Moving the Needle

What happened to domestic corporate investment after the financial crisis of 2008? Joao F. Gomes, Howard Butcher III Professor of Finance at the Wharton School, joins host Dan Loney to discuss his recent B-School Seminar presented to congressional staffers that examines the decade-long weak recovery, influencing the lackluster investment of U.S. corporations into its economy and its potential effects on little infrastructure spending.

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Infrastructure is among other pressing topics, such as health care, immigration, and trade, in terms of the American political agenda that need immediate attention. It’s also one of the most difficult problems to solve because it’s expensive, divisive and downright complicated. Nevertheless, Wharton finance professor Robert Inman makes a compelling argument for why government officials need to make infrastructure a priority. 

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There is a concern in this country that some federal level policy decisions does not use the evidence that is collected by people at the state and local level. The impact of these moves can have a wide range of effects on different sectors, including housing, health, and education. In light of this, the Penn Wharton Public Policy Initiative held a conference to try and reinforce the importance of data-centric decision making. Dennis Culhane is a Professor at Penn's School of Social Policy and Practice, Co-Principal Investigator for the Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy, and Director of Research for the National Center for Homelessness among Veterans. He joins Dan Loney on Knowledge@Wharton radio to discuss.

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Peter Cappelli, Director of the Center for Human Resources and Professor of Management at the Wharton School and Host of In the Workplace, joins host Dan Loney to discuss workforce development, skill gaps & employer tax incentive plans.

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At a time when public confidence in major societal institutions seems to be under siege, the blockchain offers an intriguing new paradigm for establishing trust in human transactions. Wharton legal studies and business ethics professor Kevin Werbach talks about the transformative potential of the blockchain, the underlying technology behind cryptocurrencies such as the bitcoin. While the adoption of cyber-currencies is running into headwinds, the blockchain is finding more practical use across industries. Its nature as a distributed ledger in which transactions are transparent among parties creates a “new architecture of trust,” Werbach adds. One doesn’t have to trust another party in a blockchain to do a transaction even if there is no centralized authority, such as a bank or government, in charge.

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In 2013, US companies held $2 trillion in indefinitely reinvested earnings abroad. How and why they continue to do this is central to the debate surrounding US international tax policy and carries broader repercussions for the domestic economy. Does the U.S. system of taxation potentially give foreign buyers of U.S. multinational businesses an unfair advantage? Jennifer Blouin, Associate Professor of Accounting at the Wharton School, joins host Dan Loney on Knowledge@Wharton to describe the presentation she recently gave to congressional staffers as part of the Penn Wharton B-School for Public Policy, a new monthly series of faculty-led seminars for policymakers.

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Howard Kunreuther, Co-Director of Wharton’s Public Policy Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, joins host Dan Loney on Knowledge@Wharton to discuss the potential re-authorization of the National Flood Insurance Program and the benefits of a more fair and risk-based insurance plan to help combat rising premium rates as presented to congressional staffers as part of the Penn Wharton B-School for Public Policy, a new monthly series of faculty-led seminars for policymakers. For more information about how to get involved with Penn Wharton B-School for Public Policy, visit: https://publicpolicy.wharton.upenn.edu/b-school/get-involved

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A wave of corporate inversions over the past several years has generated substantial debate in academic, business, and policy circles. The core of the debate hinges on a couple of key economic questions: Do US tax laws disadvantage US-domiciled companies relative to their foreign competitors? And, if so, does inversion reduce or eliminate that tax disadvantage, and increase the competitiveness of US multinational firms for making investments both abroad and at home? In a B-School for Public Policy seminar, Professor Michael Knoll addressed these questions and their implications for tax reform discussions, drawing insight from newly published research. He joined Lori McMillan, law professor at Washburn University in Kansas, and Daniel Hemel, assistant professor of law at the University of Chicago, in the Knowledge@Wharton Business Radio studio for an interview with host Dan Loney.

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