On Tuesday, Amazon announced that it would start offering free food delivery for Prime members. The announcement comes over two years after the Seattle-based tech giant acquired Whole Foods in an effort to develop its business in the grocery and food industries.  Daniel Hooker, senior lecturer in food industry management at Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business, says that while Amazon may yield short-term gains from offering free deliveries, shoppers will need more convincing before they give up on brick-and-mortar grocery stores.

Economics and Business

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

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Heeyon Kim, an expert in how social status, reputation and market identity affect the behavior of people in creative industries, says newcomers don't need to beat industry giants to reach Oscar status, they just need to beat expectations. 

Social & Behavioral Sciences

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Starting this Thursday, cars will be banned from lower Manhattan’s 14th street as part of an 18-month experiment to improve traffic flow. The 1.1-mile stretch will only allow buses, trucks, bikes and pedestrians. Only local businesses and residents will have car access to the street.  

New York City

Cornell Tech

Engineering

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

Architecture, Art and Planning

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On Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average broke through the 22,000-point mark for the first time in its history. Andrew Karolyi, professor of asset management and finance at Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, recently authored a paper about the shrinking number of exchange-listed firms in the U.S. He says that today’s milestone should prompt investors to sit down for a financial checkup.

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

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On Wednesday, vaping firm Juul announced it was replacing its chief executive, Kevin Burns, with KC Crosthwaite, formerly with tobacco giant Altria. The replacement follows reports of vaping-related lung diseases and growing concerns about the firm’s advertising towards children. Hyunseob Kim, professor of finance in the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University and an expert in corporate governance says that a former tobacco executive is a natural pick given their expertise with regulators, one of Juul’s most important audiences in the foreseeable future.

Economics and Business

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

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While conspicuous consumption is ever present in many aspects of people’s lives in the U.S. there are fewer holidays that exemplify consumers’ willingness to “show off” their wealth as Halloween. This year COVID-19 restrictions may hamper some of that spending, but Ori Heffetz, associate professor of strategy and business economics at the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, says that “socially visible” consumption will continue to be at play in celebrating Halloween in 2020. 

Economics and Business

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

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Robert H. Frank, professor of economics and management at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and author of Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class, says that as real estate prices in large metropolitan areas continue to soar, the middle class people who provide essential services – teachers, police and firefighters – cannot afford to live in the areas that they serve.

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

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The U.S. House of Representatives voted this week to advance the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act through Congress. The act requires Chinese companies to delist from major U.S. exchanges if they fail to comply with audit requirements of the Public Companies Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) within three years. Andrew Karolyi, professor of finance at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and a decades-long expert on international listings of stocks, has written about the phenomenon of foreign firms leaving U.S. equity markets. He says the legislation may be part of a broader push by the U.S. to take a more assertive stance toward Beijing, but he also argues that there may be serious unintended negative consequences for investors as well as U.S. markets.

Law and Policy

Economics and Business

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Corporate finance expert John Tobin comments on Barclays' newly announced climate finance resolution.

Energy, Environment & Sustainability

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Critics say that the deal between T-Mobile and Sprint will ultimately limit competition in a market already dominated by very few players. But Aija Leiponen, professor of applied economics and an expert in the telecommunication industry, says that on the contrary the merger will increase competition, by not leaving Sprint’s assets up for grabs for the industry’s monoliths.

Economics and Business

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

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