Three Questions

We asked William English, a professor in the practice of finance and a former economist at the Federal Reserve, how the deficit and the ballooning national debt affect the economy and the ability of Congress and the Fed to fight future recessions.

We asked Stephen Roach, a senior fellow at the Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and the former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, what the epidemic could mean for the economy in China and the rest of the world.

We asked Paul Bracken, a professor of management and political science, what the capability to pinpoint enemy leaders from afar in real time means for modern warcraft.

The giant China-based conglomerate Alibaba raised more than $13 billion in November in a stock offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. We asked Yale SOM’s Heather Tookes and Matthew Spiegel, who have studied the performance of companies after IPOs, what their research suggests about Alibaba’s prospects and its next steps.

We asked Nathan Novemsky, a social psychologist and a professor of marketing at Yale SOM, what the research says about avoiding tension and creating positive memories.

Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, died on December 8 at age 92. Prof. Andrew Metrick reflects on Volcker’s contributions to the Fed and economic policy.

A recently published book argues that the richest Americans now pay lower tax rates than any other income group. We asked Yale political scientist Jacob Hacker to explain how this situation developed and why it’s proved politically difficult to raise taxes on the rich.

We talked with Yale SOM Deputy Dean David Bach, an expert on business-government relations and global markets, about how world-spanning organizations should navigate conflicting values in key markets.

We asked Yale SOM’s James Baron about the research on the effectiveness of annual reviews and what a better method might look like.

This week, the Business Roundtable declared a commitment to the interests of customers, employees, and local communities—not just shareholders. Yale SOM's Jeffrey Sonnenfeld says the change in position reflects an understanding among many business leaders that doing good is not antithetical to doing well.