Chicago Booth in the News

Biden’s economic recovery imperiled by shrinking labor force
March 5, 2021 | Politico
“That so many people have dropped out of the labor force is an awful sign for where we are,” said Chicago Booth’s Austan Goolsbee. “If a large fraction of those people never come back, that’s going to be a mess.”

Ask the experts: 2021’s credit cards
March 4, 2021 | WalletHub
“Generally, it is a good idea for people to have credit cards, in case they have emergencies and need additional cash,” says Chicago Booth’s Constantine Yannelis. “On the other hand, whether this is a good idea depends on individual self-control and whether they can generally make monthly payments.”

Booth’s Center for Decision Research to partner with Delhi-based Centre for Social and Behavior Change
March 3, 2021 | Poets & Quants
The new partnership between Chicago Booth’s Center for Decision Research and Ashoka University’s Delhi-based Centre for Social and Behaviour Change will enable both institutions to conduct innovative cross-cultural research, test behavioral interventions in the field, and more.

Nobel Winner Eugene Fame on bubbles, why indexing is still king, and GameStop
March 3, 2021 | MarketWatch
“The people who are piling into GameStop didn’t think they were irrational,” said Chicago Booth’s Eugene Fama. “Turns out, at least half of them probably lost everything. In that kind of game, when it goes up and comes back down, there are as many losers as there are winners.”

Do marketers matter for entrepreneurs?
March 2, 2021 | American Marketing Association
A team of researchers that includes Chicago Booth’s Pradeep Chintagunta proposes that marketers can help entrepreneurs in emerging markets grow their businesses.

People literally don’t know when to shut up—or keep talking, science confirms
March 1, 2021 | Scientific American
“How many new insights, novel perspectives or interesting facts of life have we missed because we avoided a longer or deeper conversation that we might have had with another person?” asks Chicago Booth’s Nicholas Epley.

Ask the experts: 2021 Travelers Auto Insurance review
February 26, 2021 | WalletHub
In this Q&A, Booth’s Jean-Pierre Dube shares his insights on why insurance companies spend so much money on commercials and how important traveler’s insurance reviews are to potential customers.

WFH is onstage and here to stay
February 24, 2021 Macroblog: Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Booth's Steven J. Davis and his co-researchers outline their findings of working from home in the post-pandemic economy.

Market design to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine supply
February 24, 2021 | Science
Research from Booth’s Canice Prendergast and Eric Budish, as well as their coauthors, sheds light on why—at this critical point in the global pandemic—governments should contract with vaccine producers to further expand capacity.

At private equity-owned nursing homes, an “enormous” increase in death rates, study finds
February 24, 2021 | CBS
Research from Constantine Yannelis and his co-authors sheds light on the consequences of private equity firms in industries where customers don't directly pay for services, and where there is a high rate of government subsides. 

Balance of power: Sen. Sherrod Brown, Fed policy (podcast)
February 23, 2021 | Bloomberg: Balance of Power
Chicago Booth’s Randall Kroszner discusses Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell’s testimony before the Senate banking committee. (Segment runs from 20:25 to 34:30.)

Future government borrowing plans can raise inflation expectations
February 22, 2021 | The Wall Street Journal
Changes in fiscal policy have a complicated effect on how households assess the outlook for inflation, according to a new paper coauthored by Chicago Booth’s Michael Weber.

Private equity ownership is killing people at nursing homes
February 22, 2021 | Vox
Research coauthored by Chicago Booth’s Constantine Yannelis found that going to a private equity-owned nursing home increased mortality for patients by 10 percent against the overall average.

Massive experiment shows why ticket sellers hit you with last-second fees
February 22, 2021 | Phys.org
A field experiment coauthored by Chicago Booth’s Sarah Moshary found that “drip pricing”— additional fees are only disclosed when customers are ready to confirm their purchases—resulted in people spending about 21% more.

