The Lever: “…Landlords are increasingly turning to private equity-backed artificial intelligence (AI) screening programs to help them select tenants, and resulting cases like Robinson’s are just the tip of the iceberg. The prevalence of incorrect, outdated, or misleading information in such reports is increasing costs and barriers to housing, according to a recent report from… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Economy
The Opaque Industry Secretly Inflating Prices for Prescription Drugs
The New York Times [unpaywalled] – Pharmacy benefit managers are driving up drug costs for millions of people, employers and the government. “Americans are paying too much for prescription drugs. It is a common, longstanding complaint. And the culprits seem obvious: Drug companies. Insurers. A dysfunctional federal government. But there is another collection of powerful… Continue Reading
Hybrid working from home improves retention without damaging performance
Nature. Published online: 12 June 2024. “Working from home has become standard for employees with a university degree. The most common scheme, which has been adopted by around 100 million employees in Europe and North America, is a hybrid schedule, in which individuals spend a mix of days at home and at work each week1,2… Continue Reading
An elite handful of analysts, actuaries, and accountants have mastered Excel
The Verge – “…arguably the most important software in the business world. So what do they do in Vegas? They open a spreadsheet…Competitive Excel has been around for years, but only in a hobbyist way. Most of the people in this room full of actuaries, analysts, accountants, and investors play Excel the way I play… Continue Reading
Banks and Nonbanks Are Not Separate, but Interwoven
Liberty Street Economics: “In our previous post, we documented the significant growth of nonbank financial institutions (NBFIs) over the past decade, but also argued for and showed evidence of NBFIs’ dependence on banks for funding and liquidity support. In this post, we explain that the observed growth of NBFIs reflects banks optimally changing their business… Continue Reading
AI in Finance is Like Moving From Typewriters To Word Processors
FT.com [unpaywalled]: “The accounting and finance professions have long adapted to technology — from calculators and spreadsheets to cloud computing. However, the emergence of generative AI presents both new challenges and opportunities for students looking to get ahead in the world of finance. From a report: Research last year by investment bank Evercore and Visionary… Continue Reading
Climate Quick Reference Guides Now on Farmers.gov
“Even when data is at your fingertips it can sometimes still be hard to find what you’re looking for – especially when it comes to climate information. USDA’s Climate Hubs and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) are helping to meet that need by providing Climate Quick Reference Guides for agricultural producers and landowners seeking basic… Continue Reading
Sick of scams? Stop answering your phone.
Washington Post [unpaywalled]: “The first rule of avoiding scam calls is to never answer unknown numbers, and even some known ones. Curious? Bored? Worried it’s an emergency? Wait the extra minute it takes for the call to go to voice mail, then decide if it’s legitimate. Unfortunately, every year hundreds of thousands of people in… Continue Reading
The One-Click Economy
The American Prospect: “You’d think that having subscriptions to three online fitness programs would make me the healthiest person in the world. I have: (1) a Zumba subscription, because until recently, I was an instructor at a local gym and I needed choreography to teach; (2) an Essentrics subscription, because it emphasizes dynamic stretching and… Continue Reading
New Dataset of State Interest Group Policy Positions in the United States
“Research on the activities and influence of interest groups in state legislatures faces a data problem: we are missing a comprehensive, systematic dataset of interest groups’ policy preferences on state legislation. We address this gap by introducing the Dataset on Policy Choice and Organizational Representation in the United States (CHORUS). This dataset compiles over 13… Continue Reading
State tax revenues
Data is Plural – “How much money do US states collect through different types of taxes? The Census Bureau’s Quarterly Summary of State and Local Government Tax Revenue provides these figures every three months, going back decades. The categories include taxes on property, income, general sales, sales of specific products (such as tobacco, alcohol, gas,… Continue Reading
The bank is coming from inside the company
Netinterest: “Unzip companies across a range of industries … and you will find financial companies lurking inside. This week we reprise the theme and spotlight five “banks in disguise”: Starbucks, Carnival, Naked Wines, Delta Air Lines and Travel + Leisure Co“[Note – there are some curse words using in this posting] Continue Reading
