Online Journal December, 2009

Dec
19
2009

Written by:
Tiantian Zha

Mendoza expands nonprofit program

The words “business school” is almost synonymous with glamorous executive positions and high-return entrepreneurship. Mendoza, Notre Dame University’s business school, is working on adding a third definition.

Mendoza is currently expanding its non-degree Nonprofit Executives Program, which differs from an MBA in terms of time commitment and money. These low-cost programs are geared towards professionals already working in the non-profit sector, allowing them to gain crucial skills while continuing their work. They are therefore affordable to non-profit organizations, which, unlike for-profit companies, have insufficient funds to send their employees back to school.

Dec
15
2009

Written by:
Jimmy Connolly

Wharton Speech by former Morgan Stanley CEO, John Mack

Check out this speech by former Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack about his experience during the financial crisis back in September 2008. Thanks to Wharton for filming the event and to Wikimedia for the picture.

Dec
13
2009

Written by:
Laiyin Li

Nesting: Response to the bleak housing market

The price of U.S. houses is forecasted to plummet over the next two years despite the slow recovery of the economy. Tight credit loans, a stagnant housing market and common economic sense are the key drivers in the new trend for home-owners to “nest”, i.e. choose remodeling over “re-settling”: It is simply too hard to obtain financing for a new house when the house-sales won’t even close, and it is generally more affordable to upgrade an existing house than construct a new one. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 20% more of the home construction dollar of the first three quarters of 2009 went to home improvements, as compared to the same period last year. CNN.com calls “nesters” “the icons of the new housing market."

Photo courtesy of Geograph.

Dec
10
2009

Written by:
Ryan Shyu

Job Creation: The Case for Inflation

Jobs are the thing on everyone’s mind now. Greg Mankiw provides great links to perspectives from Nobel laureates Paul Krugman and Gary Becker.

Becker’s article got me thinking. He writes that when there’s unemployment, companies are supposed to be able to cut wages and hire more people. The problem is that this is practically hard to do for companies. Becker, like a good Chicago economist, proposes that we use an income tax cut to achieve this goal.
Even Becker, however, concedes that such a tax cut has major drawbacks right now. This begs the question: why not create some inflation? Inflation would reduce the real wages that workers make in the short run, allowing companies to hire more workers. In addition, expected inflation would also increase the cost of holding money, making people spend and invest more now and increasing business activity, leading to even more jobs.

Dec
9
2009

Written by:
Jimmy Connolly

Business Today Seminar Series Event Tonight

Thomas Quinlan, President and CEO of RR Donnelley & Sons, is coming to campus this Wednesday, December 9th. He will be speaking to us about "Leadership: Up-Front and in the Background," as well as how to maintain a competitive edge in a turbulent economy. A Fortune 500 company consistently recognized for innovation, RR Donnelley has revolutionized the commercial printing industry by delivering customer solutions since 1884. The seminar will begin at 7:30 pm in Marx 101, and a short reception will follow. Please contact rgreeno@princeton.edu with any questions. Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Dec
7
2009

Written by:
Laiyin Li

Businesses Fume over Carbon Dioxide

As officials prepare for a climate conference in Copenhagen later this week, businesses are fuming over a finding of the Environmental Protection Agency that could well pave the way to legal regulation of industrial carbon dioxide emissions. This translates to a substantial increase in production costs for many industries. Whether or not this will become an “economy-wide approach” that encompasses all corporations (and thus giving power industries less financial pressure) is still under speculation; however, regulated industries are obligated to spend a good amount of revenue on improving infrastructure-efficiency as well as enhancing the treatment of generated pollutants.

Ultimately, if implemented, these measures will be reflected by soaring gas and energy prices and a slighter price change in consumer goods. For further information, visit the WSJ’s article here.

Dec
4
2009

Written by:
Ryan Shyu

Investing Dangerously

These days, we spend a lot of time complaining about the problems posed by the financial system. Though some of these complaints are well-founded, stories like this one about an actual stock market for pirates should remind us of the merits of Wall St. and the financial sector.

Thanks to Marginal Revolution for the link and Picasa for the picture.

Dec
2
2009

Written by:
Laiyin Li

“Gaga” Marketing

Forbes calls Lady Gaga “not the new Madonna...the new business model.”

Dec
1
2009

Written by:
Ryan Shyu

A Little Bit of Good News

Contrary to what some people might think, lenders in our current economic environment don’t get a sick, sadistic pleasure out of foreclosures. A mortgage foreclosure leaves the lender with a house, which is a very undesirable asset to have given the current state of the housing market. Most firms would prefer any sort of cash flow to the house.

This has led to a rush of hiring in the mortgage-restructuring industry, as Kyle Stock writes here. This development goes to show that everything, even the subprime mortgage crisis, has a silver lining.

Archives