‘Hybrid work’ is going to cleave America in yet another way
February 20, 2021 | Business Insider
A study coauthored by Chicago Booth’s Steven Davis suggests remote work will outlast the pandemic, but it will largely be limited to the most privileged in the workforce.

Pritzker’s tax plan: Closing corporate tax loopholes, or ‘the best way to shoot yourself in the foot?’
February 19, 2021 | Chicago Tribune
One of governor J.B. Pritzker’s proposed tax changes would hurt businesses with large losses, but those tend to be bigger companies with more resources that may see the change as a short-term impact worth waiting out, said Chicago Booth’s John Gallemore.

Lower fines could lead to higher revenues
February 19, 2021 | Crain’s Chicago Business
Chicago Booth’s Jean-Pierre Dube says personalized fines would be a win for municipalities like Chicago—and their residents, too.

Capitalism 2.0
February 19, 2021 | Crain’s Chicago Business
ESG ratings vary widely, says Caroline Grossman, executive director at Chicago Booth’s Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation. “If scores are all over the map, that doesn’t help me as an investor.”

Social responsibility gains curriculum credibility
February 18, 2021 | Crain’s Chicago Business
Caroline Grossman, executive director at Chicago Booth’s Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation, discusses stakeholder capitalism and the environmental, social, and corporate governance ecosystem in Chicago.

Job shifts ahead argue for large stimulus
February 17, 2021 | Bloomberg Opinion
A working paper coauthored by Chicago Booth’s Steven Davis concludes that COVID-19 will be “a persistent reallocation shock.”

Former Federal Reserve governor Randall Kroszner talks new federal stimulus
February 16, 2021 | Yahoo! Finance
As the United States faces record unemployment levels brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, the Federal Reserve says it plans to keep interest rates near zero while continuing to expand its balance sheet. Chicago Booth’s Randall Kroszner weighs in.

Should the federal government cancel student loan debt?
February 16, 2021 | WTTW: Chicago Tonight
Constantine Yannelis, an assistant professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, said debt forgiveness benefits higher-income earners, rather than low-income individuals.

Austan Goolsbee on reflation and COVID relief
February 16, 2021 | Bloomberg Markets
Former National Economic Council director and Chicago Booth professor Austan Goolsbee speaks about reflation and the need for stimulus.

Joe Biden’s huge bet: The economic consequences of ‘acting big’
February 15, 2021 | Financial Times
Randall Kroszner, deputy dean of Chicago Booth, says the heavy fiscal stimulus in response to the pandemic is appropriate, but the debt created does have a cost.

Biden and the Fed leave 1970s inflation fears behind
February 15, 2021 | The New York Times
“The onus should be on anybody who says the economy is about to overheat,” said Chicago Booth’s Austan Goolsbee. “There have been many prominent voices saying that—that there was about to be inflation—for more than 10 years.”

What’s the best way to launch your product?
February 12, 2021 | Crain’s Chicago Business
Chicago Booth professor Ram Shivakumar explains the differences between direct sales and channel partnerships.

Lessons from the Great Recession that inform the current economic crisis
February 11, 2021 | CNBC: Squawk Box
Austan Goolsbee, professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, discusses the details of President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief bill.

Dems attempt to push through school funding, wage increase
February 10, 2021 | WTTW: Chicago Tonight
President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan is advancing through Congress. “Chicago Tonight” discusses the plan with Chicago Booth economics professor Austan Goolsbee.

The post-pandemic playbook: building back broader
February 8, 2021 | Project Syndicate
Chicago Booth’s Raghuram G. Rajan cautions against centralized policies, stressing the importance of nurturing local leadership in reviving economically disadvantaged communities.

Global MBA ranking 2021
February 7, 2021 | Financial Times
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business was rated number three in the Financial Times’ annual ranking of the best MBA programs around the world.

