Cowboy Economics News

Counties with thriving small businesses have healthier residents

Thursday, February 09, 2012 00:00 MST

Counties and parishes with a greater concentration of small, locally-owned businesses have healthier populations -- with lower rates of mortality, obesity and diabetes -- than do those that rely on large companies with "absentee" owners, according to a national study by sociologists at LSU and Baylor University.

Medical debt keeps rising, new report shows

Wednesday, February 08, 2012 00:00 MST

A comprehensive new report on health insurance from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research shows the so-called Great Recession caused hundreds of thousands of Californians to lose coverage and acquire medical debt.

Gender wage gap shrunk faster than previously thought

Tuesday, February 07, 2012 00:00 MST

The gap in wages between men and women has decreased sharply over the past 30 years, and a new University of Georgia study reveals that decline was even greater than previously recognized.

Do menu 'sweet spots' really exist?

Monday, February 06, 2012 00:00 MST

When you read a restaurant menu, do you read it like a book or do your eyes flit from place to place? A new eye-tracker study finds that diners read menus sequentially like a book. And their gaze doesn't linger longer over any "sweet spots" on the menu. The findings challenge conventional wisdom in the restaurant industry, which proposes a more complex scan path with a "sweet spot" above the center on the second page.

Study compares the accuracy of valuation methods of insurance companies

Saturday, February 04, 2012 00:00 MST

Unlike most prior studies, this research, forthcoming in the Review of Accounting Studies, examines the impact of industry-specific adjustments on the precision of estimated value relative to stock price.

In times of scandal, corporations are likely to use others' misconduct to justify their behavior

Friday, February 03, 2012 00:00 MST

Among corporations involved in the 2006 stock-option backdating scandal, those implicated earlier were more likely to dismiss their top executives than those that surfaced later on, according to new research from Rice University and the University of California at Irvine.

Learning-based tourism an opportunity for industry expansion

Thursday, February 02, 2012 00:00 MST

New research suggests that major growth in the travel, leisure and tourism industry in the coming century may be possible as more people begin to define recreation as a learning and educational opportunity -- a way to explore new ideas and cultures, art, science and history. The expansion of tourism in much of the 20th century was often focused on amusement parks and tropical resorts.

Commentary in Nature: Can economy bear what oil prices have in store?

Wednesday, February 01, 2012 00:00 MST

The economic pain of a flattening oil supply will trump the environment as a reason to curb the use of fossil fuels, say two scientists, one from the University of Washington and one from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, in the Jan. 26 issue of the journal Nature.

Study reveals implications of the incentive to coordinate among bank lenders

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 00:00 MST

Columbia Business School study shows that a bank reacts more to the same piece of news if it knows that other banks have the same information and hence will be reacting to the news as well.

How the Big Three forgot Accounting 101

Monday, January 30, 2012 00:00 MST

The Big Three were so driven by short-term profits that they forgot ? or ignored ? basic accounting practices that could have helped guard against production decisions with long-term damage, according to an award-winning study by Michigan State University and Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

Young Americans recognize the impact of innovation on US economy according to survey

Saturday, January 28, 2012 00:00 MST

The 2012 Lemelson-MIT Invention Index indicates that young Americans are acutely aware of the importance of invention and innovation in their personal lives, and within the context of the nation's economy.

Exercise has charms to soothe a savage boss

Friday, January 27, 2012 00:00 MST

If your boss is giving you a hard time -- lying, making fun of you in public and generally putting you down, he or she may benefit from some exercise, according to a new study by James Burton from Northern Illinois University in the US and his team. Their work shows that stressed supervisors, struggling with time pressures, vent their frustrations on their employees less when they get regular, moderate exercise.

Working moms: Looking for more than a paycheck

Thursday, January 26, 2012 00:00 MST

Working mothers may be busy, but they like it that way. A recent study of employed moms finds that most would work even if they didn't have to, but they're also looking for new ways to negotiate the demands of mothering and the pressures to be an "ideal" employee.

The general link between worker happiness and productivity challenged

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 00:00 MST

Increasing the involvement of workers through job design does affect employees' satisfaction and in turn organizational performance. But increasing the involvement of employees in the wider organization and encouraging them to be more proactive and flexible may reduce satisfaction and increase anxiety, even though it may increase organizational performance.

Study finds paid family leave leads to positive economic outcomes

Monday, January 23, 2012 00:00 MST

With a growing need for family-friendly workplace policies, a new study by Rutgers' Center for Women and Work commissioned by the National Partnership for Women and Families, with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, concludes that providing paid family leave to workers leads to positive economic outcomes for working families, businesses and the public.