In The News
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Professor Joseph Gyourko’s research from 2003 on land zoning and land use was used in the L.A. Times to explain the housing crisis in San Diego.
“[Gyourko] reasoned that in a competitive market with low barriers to new supply, the price of a new house should be very close to the marginal, physical cost of construction, with older houses costing less than an industry index of construction costs (materials and labor).” -
Faculty Affiliate Ethan Mollick discusses Tesla’s problems with returning the deposits of potential customers who no longer wish to purchase the upcoming Model 3 sedan.
“A deposit says, I’m part of your team, I believe in you Tesla, I believe in you Elon. But it also hurts more when Tesla takes two months to return your money, instead of two weeks. It breaks the social contract, as much as it does any financial contract.” -
Professor Mauro Guillen writes for the World Economic Forum on why larger companies may be the most important drivers of innovation going forward.
“Perhaps the single most important factor in the future development of technology will not be the process of innovation itself but how effectively companies align themselves with large transformations in the marketplace so that they can gain scale quickly.” -
It turns out, most people don’t know and that could be a problem. Faculty Affiliate Peter Conti-Brown is worried about this.
“People don’t quite know what the Fed does, but public trust in the Fed is at a historic low. It’s that combination that is dangerous.” -
Faculty Affiliate Robert Inman discusses the upcoming Trump infrastructure bill. He weighs the benefits and risks of public private partnerships, specifically.
“You’ve got to make sure that [the private contractors] are not short-changing quality in favor of lowering costs in order to make money.” -
Faculty Affiliate Robert Inman weighs in on the controversial tax. He defends the projections surrounding the revenue expected by the city despite them being too optimistic. He says that getting within “85-90 percent of their projections is pretty good.”
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Real Estate Professor and Faculty Affiliate Susan Wachter speaks with NBC Philadelphia about the current hot housing situation.
“The impact of the lack of supply of owner housing means that millennials go to where they can go which is the rental market, and they drive up rents.” -
Faculty Affiliate Professor Jeremy Siegel leads a discussion between Northwestern University Professors Robert Gordon and Joel Mokyr. -
Wharton Research co-authored by Faculty Affiliate Howard Kunreuther examines the potential for privatizing federal flood insurance. His research found that the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) often overcharges policyholders. -
Faculty Affiliate Professor Daniel Polsky’s research found that physicians are more likely to take on patients with private health insurance. He also found that their willingness to take on Medicaid patients was directly tied to reimbursement rates. -
Professor Susan Wachter comments for NBC Philadelphia on how housing has become increasingly out of reach for Millennials.
“If you have a $50,000 income, you’re going to be able to afford a $200,000 house no problem, but that $200,000 house you could get in 2000, is maybe $300,000 today.” -
“This really has a very strong benefit for a variety of people. These things are really cheap and you get great protection.”
Professor Olivia Mitchell discusses how lifetime annuities can be an important part of a retirement plan. -
“If you do things to lower costs you may have to pay the money back.”
Professor Scott Harrington comments on the Senate Obamacare repeal bill and how it would affect the Medical Loss Ratio. -
“Once people are able to manage their identity, other possibilities open up. People will be able to band together in virtual countries and set their own rules.”
Faculty Affiliate Kevin Werbach comments on how blockchain technology is changing systems of trust and the institutions on which that is based. -
Professor David Zaring writes in the New York Times about the new process of confidentially filing reports to the SEC prior to an IPO. The SEC has recently begun expanding this ability to more companies, which could create conflicts of interest.
“The possibility that insider trading will occur does not mean the policy is a bad idea. But it does suggest that the commission will have to be vigilant in ensuring that its confidential reviews stay confidential.” -
Volvo recently announced that it would stop making cars that weren’t hybrids or electric powered vehicles after 2019. Faculty Affiliate Mauro Guillen considers it a bold move.
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Professor Peter Cappelli contributes to a piece analyzing the changing landscape around working-from-home policies in the private sector. He generally takes a nuanced take on the issue.