Making a good job of remote work
February 7, 2021 | Financial Times
“Remote work gained ground because of the pandemic and has the potential to produce great long-term benefits for employers and workers alike: fewer commutes, cheaper property and a larger pool of talent and jobs,” write Chicago Booth’s Jonathan Dingel and Brent Neiman.

Robinhood’s collateral-crunch explanation puzzles Wall Street
February 6, 2021 | Bloomberg
“Someone’s got to pay,” said Eric Budish, a professor of economics at Chicago Booth. If you’re a brokerage, “you have capital to deal with that existential risk. I was surprised Robinhood didn’t have more capital for that scenario.”

Four experts on why they find the January jobs report disappointing
February 5, 2021 | CNBC: Squawk Box
The United States added 49,000 jobs in January. Nonfarm payrolls were expected to increase by 50,000 in January while the unemployment rate held at 6.7%. Austan Goolsbee, a professor at Chicago Booth and former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, discusses the report.

A third stimulus check may be coming. Here’s how some Chicagoans spent the first two.
February 5, 2021 | Chicago Tribune
Millions of Americans received up to $1,200 each in April as part of a massive $2.2 trillion pandemic relief package, but only 15% of recipients spent most of the money, according to a study co-authored by Chicago Booth’s Michael Weber.

What new Amazon CEO Andy Jassy needs to do to become a leader in sustainability like Apple
February 4, 2021 | MarketWatch
“A lot of the most promising steps toward ESG seem reactionary, as they have been taken only recently, at a moment in which regulatory and public pressure reached sky-high levels that became impossible to ignore,” says Emanuele Colonnelli, an assistant professor of finance at Chicago Booth.

Think GameStop is wild? Meet Dogecoin, the meme-inspired digital currency that began as a joke and is now worth billions.
February 4, 2021 | Chicago Tribune
Eric Budish, a professor at Chicago Booth who studies cryptocurrencies, warned Dogecoins are particularly vulnerable to bubbles because they are not tied to economic fundamentals in the way a stock price (ideally) reflects a company’s earnings.

The need to spend without delay in battling the coronavirus
February 3, 2021 | The New York Times
Going in big with more relief now can prevent suffering and permanent structural damage, suggests Chicago Booth economist Austan Goolsbee.

Sendhil Mullainathan: The chaos inside us
February 2, 2021 | The Knowledge Project Podcast
Chicago Booth’s Sendhil Mullainathan discusses direct versus associative memory, rules versus decisions, positioning over predicting, and more.

Some economists say the Paycheck Protection Program has not saved many jobs
February 2, 2021 | The New York Times
“It’s just a really inefficient use of funds,” said Eric Zwick, an economist at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business who has studied the Paycheck Protection Program.

Why we don’t believe the big city obituary
February 2, 2021 | Bloomberg CityLab
Chicago Booth’s Austan Goolsbee said he foresees a comeback for central cities because we are “much more productive when we are in person together.”

The burger flipper who became a world expert on the minimum wage
February 3, 2021 | Bloomberg Businessweek
By 2015, only 26% of top economists surveyed by Chicago Booth’s Initiative on Global Markets concurred that raising the floor to $15 by 2020 would “substantially” lower employment.

How poverty makes workers less productive
February 2, 2021 | NPR
Sendhil Mullainathan, speaking to NPR's Planet Money, says, "Put simply, being poor is like having just pulled an all-nighter."

$500 billion in aid to small businesses: How much did it help?
February 1, 2021 | New York Times
Booth's Eric Zwick weighs in on the Paycheck Protection Program and whether it has proved as useful as other aid.

Maximum employment? What it means post-pandemic may have changed already
February 1, 2021 | Reuters
Are we in for a prolonged full workforce recovery? Booth's Austan D. Goolsbee shares his perspective.

Top STEM MBA programs in the United States—and how much they cost
January 29, 2021 | Business Because
Chicago Booth announced its Full-Time MBA program had received STEM designation in April 2020. Booth prides itself on offering students a flexible course, with 13 different concentrations for students to choose from.

