Research

In the aftermath of recession, experts and international agencies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) often advise this strategy: countries are told to hold tight on currency flows as part of a painful set of austerity measures, let exchange rates drop, then boost exports and productivi

According to the latest ASU-Repeat Sales Index (ASU-RSI), overall house prices declined by 13 percent in December compared to December 2008, an improvement over the 17 percent year over year decline seen in November and the 20 percent decline in October.

In 2009, inflation-adjusted output (Gross Domestic Product) fell by -2.4 percent. This was the largest one-year decrease in GDP since the Great Depression, causing economists to dub this contraction as the Great Recession.

Behavior Research Center, a marketing and public opinion research firm based in Phoenix, has been measuring consumer confidence in Arizona via its Rocky Mountain Poll for 30 years.

Western analysts scanning the economic horizon for signs of a housing rebound in the region, finding little evidence of recovery in 2009, are now setting their sights on 2010. Since last year was so bad, the consensus is that 2010 can only be better.

In the U.S. and around the world, the recession is forcing shopping center developers and retailers to re-think the design of the places where we spend our money. Some say the very nature of shopping has changed.

The 2007-2009 recession brought about shifting consumer demand that left wholesalers and manufacturers grappling with how best to change inventory and production strategies.

To be a fly on the wall in the board rooms of corporate America would be worth a mint. To understand the social psychology behind boards' strategic decisions would be priceless. David H. Zhu has done that.

One-third of U.S. adults are obese, and another third are overweight, according to data recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Marketing scholars Naomi Mandel, Andrea Morales and Steve Nowlis have been investigating what influences our decisions about diet.

Finance scholars have long urged corporate managers to hold less cash and assume more debt. Too much cash, the argument went, could make executives lax, encouraging imprudent acquisitions and spendthrift expansions.