https://phys.org/science-news/economics-business/ en-us The latest news on economics research, business research, management sciences The U.S. housing bubble of the early 2000s sent home prices soaring before the market crashed in 2007–08, triggering a foreclosure crisis and a deep recession. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-qa-small-payments-blame-housing.html Economics & Business Fri, 25 Sep 2026 13:00:09 EDT news709558381 Consumer sentiment fell by less than four index points in September, reaching its lowest reading in four months and down 15% from January 2026, according to the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-tensions-high-prices-consumers-outlook.html Economics & Business Fri, 25 Sep 2026 11:20:21 EDT news709552921 For all the talk about generational differences at work, some of the biggest differences show up in surprisingly ordinary moments. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-gen-communicates-differently-workplace-older.html Economics & Business Fri, 25 Sep 2026 11:00:41 EDT news709550281 What happens when loneliness follows a young person from the school hallway into the workplace? New research suggests that feeling lonely during adolescence may be linked to a greater risk of unstable or less secure employment in young adulthood. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-teen-loneliness-young-people-workplace.html Social Sciences Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:40:10 EDT news709550101 From coffee shops to customer service call centers, most people believe they have a good sense of how long a service will take. But new research from the University of Florida Warrington College of Business shows that customers often underestimate how much service times can vary, a behavioral bias with important implications for service systems and customers alike. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-youll.html Social Sciences Fri, 25 Sep 2026 08:00:03 EDT news709538557 Europe could turn more of its scientific discoveries into new technologies, products and businesses by changing the way it funds innovation and supports researchers, according to a new Policy Forum published in Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-europe-lab-gap-network-scientist.html Economics & Business Thu, 24 Sep 2026 21:20:01 EDT news709483082 Selecting profitable investments from an increasingly large and constrained pool of assets could become more effective with a hybrid quantum-classical method, according to research in the International Journal of Information and Communication Technology. The work could help solve a major computational problem in modern portfolio management. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-combining-quantum-classical-investment.html Mathematics Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:20:06 EDT news709474138 With an estimated 36% of people in the United States having some degree of lactose intolerance, there may be an expanded market for lactose-free or reduced-lactose ice cream—especially if those with lactose intolerance are willing to pay more for such products, according to a study led by researchers at Penn State and the University of Wisconsin. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-lactose-intolerant-consumers-pay-free.html Economics & Business Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:00:15 EDT news709465861 A widely held belief that women have more emotional intelligence than men does not hold up under scrutiny, according to a large study of research spanning three decades. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-assumption-women-emotional-intelligence-men.html Social Sciences Thu, 24 Sep 2026 10:50:01 EDT news709465161 Businesses hoping AI will solve their supply chain problems risk wasting their investment unless they first fix weaknesses in their data, skills and management, according to new research published in the Benchmarking: An International Journal. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ai-wont-britain-chains.html Economics & Business Wed, 23 Sep 2026 21:40:02 EDT news709400342 Telltale signs of financial abuse, such as depleted savings, increasing debts and declining credit scores, can be identified in bank records, according to an analysis of U.K. banking data published in Nature. The findings reveal up to 373 indicators of financial behavior that could help pinpoint customers who may be experiencing economic abuse. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-banking-patterns-people-experiencing-financial.html Social Sciences Wed, 23 Sep 2026 18:00:02 EDT news709395182 New research from Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy examines charitable gifts of $1 million or more from 2021 to 2023. The Million-Dollar-Plus Giving in the United States, 2021–2023 report offers insights into how these donors responded to a rapidly changing environment. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ai-methodology-powers-latest-million.html Economics & Business Wed, 23 Sep 2026 16:40:05 EDT news709388617 Investing in cooling for Bangladesh's apparel factories can be commercially viable, with an average payback period of one to four years, according to new research from Cornell University's Global Labor Institute (GLI). https://phys.org/news/2026-09-cooling-investments-apparel-factories-pay.html Economics & Business Wed, 23 Sep 2026 16:20:08 EDT news709387285 Workers in the U.S. are feeling the strain of stress and economic uncertainty, and nearly two in five U.S. workers (37%) believe their work environment has a negative impact on their mental health—up from 32% last year, according to the American Psychological Association's 2026 Work in America survey. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-workers-psychological-capital-weather-stress.html Economics & Business Wed, 23 Sep 2026 14:00:34 EDT news709378862 New research reveals retailers are losing money through two kinds of problematic returns: deliberate fraud and opportunistic abuse of generous return policies. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-buy-retail-fraud-abuse-explored.html Social Sciences Wed, 23 Sep 2026 10:20:03 EDT news709372563 A new peer-reviewed study from Bournemouth University has found a striking gap between how people perceive the risks of matched betting and what some experience in practice. Matched betting involves using free bets given out by online gambling companies as a promotion to attract new customers. This allows people to bet on different results for the same event, such as a football match. It is frequently promoted online as a controlled or even 'risk-free' way of making money. