Experimental Economics: Does Corporate Social Responsibility Pay?
Does it pay for a company to be socially responsible? Are they just giving away profits, or does social responsibility actually increase sales? You'd think the benefits were certain, given the number of companies not only engaged in it, but happy to tell us all about it. Yet economists actually report mixed results. Some companies with strong social records don't do so well economically, and some with weak social records do just fine.
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Gunnar Knapp Answers Questions about Alaska's Budget Crisis
Gunnar Knapp, a College of Business and Public Policy economics professor and director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), lays out the state’s fiscal picture, including four areas where solutions need to come from. A video was created and posted Feb. 16, 2016 by the Alaska Dispatch News. Knapp also took questions for an hour from viewers.
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New PADM Elective at CBPP, Spring 2016
A new 1 credit elective course "Shaping Alaska’s Future: Navigating Alaska’s Fiscal and Economic Challenges (PADM 671)" will be offered this spring. Led by Cliff Groh, chair of Alaska Common Ground, a non-partisan public policy organization. Subjects will include: The Alaska Permanent Fund and Permanent Fund Dividend, Oil taxes and the proposed natural gas pipeline project, and Alaska’s future economic prospects.
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The Economics Department is offering a course in Behavioral Economics (ECON 494E/694)
Behavioral Economics is an important and growing field within economics. One of its strengths is that it takes seriously findings from other disciplines – particularly psychology – but also neuroscience, sociology and others. Research in the field recognizes that the traditional assumption that people are perfectly rational is too strong. The implications of bounded rationality are being worked out in many fields of economics, finance, and in business and policy applications.
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Gunnar Knapp and His ‘Budget Blocks’
On September 19th ISER and Alaska Common Ground co-hosted the "Forum on Alaska's Fiscal and Economic Future". ISER Director/Professor Gunnar Knapp went all out for the event and created some very large "Budget Blocks". They help visually demonstrate the relative scales of Alaska's budget, deficit, savings accounts, and various potential options for filling the deficit (e.g. income taxes, budget cuts, etc.). The blocks were a great way to aid understanding of some of the challenges faced trying to balance Alaska's budget. Gunnar is scheduled to give a talk at CBPP on October 9th about Alaska’s budget situation, held from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. in Rasmuson Hall, Room 117.
Read: Gunnar Knapp and His ‘Budget Blocks’