“Is it a good thing or a bad thing? The answer is, it depends.” -
Faculty Affiliate Mauro Guillen speaks with Asia Times about the future of China, from a demographic and labor composition perspective. He sees China’s aging population as a real liability, saying:
“I think the impact will be felt relatively quickly - in the next 10 or 15 years or so.” -
In a New York Times article on the experiences of those who speak out against unethical workplace practices, Faculty Affiliate Mary-Hunter McDonnell discusses the regrets that some whistleblowers feel. She elaborates on the repercussions that many face.
“He said if he could relive it he wouldn’t have done it because it devastated his social life…. He was basically boxed out of the social world he had created for himself as part of his job.” -
A Knowledge@Wharton article looks into the problems that emanate from compensations systems. Faculty Affiliate Peter Cappelli, as the Director of the Center for Human Resources at Wharton, illustrates the changing landscape of salaries.
“It is that we want pay to do lots of different things, some of which are in conflict…. So, we generated new systems, especially for executives, that based pay on firm performance and also individual performance. Then we opened up the labor market, with people being hired across companies. The focus shifted to basing pay on opportunities elsewhere.” -
In a recent paper by Penn Law’s Institute for Law and Economics written by Faculty Affiliate Tom Baker, the viability of robots as investment advisors is questioned.
“A robo-adviser will always provide the advice that it is programmed to provide.” -
Professor Scott Harrington is quoted in a piece on how startups are helping bring life insurance to the almost 40% of Americans who currently lack it. He points out that traditional insurance companies are working to remain competitive against an increasing number of startups in the space.
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Professor Peter Cappelli, a faculty affiliate, discusses the chance to the storied tech company’s change in policy with Knowledge@Wharton.
He applauds the company’s nuance, criticizing Yahoo’s effort earlier, “I think the problem here was really this kind of one-size-fits-all thinking. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? The answer is, it depends.” -
In an article focusing on recent developments in the blockchain-based cryptocurrencies, faculty affiliate Kevin Werbach shares some of his concerns about the products.
He wants investors to ask themselves a simple question: “Why does this token add value? For something like Brave, which is trying to monetize attention as an alternative to the current Web advertising model, there’s a logical reason why the system uses tokens.” -
Professor Ethan Mollick, a faculty affiliate, comments on recent efforts in the recruiting sphere to fairly boost diversity. Unilever is trying out a strategy where entry level applicants will be evaluated based on how they perform on online games.
“Games in recruiting have had ups and downs over the years,” Mollick said, at least in part because of the fact that, “every kind of game discourages some people and encourages others.” -
In a recent tweet, the President claimed that “Obamacare has led to fewer health insurance options for millions of Americans.” Professor Polsky found that to be partially true.
He states, “Fewer plan options will be available when compared to the early years of the Affordable Care Act.” -
Faculty Affiliate Michael Useem comments on the recent phenomenon, where legacy companies are struggling to compete with their silicon valley counterparts. He and others note that leadership plays an important role in this.
He comments, “who ever thought Ford would be competing with Google? But they are, and Mark Fields wasn’t moving fast enough.” -
Senate Republicans recently released their much-anticipated healthcare bill. The law that that bill seeks to replace is the Affordable Care Act, which was devised by Faculty Affiliate Ezekiel Emanual.
He comments on some recent, negative statistics surrounding healthcare in the U.S. right now, “The problem is a lot of this uncertainty makes insurance companies nervous. When insurance companies are nervous, they do two things: they exit markets and they raise premiums. That’s exactly what you’re seeing.” -
Uber recently announced that they would add a tip function to their ridesharing app, in line with what their competitor, Lyft, has done. They continue to make changes without the leadership of Travis Kalanick.
Faculty Affiliate Professor Peter Cappelli comments on the departed CEO’s affinity for President Trump, “the thing that is important to remember about Uber and Lyft is who their customers are. Almost all their customers and all their money come from urban areas, and those areas are Democratic.” -
Faculty Affiliate Kevin Werbach comments for Politico on Uber’s future. The company recently let its CEO, Travis Kalanick, go, and is looking to right the ship.
He makes a point about what would need to happen before an IPO: “the company would want to put its house in order first before going and doing an IPO, which would definitely include a willingness to resolve some of its disputes with localities.”
