The Abstract: Bouncing Back After Getting Laid Off

What Happens to Earnings and Employment Rates After Layoffs

We investigate whether the costs of job displacement differ between blue collar and white collar workers. In the short run earnings and employment losses are substantial for both groups but stronger for white collar workers. In the long run, there are only weak effects for blue collar workers but strong and persistent effects for white collars.

Avoiding the Competition Trap
Sports and war metaphors abound in business today...However, such metaphors are misleading. The objective in both sports and war is to beat the competitor. Business, on the other hand, aims to create wealth. Ignoring this reality, many people believe the metaphors and choose competitor-oriented strategies that pursue market share rather than profits, according to research at Wharton, Weatherhead, and other institutions. In one study, one-third of 105 managers said their firms had competitor-oriented objectives. Another revealed that managers opted to sacrifice profits to beat the competition on price. A third showed that firms stating pricing goals in competitive terms had lower returns-on-investment over a 45-year span. Our conclusion: Firms should focus on profits, not competition.

Midwestern moms more likely to be working
Time's Barbara Kiviat points to new research from the Census Bureau revealing that at 20 percent, the number of childless women between 40- and 44-years-old has doubled when compared with 30 years ago.