Following the global financial crisis troubled retirement systems around the world face new challenges that may result in sharply reduced income for retirees -- as well as the possibility that younger workers will need to work much longer according to Wharton insurance and risk management professor Olivia Mitchell. In a recent paper titled ”Implications of the Financial Crisis for Long Run Retirement Security ” Mitchell argues that current and future generations must ”build new frameworks [with] public and private partnerships to better educate people about the risks they face to help them work longer ... and to better regulate products and markets for an aging world.”

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Sovereign wealth funds the large investment funds supported by governments are mostly a positive economic force that can provide a shot in the arm to the companies -- and countries -- they invest in. They are also a stabilizing force for the nation where the investment originates. Those are some of the main takeaways from a new Wharton study ”The Brave New World of Sovereign Wealth Funds.” In this interview with Knowledge at Wharton Wharton management professor Mauro F. Guillén who helped to oversee the research and two Wharton MBA candidates present some of their key findings.

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What spending in the mobile advertising industry lacks in heft it more than makes up for in buzz. Witness Google’s recent purchase of AdMob which brings together the two largest mobile ad networks and Apple’s recent efforts to gain a stronger foothold in the market. The battle between the two major players could represent a tipping point for mobile advertising Wharton experts and others say and suggests that the sector could become a significant money-maker in the future.

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Plenty of people in the publishing world fear that new media and the Internet will kill interest in reading literary fiction. Andy Hunter and Scott Lindenbaum however think of Twitter YouTube and the iPad as opportunities to introduce new audiences to the art of the short story -- and to tell stories in unique ways. They are the founders of Electric Literature a quarterly literary magazine that publishes using a print-on-demand model and enhances its stories through collaborations between authors and animators filmmakers and musicians.

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Teresa Lunt who directs the computing science laboratory at the Palo Alto Research Center is involved in a wide range of activities including ubiquitous computing security and privacy and ethnography for organizational environments and technology design. During a talk with Knowledge at Wharton at the recent Future of Publishing Conference in New York she discussed a few of her current projects -- such as research into workplace efficiencies a study on mobile advertising and the creation of a rich media information service for a customer in Japan.

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In the book In Search of Bacchus: Wanderings in the Wonderful World of Wine Tourism author George M. Taber took on the task (someone had to do it) of visiting a dozen of the most breathtakingly beautiful wine regions around the globe. What he came back with is a travel guide for oenophiles that also serves as a primer on how and why winemakers are increasingly turning themselves into destination sites. In addition Taber’s tour opens a window on the growing segmentation of the travel industry as a whole and offers lessons about competitive advantage and marketing that apply to all consumer-driven businesses.

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As use of the Internet grows and changes so has the ability of users to search for specific content or stories photos and videos that relate to certain topics of interest. One of the companies trying to harness and expand the power of search is Cuil which is developing Cpedia -- an engine that promises less repetition an encyclopedia-style summary for each search and results that integrate related topics and input and recommendations from users’ social networks. Cuil vice president of business development and finance Seval Oz Ozveren talked with Knowledge at Wharton during the recent Future of Publishing conference in New York.

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The Great Recession has given a black eye to the tools of financial innovation. Collateralized debt obligations synthetic derivatives and other once-arcane investment vehicles are now the poster boys of what went wrong -- toxic players in the boom-and-doom scenario of the housing implosion and market rout. But these highly opaque and complex instruments are not representative of real financial innovation which stresses transparency and responsible management of risk argues Wharton finance professor Franklin Allen in his new book Financing the Future: Market-Based Innovations for Growth co-written with Glenn Yago executive director of financial research at the Milken Institute. Financial innovation properly used has been the engine of growth through the centuries Allen says and is especially needed now to get the world economy on track again.

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At the Wharton-sponsored Future of Publishing conference held on April 30 in New York one of the panels looked at the changing nature of content specifically the increasing popularity of user-generated content spilling forth from an ever-growing variety of sources. The panel included Katharine Zaleski executive producer and head of digital news products for The Washington Post and before that senior editor in charge of special projects at The Huffington Post. Following her participation in the panel discussion Zaleski spoke with Knowledge at Wharton about her role at The Washington Post the importance of packaging stories why news sites need to offer other people’s content and what the future holds for investigative journalists among other topics.

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Once dubbed the ”Celtic Tiger” for its transformation from an economic laggard to a growth powerhouse Ireland is now suffering from a stunning reversal of fortune. What once helped drive its economic surge -- a booming real estate market -- has now become the country’s bane. Wharton faculty and other experts weigh in on whether it’s fair to lump Ireland with Europe’s other sick economies such as Greece and what needs to happen for the country to regain its former glory as a magnet for international investment.

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