Health reform and the election — part three

In the third and final presidential debate on October 15, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain spent some time discussing health care — an issue which, in spite of increasingly dominant concerns about the economy — still seems to matter a great deal to American voters.

Is China's rise sustainable?

Since 1980 China's economy has grown at an average rate of 9.8 percent a year — that's compared to 2-3 percent for developed economies like the U.S.

The real estate cha-cha: Baby steps to recovery

January brought an uptick in foreclosures in the still-troubled Phoenix real estate market — discouraging words after the drop in foreclosure-related activity in the waning months of 2010. But is it a new trend?

Driven to love: Business booms when passion meets possessions

Social isolation in the U.S. has been on the rise for decades, according to research conducted in 2006 by sociologists.

Quantifying the intangible: Determining the performance of knowledge workers

Measuring the performance of workers on an assembly line is simple: Count the objects produced and find out how long the process took. That should reveal the productivity of the factory workers. But how do you determine the performance of knowledge workers?

December real estate market softened, but 2011 may still be the transition year

Phoenix Metro home prices continued their decline in December, and are expected to keep dropping for the foreseeable future.

The Economic Minute: Population count lower than expected

The newly released census reports that Arizona's population was just about 6.4 million as of April 1, 2010 — a number considerably lower than estimated. In fact, the Census Bureau's own 2009 estimate was 204,000 too high, and the Arizona Department of Commerce overshot reality by 291,000.

Phoenix real estate: Slower population growth may delay housing market recovery

Since 2008, 11 percent of the single-family homes in Maricopa County, Arizona, have been through foreclosure — 4 percent in the last year alone. And with moratoriums on foreclosures ending, the new year is expected to start with an uptick in the number of property owners losing their homes.

Shared values help companies connect with consumers

Online retailers looking to connect with customers and increase sales and profits would be wise to demonstrate values that appeal to those customers, according to researchers in the Department of Information Systems.

The Ph.D. experience: A student's life is intense, focused

If you choose the academic life, you will always be two things at once: a student — continuously uncovering and processing new knowledge; and a teacher — conveying what you know to others. This dual life begins in the Ph.D.