Research

The U.S. Department of Commerce reports that 2005 U.S. e-commerce sales rose to $86.3 billion — 25 percent over 2004 sales. Yet e-commerce represents only around 2 percent of U.S. retail sales.

You wouldn't expect to see a scrawny, spectacled, beak-nosed Chippendale dancer any more than you'd expect Hooters to hire an obese waitress. But, surely, looks don't matter for the highly educated and trained sales professionals that pharmaceutical companies send to doctors' offices.

Did you ever notice how shoppers often thumb through magazines, but when it comes to making a purchase, they never pick the one at the front of the rack?

Arizona is at a crossroads, looking back at 25 years of spectacular growth and forward to a future that, while promising, is also uncertain. As one of 10 identified "megapolitan" areas in the U.S., Arizona faces the choice of creating high-quality jobs or ignoring that need.

The Arizona Constitution mandates that "the instruction furnished shall be as nearly free as possible" at the state's universities, and that the state appropriate money for the "development and improvement" of its universities.

Arizona's health information technology (HIT) industry and health-care delivery system are on the brink of radical transformation as Arizona Health-e Connection prepares to publish its proposal offering a "road map" for development and implementation of a statewide, unified HIT network.

At the time of the California energy supply crisis of 2001, a number of Western states were net exporters of electricity. They realized the Golden State would need much more electricity than it could supply itself.

When Thomas Donohue scans the American health-care landscape, he sees an opportunity.

The allure of a star is nearly irresistible, and mutual fund investors are not immune. Investors are drawn to mutual fund families that boast a stellar performer, and the less luminous funds in the family benefit from a spillover effect resulting from their proximity to the headliner.

Tax amnesties, which have been offered in 35 states and the District of Columbia since the 1980s, are enjoying a wave of popularity. Data from the Federation of Tax Administrators show that since 2000, states have offered 35 tax amnesty programs.