Faculty News

Professor Richard Sylla's views on the "shareholder value" model and his co-authored paper with Prof. Ralph Gomory are highlighted

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Excerpt from The Boston Globe -- "By the 1990s, the notion that a CEO had an obligation to maximize shareholder value had become an unquestioned mantra taught in business schools; ordinary people assumed it was simply the way of the world. 'People think it was brought down from Mount Sinai by Moses, as the 11th Commandment,' said Richard Sylla, a professor who specializes in the history of financial institutions at NYU Stern School of Business, and the coauthor of a recent article in the journal Daedalus critiquing the notion of shareholder supremacy. 'If you’re younger than 50 or 60, you’ve lived in a world where everyone taught you that this is what a corporation is supposed to do—maximize profit and shareholder value. But the world used to be different.'The philosophy of shareholder supremacy, initially a reform to curb irresponsibility in managers, has ended up causing significant problems of its own, say Sylla and other critics."
 
Faculty News

Prof. Michael Posner's co-authored World Economic Forum white paper on business sustainability is highlighted

Excerpt from Bangladesh News 24 -- "Michael Posner, Chair Global Agenda Council on Human Rights, says, 'Given the importance of this issue and the various ways in which sustainability is defined and discussed, this White Paper presents an integrated picture of business sustainability and offers a foundation to guide future work in this area.'"
Faculty News

Prof. Lawrence White on the unemployment rate and state of the US economy

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Excerpt from Crain's New York -- "'A 6% unemployment rate is certainly better than the 10% we had a few years ago,' said Lawrence White, an economist at New York University, 'but it's still not robust, and at the same time, people see the stock market at all-time highs.'"
Faculty News

In an op-ed, Prof. Thomaï Serdari examines Porsche's design as a branding tool

Excerpt from LinkedIn -- "Porsche, one of the most revered brands both because of its long history but also because of its achievements, has proved time and again that form stems from good design while it also expresses good design. Architect Mies van der Rohe’s dictum 'form follows function' has found its perfect manifestation in Porsche 911, a legendary car that has been in production since 1963 and has been evolving ever since."
Faculty News

In an op-ed, Research Scholar Robert Frank presents 6 climate change myths

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Excerpt from The New York Times -- "Effective countermeasures now could actually ward off many of these threats at relatively modest cost. Yet despite a robust scientific consensus that greenhouse gas emissions are at the root of the problem, legislation to curb them has gone nowhere in Congress. ... Why aren’t we demanding more forceful action? One reason may be the frequent incantation of a motley collection of myths, each one rooted in bad economics."
Faculty News

In an op-ed, Research Scholar Brandon Fuller explains the benefits of driverless cars in cities

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Excerpt from City Journal -- "When shared, driverless cars can operate like on-demand taxis, increasing urban mobility. Fleets of shared driverless cars could reduce the need for prolonged parking altogether, freeing up urban spaces outside of commercial and residential buildings as well as bike lanes, sidewalks, and parks for better uses. Outside the urban core, shared fleets of driverless cars could offer door-to-door trips for any itinerary, free from mass transit’s time constraints. Paired with computerized ride-share systems, driverless technology will also make carpooling more appealing. Easy coordination of passengers based on trip itinerary and time will increase the number of passengers per vehicle and reduce the space and energy intensity of car commutes."
School News

Assistant Dean Isser Gallogly comments on Stern's personal expression essay option

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Excerpt from The New York Times -- "Option B asks applicants to describe themselves using 'almost any method to convey your message.'...Because this is business school, not 'America’s Got Talent,' prepared submissions — videos, slides, songs, art projects — matter more for the insight they offer than the artistry they display. 'This is definitely not a creativity contest,' says Isser Gallogly, assistant dean of M.B.A. admissions at Stern."
Faculty News

In an op-ed, Prof. Nouriel Roubini discusses Russia's long-term goals

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Excerpt from Project Syndicate -- "Though Russian President Vladimir Putin’s immediate goal may have been limited to regaining control of Crimea and retaining some influence in Ukrainian affairs, his longer-term ambition is much bolder."
Faculty News

Prof. Michael Spence discusses his recent op-ed on the impact of technology on the labor market

Excerpt from Bloomberg -- "The big challenge is this transition we're in. Many Americans prepared themselves, with society's input, for a world of work that's moving away from them. And so we have labor markets that are out of long-run equilibrium, where the skills on the supply side don't match what the demand side is asking for. And there's no perfect solution to this, but, for people of all ages, we have to help people close that gap."
Faculty News

Prof. Michael Spence's op-ed on the impact of political instability is highlighted

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Excerpt from Politico -- "In an article on July 25, the Nobel Laureate economist Michael Spence put it this way: '[A]t this moment in history, the main threats to prosperity … are the huge uncontained negative spillover effects of regional tensions, conflict, and competing claims to spheres of influence. The most powerful impediment to growth and recovery is not this or that economic imbalance; it is a loss of confidence in the systems that made rising global interdependence possible.' A claim of this sort can’t be quantified – but it worries Spence, and it worries me."
Faculty News

Prof. Edward Altman on "vulture funds" and debt collection in Argentina

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Excerpt from Marketplace -- "'Asking for full payment is totally appropriate,' he says. The original owners of a country’s securities are ill-equipped to negotiate when those countries renege on their commitments, and the vultures have the appetite and ability to play hardball. Like vultures in the wild, vulture funds may serve an important ecological purpose. 'They provide in the case of distressed assets a liquidity that simply wouldn’t be there,' he says."
Faculty News

Executive-in-Residence John Biggs discusses his book, "Modernizing Insurance Regulation," co-edited by Prof. Matthew Richardson with a chapter written by Prof. Eric Dinallo