GameStop head-spinning volatility may be only the beginning of a new wave
January 28, 2021 | CNBC
As trading in GameStop reaches fever-pitched levels, Chicago Booth’s Alex Imas says we may be seeing a major change in the power of social media networks when it comes to influencing tradeable assets.

Put money in the hands of people who need it the most
January 26, 2021 | NDTV
Raghuram Rajan, a professor of finance at Chicago Booth and former RBI governor, says India hopefully has escaped the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and that it should spend money on the poor, infrastructure development, and opening schools.

Raghuram G. Rajan says more…
January 26, 2021 | Project Syndicate
Chicago Booth’s Raghuram Rajan discusses the Biden administration’s agenda as it relates to debt sustainability, future inflation, COVID-19 support, and more.

42% of Americans did not make a large purchase last year due to COVID-19
January 25, 2021 | WalletHub
Different people have different preferences on how to pay for large purchases. Chicago Booth’s Roman Weil discusses how much of an impact these preferences actually have on consumers and whether some payment methods are objectively better.

Fed set to look beyond possible post-pandemic inflation shock
January 25, 2021 | Reuters
“People are thirsting for clarity,” said Chicago Booth’s Randall Kroszner of the ongoing debate about how the Fed’s new framework for raising interest rates will be applied. “If the markets respond in the right way it could evolve to what they mean in practice.”

Shutdowns by Democratic governors did not cause the pandemic jobs crisis
January 25, 2021 | The Washington Post
A study by Chicago Booth economists Chad Syverson and Austan Goolsbee found that economic activity returned about 5 percent faster in places that lifted their shutdowns compared with those areas not shut down.

The MBA class of COVID-19
January 23, 2021 | The Economist
Many top American business schools are reporting double-digit growth amid the pandemic. “We enrolled the largest full-time MBA class ever,” noted Madhav Rajan, dean of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

India’s poor are eating into their savings, thanks to high inflation and COVID-19
January 22, 2021 | Bloomberg Quint
A study by the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation at Chicago Booth found signs of continued duress for many households in India months after the lockdown was put into place.

Biden’s student loan freeze shows path to erase billions of debt
January 22, 2021 | Bloomberg
Chicago Booth’s Constantine Yannelis said he recently found that debt owed by lower-income borrowers had a lower present value to the federal government than debt owed by high-income borrowers.

Professor Austan Goolsbee on the economics crisis facing President Biden
January 20, 2021 | WGN News
Chicago Booth professor Austan D. Goolsbee discusses the challenges the Biden administration faces on the road to economic stability.

Mr. Biden goes to Washington
January 20, 2021 | BBC: Wake Up to Money
As Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, Chicago Booth’s Randall Kroszner discusses prioritizing fighting the virus to save lives and speed up economic recovery. (Interview begins 6:35)

Why Biden’s COVID relief plan may need to be more targeted
January 19, 2021 | CNBC: Squawk Box
President-elect Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion rescue plan is following on campaign promises of higher minimum wage and more aid for those struggling during the pandemic. Chicago Booth’s Austan Goolsbee weighs in.

Meet the economist charged with keeping Biden’s promises to women and people of color
January 19, 2021 | The Washington Post
Cecilia Rouse’s focus on how recessions affect women, or on how the changing labor market has hindered gig workers, are even more relevant as the economy weathers the coronavirus downturn, says Chicago Booth’s Austan Goolsbee.

The Trump years: Tax cuts and trade wars overshadowed in the end by a virus
January 19, 2021 | Reuters
Chicago Booth’s Austan Goolsbee, Raghuram Rajan, and Randall Kroszner comment on the labor market, trade wars, and the stock market during the Trump presidency, both before and after the pandemic.

