 12:28:18 EST news686924864 LGBTQ+ people face unequal treatment across different human societies. Several concomitant factors can contribute to this discrimination at various levels of society, resulting in diminished living conditions. In a study published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, researchers from the CNRS and UNAIDS establish a link between LGBT-phobia and unfavorable socio-economic conditions. This outcome was achieved by analyzing how prejudice manifests itself at institutional, community and family levels. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-survey-countries-links-effects-lgbt.html Social Sciences Mon, 05 Jan 2026 15:44:14 EST news686850242 Researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Bern in Switzerland have conducted the first cross-temporal, multinational study to compare views of gender using data collected 30 years apart. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-gender-stereotypes-division-labor-women.html Social Sciences Mon, 05 Jan 2026 15:00:01 EST news686839381 Social media posts about unemployment can predict official jobless claims up to two weeks before government data is released, according to a study. Unemployment can be tough, and people often post about it online. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-ai-social-media-unemployment.html Economics & Business Tue, 30 Dec 2025 11:30:04 EST news686316097 Class identity, which is how individuals view their economic and social positions in relation to others, has wide-ranging effects on people's well-being, thoughts, and behavior. Previous studies have shown that people who identify with a higher class have better physical and emotional health, tend to vote more conservatively, and have a more optimistic view of society. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-recession-people-class.html Social Sciences Mon, 22 Dec 2025 08:45:18 EST news685615502