Research

According to the preliminary estimate from the BEA, the overall U.S. economy grew by 2.9 percent in year 2010 compared to the previous year. The 2.9 percent gains for 2010 were the strongest in the past four years.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently released an update of its World Economic Outlook. The current forecast by the IMF for the U.S. economy calls for real output (Gross Domestic Product or GDP) to increase by 3.0 percent in 2011 and then slip back to 2.7 percent growth in 2012.

Each month at the Economic Club of Phoenix luncheon, a W. P. Carey School of Business expert analyzes economic conditions in Arizona and in the nation. On February 17, Dean Robert Mittelstaedt reminded his audience that this recovery is different.

Jaime Casap, "Education Evangelist" at Google, was the featured speaker recently at the IT Leadership Seminar hosted by the W. P. Carey School of Business for students in the Master of Science in Information Management (MSIM).

More American companies, especially start-ups and those in the technology industry, are offering broad-based employee stock options as part of their compensation packages.

Have you heard? Economy-watchers (and incumbent office-holders) are saying the U.S. economy added nearly two million jobs in the past 15 months. Why focus on 15 months?

During the financial crisis and the resulting recession, companies set tough targets for their CFOs, refusing, in some cases, to give bonuses unless companies reported positive earnings, accounting professor Michal Matejka says.

"Cloud is cheap, fast and easy! Did we mention fast?!" "No hardware required!" "Why build what someone has already built?" Marketing pitches for cloud solutions sometimes run to hyperbole, creating a communications challenge for IT leaders.

The summer resale season in the Phoenix real estate market has been brisk, with about 10,500 single-family homes changing hands in June. And, for the fourth consecutive month, foreclosure-related sales as a percentage of the total market have fallen.

Quint Studer is CEO of the Studer Group, a health care consulting firm and recipient of the 2010 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.