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Excerpt from Bloomberg Businessweek -- "[Biggs] got to know the insurance business as chairman and chief executive officer of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund, better known as TIAA-CREF, from 1993 to 2002. Now he’s an executive in residence at New York University’s Stern School of Business and the co-editor with Stern economist Matthew Richardson of a new book, Modernizing Insurance Regulation."
Faculty News

Prof. Arun Sundararajan on the long-term strategy of sharing economy companies like Airbnb

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Excerpt from Reuters -- "A very strong argument for regulatory change is demonstrating that you're valuable, demonstrating that you're creating value for society."
Faculty News

Prof. Nicholas Economides on the state of Greece's economy

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Excerpt from OZY -- "After four years when no bank would touch it, Greece was able to borrow abroad by issuing 5-year bonds at 4.75 percent interest, raising 3 billion euros. A booming tourism industry — occupancy rates are up by 25 percent — has helped the economy return to timid growth but doesn’t provide a long-term solution. Foreign investment? Just a dream. 'Greece has not yet convinced investors that it is at a stage of recovery,' says Nicholas Economides, professor of economics at NYU and UC Berkeley."
Faculty News

Katharine Kendrick, Policy Associate at the Center for Business and Human Rights, weighs in on Sen. Patrick Leahy's NSA reform bill

Excerpt from SC Magazine -- "Katharine Kendrick, policy associate at the Center for Business and Human Rights at NYU Stern School of Business, told SCMagazine.com in a Wednesday interview that 'one of the most promising things in the bill is that it adds back in the second on transparency' that didn't appear in the House bill."
Faculty News

Prof. Vicki Morwitz on the proposed Transparent Airfares Act of 2014

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Excerpt from MarketWatch -- "'This new act would lead to greater price confusion and would be a big step backward,' [Morwitz] says. 'The most important piece of information consumers need to know is how much the air ticket will cost them in total and whether they can afford it,' Morwitz says. Airlines break down the total cost of the ticket during the booking process, she adds."
Faculty News

In an op-ed, Prof. Michael Posner argues that sustainable practices benefit businesses

Excerpt from World Economic Forum -- "Sustainable companies also are promoting greater economic participation of women, and combating corruption by embedding rule of law principles in their operations and initiatives. Taking this broader view of business sustainability is important both because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it serves a company’s long-term commercial interests."
Faculty News

Prof. David Yermack's research on CEO vacations is highlighted

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Excerpt from Forbes -- "Through examining the timing of company news and CEO’s absences from its headquarters, Yermack found that companies’ news frequency level is significantly lower when the CEOs are out of office for vacations. Therefore investors can get valuable signals about upcoming news events by tracking down the company’s corporate jet record and the chief executive’s vacation plan."
Faculty News

Prof. Arun Sundararajan on Amazon's battle with book publishers

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Excerpt from Mashable -- "'[Amazon] put downward pressure on prices because Amazon was always trying to lower e-book prices. Publishers were always trying to prevent that from happening because it lowered the perceived value of books,' said Arun Sundararajan, a professor at New York University who specializes in digital economics."
School News

NYU Stern Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning Honored with the 2014 Campus Technology Innovators Award

On July 30, the NYU Stern Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning will be honored for its work on Langone Lab Orientation with the 2014 Campus Technology Innovators Award at the 21st Annual Campus Technology Conference.
Faculty News

Prof. Deepak Hegde's research on patents is featured

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Excerpt from IAM Magazine -- "The paper’s authors analysed the prosecution histories of 2.15 million patent applications filed at the USPTO between 1996 and 2005. Overall, of the applications filed in that timeframe, 55.8% resulted in patent grants without the use of continuation procedures. However, Hegde, Carley and Marco also found that allowance rates declined significantly over that time period, from 70% in 1996 to just 40% in 2005."
Faculty News

Prof. David Yermack on golden parachutes offered to CEOs during mergers

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Excerpt from Quartz -- "Compensation plans like these originated in the go-go days of the 1980s, as US corporate raiders perfected the art of the hostile take-over. David Yermack, a finance professor at New York University, says that managers were often loathe to give up their job, even if a deal made sense, so golden parachutes were created to take managers’ personal financial situation out of the picture, so they wouldn’t protect themselves while their companies stumbled."
Faculty News

In an op-ed, Prof. Thomaï Serdari explains how Alipay helps western retailers operate in China

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Excerpt from Luxury Daily -- "When Chinese interact with Western retailers, they often complain about translation and shipping issues, miscalculation of prices and fees and inability to pay in RMB. Alipay, a product established in China and designed to respond to the demographic particularities of the Chinese consumer is positioning itself as the only product that can bridge East and West to make online shopping easy and enjoyable. Also, Alipay provides a new opportunity to Western retailers to increase their presence in the Chinese market without having to physically move there."
Faculty News

Prof. Susan Stehlik explains how diversity yields success in business

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Excerpt from CCTV -- "Susan Stehlik is a Professor of Management Communication at NYU Stern. She says what is key to a business’s success is diversity of all kinds. 'Just because a business is owned by a woman, doesn’t mean it is going to be successful. When you have diverse teams – and the research shows it, experience shows it – you have better decision making because you’re not just reflecting each other’s opinion, you’re actually challenging it.' She says asking the tough questions in business leads to better solutions in an increasingly global and diverse world."
Press Releases

New Research Finds That Getting a Patent is Becoming More Difficult

Deepak Hegde
In a first-of-its-kind study, NYU Stern Professor Deepak Hegde and his co-authors, Michael Carley and Alan Marco of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), calculate the probability of receiving a US patent and find that approval rates have declined significantly.