Professor Austan Goolsbee on President-elect Biden’s proposed plan
January 15, 2021 | The Hugh Hewitt Show
Chicago Booth professor Austan Goolsbee assesses President-elect Joe Biden’s national plan to address the coronavirus pandemic and provide economic relief to the American people.

Social psychology can help set the stage for business success
January 15, 2021 | Crain’s Chicago Business
“While many employees might thrive under certain circumstances, you can’t make others fit into the same box,” said Linda Ginzel, a clinical professor of managerial psychology at Chicago Booth. “You can, however, use the environment you create to help them, and your company, succeed.”

Fed is haunted by example of Japan, Kroszner says
January 14, 2021 | Bloomberg Markets: Asia
Chiacgo Booth’s Randall Kroszner talks about the trade negotiations between the world’s two largest economies, the outlook for U.S. growth, and monetary policy.

Dr. Irwin Redlener, Austan Goolsbee on what Americans need in Biden’s relief plan
January 14, 2021 | MSNBC Live with Katy Tur
Amid spikes in both COVID-19 cases and unemployment in the U.S., Chicago Booth’s Austan Goolsbee shares what he hopes to see in President-elect Joe Biden’s new relief plan.

Biden, Democrats, plot ‘aggressive’ pandemic response—without the GOP
January 12, 2021 | Politico
The labor market shed 140,000 jobs in December for the first month of declines since coronavirus shutdowns began last spring. “It’s clearly a warning siren there might very well be a double-dip recession knocking at the door,” said Chicago Booth’s Austan Goolsbee.

Professor offers ways to battle ‘Zoom fatigue,’ reconnect with friends, family amid pandemic
January 8, 2021 | WBBM Newsradio
While video conferencing technology has scaled up our work-from-home experience, Chicago Booth’s Nicholas Epley suggests it’s had a negative impact on our relationships with others.

If a gut punch can be considered a wake-up call this jobs number was every bit of all of that: Professor
January 8, 2021 | Yahoo! Finance Live
Austan Goolsbee, Chicago Booth professor and former Council of Economic Advisers chair under President Obama, discusses the latest jobs report, chaos on the Capitol, and President Trump finally conceding to President-elect Biden.

Most important economic development this week was Dems taking Senate: Furman
January 7, 2021 | CNBC: The Exchange
Economist Austan Goolsbee, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and Jason Furman, Harvard’s Kennedy School, discuss this week’s historic events and what Democrats taking over the Senate could mean for the U.S. economy.

Georgia results could pave way for quick additional U.S. pandemic support
January 6, 2021 | Reuters
At an American Economic Association panel this week, Chicago Booth professor Austan Goolsbee said the U.S. economy needs fiscal support at a pace of about $1 trillion every six months until the virus is controlled.

Antitrust actions: Views of leading economists on the cases against Facebook
January 6, 2021 | VOX EU
The IGM Forum at Chicago Booth invited its panels of U.S. and European economists to weigh in on whether requiring Facebook to unwind its acquisitions is likely to make society better off. Booth’s Christian Leuz said there are many good reasons to take action, but it’s not clear that breakup is the best solution.

World economy faces debt doom loop, more inequity post pandemic
January 5, 2021 | Bloomberg
“We have met every crisis in the recent past with yet more aggressive central bank accommodation and yet more leverage, both public as well as private,” said Raghuram Rajan, a professor at Chicago Booth and former Reserve Bank of India governor. “The real question is: Is this a doom loop? Does it keep going until it is forced to stop?”

Stock market rally in 2020 easily outpaced luxury goods, hedge funds
January 4, 2021 | The Wall Street Journal
A lot of venture firms held up last year for the same reason as tech stocks: The pandemic accelerated the uptake of technology, said Steven Kaplan, a professor of entrepreneurship and finance at the University of Chicago Booth Business School.

The secret virtues of small talk
January 2, 2021 | The Economist
A study by Chicago Booth psychologist Nicholas Epley finds that striking up conversations with strangers tends to boost people’s moods.