The "right to repair" movement is gaining steam as consumers push corporations to offer them more freedom to fix productsβfrom cars to dishwashers to toys.
The world has never had more data, more models or more economists. It has rarely felt more out of control. Uncertainty, not risk, has become the defining condition of our era. Central bankers invoke it. Political leaders use it to defer decisions and justify extraordinary ones. Academics are struggling to adapt their theories to a brave new world of unexpected outcomes and erratic policy choices. The IMF's World Uncertainty Indexβwhich tracks how often the word appears in economic and political reporting across 143 countriesβhas been running at historically elevated levels for the better part of a decade, with fresh spikes after every major shock.
Change can be hardβespecially when you're used to receiving change. Switching from cash-based to digital payment methods can be a difficult sell, particularly in developing economies, poorer neighborhoods and among older people who have gotten used to cash. But digital payments have certain advantages for both businesses and consumers, and a Cornell-led research team explored ways to spur adoption of modern payment technology.
More than 2.6 million Canadians work for themselves, and according to an annual RBC poll conducted in 2025, 59% of Canadians aspire to own a businessβthe highest level since 2017.
While most businesses have introduced AI in the workplace to enhance employee productivity, an Auburn University information systems researcher cautions that under certain circumstances, AI deployment can inadvertently zap the motivation of its highest-performing workers, which could diminish the company's overall profit.
When citizens feel a bigger tax pinch, political corruption goes down and voter turnout rises. That's a key finding from new research led by Washington State University, which found that a higher tax burden is associated with increased civic engagement and citizen monitoring of public officials.
Households are motivated to reduce their energy consumption and help mitigate climate change, but unaffordable technologies and rental restrictions are preventing them from doing so, according to a recent Charles Darwin University (CDU) study. "The efficiency divide: Housing constraints on energy-saving practices in Darwin, Australia" was published in the journal Energy Research & Social Science.
In the U.S., unlike elsewhere in the world, the vast majority of mergers and acquisitions are conducted by "serial acquirers"βlarge, publicly traded firms that regularly acquire smaller companies. Around four in five M&A deals are made by these major players, including tech titans IBM, Google and Microsoft.
Climate disclosures help investors and the public understand how companies view risks such as extreme weather, carbon regulation and the transition to cleaner energy. "Because these risks are uncertain and forward-looking, company leaders have considerable influence over what is communicated and how," says Postdoctoral Researcher Javad Rajabalizadeh from the University of Turku.
A study in the Global Business and Economics Review suggests that the failure of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can be predicted as much as three years before insolvency. The work could offer lenders, investors and business owners an early warning of financial problems years in advance.
The past and present are rife with examples of advisers convincing leaders of the benefits of launching an ill-advised war, or downplaying the risks of a potentially fatal flaw in the design of a car or spacecraft.
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicking off, millions of soccer fans around the world will be following the tournament taking place across 16 host cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The study, published in European Financial Management, focused on "inside debt," which includes pensions and deferred compensation awarded to chief executives. Unlike bonuses or shares, these payments can encourage CEOs to become more cautious because their personal wealth becomes more tied to the company's long-term financial health.
Investor caution soon after experiencing a natural disaster increases the cost of capital for businesses hoping to grow, new academic research suggests.
When the Securities and Exchange Commission updated Regulation S-K in 2020 to require public companies to disclose more information about human capital in annual filings, the rule was designed primarily with investors in mind. New research from the University of Miami Patti and Allan Herbert Business School suggests that the regulation may also have reshaped how companies compete for talent.
Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled Canada's AI for All strategy on June 4, committing more than $2 billion in new spending and targeting $200 billion in additional GDP growth and 250,000 new jobs by 2031.
Since January 2025, the Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement. A key rationale for the policy is that it will open up jobs for Americans by reducing competition from undocumented immigrants.
Financial markets are blind to the economic costs of biodiversity loss, leaving several countries at risk of defaulting on debt, according to new research published in Nature. While environmental degradation is recognized as a serious financial risk, sovereign debt markets currently have no way of accounting for it, leaving US$83 trillion in assets open to mispricing.
Parental leave policies in Canada are designed for both parents, but fathers use them at roughly half the rate of mothers. From 2012 to 2017, Statistics Canada found 88% of mothers took maternity leave, parental leave or a combination of the two, compared with 46% of fathers.