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-free-surveyed-users-losses.html Social Sciences Wed, 23 Sep 2026 05:16:01 EDT news709359300 Workers in sales might roll their eyes when they deal with a micromanaging boss. But many customers actually appreciate it if a store manager offers to help when they're mulling over a purchase, whether it's a dishwasher, a tablet or a lawn mower. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-sales-staff.html Economics & Business Tue, 22 Sep 2026 22:00:02 EDT news709291490 An ironic development emerging alongside the "Make America Healthy Again" movement is the portrayal of nicotine as a wellness and performance-enhancing product. Across social media, podcasts, wellness communities and tech startups, prominent wellness personalities and other influencers are portraying nicotine as a misunderstood compound whose potential benefits have been overshadowed by its negative association with cigarette smoking. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-pronicotine-wellness-movement-rebranded-addictive.html Economics & Business Tue, 22 Sep 2026 20:00:01 EDT news709291363 Why are individual investors, commonly known as "retail investors," prone to losing money in the stock market? A Lingnan University joint study of more than 4,600 Chinese and U.S. stocks finds that investors are less likely to buy stocks blindly when they understand the difference between a company's "reported earnings" and its "actual cash flows." https://phys.org/news/2026-09-cash-lessons-individual-investors.html Economics & Business Tue, 22 Sep 2026 16:20:09 EDT news709310521 A new study from Michigan State University found that the personality characteristics that get you promoted to a leadership role aren't necessarily the qualities that make you a good leader. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-personality-key-hiring-effective-leaders.html Social Sciences Tue, 22 Sep 2026 07:00:03 EDT news709271281 When the lights come back on and credits start rolling, it's easy to see that some of the most successful movies of the past few years—from "Avatar: The Way of Water" and "Jurassic World" to "Barbie"—were co-directed or co-written by women. These films are among those that bring in the most money for studios, a new Frontiers in Communication study notes. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-written-women-studios-money-male.html Social Sciences Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:02 EDT news709202245 A study of more than 800 fast-food customers suggests that loyalty to a brand is shaped not only by satisfaction with the product or service but also by customers' emotional experiences. The study, published in the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, focused on fast-food consumers in Peru but could have implications for fast-food brands in other emerging markets. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-fast-food-brands-loyalty-emotional.html Economics & Business Mon, 21 Sep 2026 22:40:04 EDT news709216371 More than 93,000 visible appearances of brands promoting unhealthy food and drink, alcohol, gambling and speculative products were recorded during coverage of the largest FIFA World Cup in history, new research has found. Unhealthy food and drink brands accounted for more than seven in 10, with 65,722 appearances. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-world-cup-viewers-exposed-junk.html Social Sciences Mon, 21 Sep 2026 19:00:04 EDT news709200410 When Martin Wiernsperger was a graduate student, he and fellow student Mackenzie Feinberg realized they both had family members in the health care field—and both had heard relatives complain about lower-performing employees getting more opportunities for training and professional development than their higher-performing peers. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-employees-annoy-getters.html Social Sciences Mon, 21 Sep 2026 15:20:04 EDT news709212901 More than six years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, more than 1 in 5 U.S. workers who can work remotely do so either full time or at least one day a week. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-employers-good-decisions-remote-crisis.html Economics & Business Mon, 21 Sep 2026 14:00:03 EDT news709206601 "I don't want the pain to define me. I want me to define me." https://phys.org/news/2026-09-chronic-pain.html Social Sciences Mon, 21 Sep 2026 10:20:07 EDT news709193042 New RMIT University research suggests environmental awareness alone may not stop people from buying ultra-fast fashion, with price and convenience trumping sustainability concerns for shoppers. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-shoppers-fast-fashion-environment-buying.html Social Sciences Mon, 21 Sep 2026 07:00:01 EDT news709185302 Despite the rapid development of generative AI and the high level of public interest, the use of AI in the day-to-day work of many employees is not yet the norm. This is the finding of the third wave of the Konstanz AI study, for which a total of 1,105 employees were surveyed in May 2026. The proportion of employees who use AI in their work rose only slightly from 35% to 38% compared with the previous year. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-workplace-ai-uneven-survey.html Economics & Business Fri, 18 Sep 2026 15:20:02 EDT news708958562 People with power are more quickly singled out as the culprit when something goes wrong but it is unclear who made the mistake. That is shown by a series of studies by researchers at the University of Amsterdam. In one, they analyzed almost 100,000 everyday conflicts on the Reddit page "Am I the Asshole?" According to the researchers, people with power are more readily blamed because others think they can "get away with anything." The findings are published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-power-suspicion-cases-wrongdoing-people.html Social Sciences Fri, 18 Sep 2026 15:00:01 EDT news708958382 The European Union has committed to achieving climate neutrality by 2050, a process that will require rapid and substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions across all economic sectors. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-europe-emissions-deindustrializing.html Economics & Business Fri, 18 Sep 2026 14:40:07 EDT news708955862