Thursday, January 9

BUSINESS

The New Bills Stadium Is One Of The Worst Deals For Taxpayers I’ve Ever Seen – I’ve Studied Stadium Financing For Over Two Decades
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BUSINESS, IN OTHER NEWS

The New Bills Stadium Is One Of The Worst Deals For Taxpayers I’ve Ever Seen – I’ve Studied Stadium Financing For Over Two Decades

After New York lawmakers blew past the deadline to approve the state budget, they finally came to an agreement on April 9, 2022, that included a US$850 million subsidy for a new stadium in Buffalo for the NFL’s Bills. As a sports economist who has studied stadium deals for over two decades, I am not exaggerating when I write that the New York Legislature has managed to craft one of the worst stadium deals in recent memory – a remarkable feat considering the high bar set by other misguided state and local governments across the country. Study after study has shown that stadiums are terrible public investments. The taxpayers financing them rarely want to pay for them. So why are governments willing to subsidize them? A return to the bad old days There were many things to dislike about the ...
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For New Oil And Gas Drilling Leases Royalty Rates Have Increased
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BUSINESS

For New Oil And Gas Drilling Leases Royalty Rates Have Increased

The Biden administration will open roughly 144,000 acres for leases for oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters, with royalty rates increased for the first time since the 1920s, DOI said Friday. Oil and gas drillers will now need to pay 18.75% royalties, a 50% increase from the 12.5% rate established when the federal government first imposed them about a century ago. Biden paused oil and gas drilling during his first week in office but a court order, and concern over high gasoline prices, are compelling the administration to offer leases. The most recent UN IPCC report concluded that even existing fossil fuel infrastructure puts the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F) out of reach, and building additional carbon-intensive infrastructure only further seals o...
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Corporate Governance Scholars Disagree With Elon Musk Argument That Twitter Would Be Better Off In Private Hands Rather Than Public Hands
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BUSINESS

Corporate Governance Scholars Disagree With Elon Musk Argument That Twitter Would Be Better Off In Private Hands Rather Than Public Hands

Billionaire Elon Musk says he wants to take Twitter private by buying 100% of its publicly held shares in a deal worth US$43 billion. In a letter to the board, he said that Twitter can’t serve as a platform for free speech as a public company. “Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company,” he wrote. I’m a scholar in corporate leadership and governance. A big problem with private companies is they lack the safeguards of public corporations – like outside ownership and independent oversight. Public ownership Some years ago, I explored the distinction between public and private companies in detail when the American Bar Association invited me to write about what young corporate lawyers need to understand about how business works. Based on that research, I want to point to an importa...
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US$3 billion Twitter deal – What It Means For Elon Musk And For Social Media
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BUSINESS

US$3 billion Twitter deal – What It Means For Elon Musk And For Social Media

The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, is now Twitter’s largest shareholder after acquiring a 9.2% stake in the social media platform for just under US$3 billion (£2.3 billion). The announcement drove Twitter’s share price up 27%, and it continued to grow in after-hours trading. You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, here. This investor enthusiasm is not surprising. Social media platforms have been suffering lately thanks to newly developed pressures in their ecosystems. For example, Twitter, and also Meta, have been on the receiving end of Apple’s anti user-tracking system. This is costing them billions of dollars in lost revenues, causing both companies’ stock to languish for the past few months. Musk’s arrival as Twitter’s largest shareholder will ...
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How Playboy Skirted The Anti-Porn Crusade Of The 1950s
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BUSINESS

How Playboy Skirted The Anti-Porn Crusade Of The 1950s

Playboy’s decision earlier this month to jettison the nude images in its print edition lays bare the magazine’s own naked truth: it was always really a lifestyle magazine, with nudes simply acting as window dressing. If it seems counterintuitive for a quasi-smut mag to renounce its own seeming raison d'etre, it’s important to remember that the magazine, since its inception, always held itself at a distance from the world of pornography. The aspiration of Hugh Hefner’s project was cultural legitimacy – not a globally recognized logo (today, more profitable than the magazine itself), nor the cultivation of a “girl next door” image. The magazine – at least, how it presented itself – was simply too classy to be confused for porn. For the most part, it worked. As a historian, I’ve written ...
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If Done Right, IPCC Says Revolutionary Changes In Transportation, From Electric Vehicles To Ride Sharing, Could Slow Global Warming
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BUSINESS

If Done Right, IPCC Says Revolutionary Changes In Transportation, From Electric Vehicles To Ride Sharing, Could Slow Global Warming

Around the world, revolutionary changes are under way in transportation. More electric vehicles are on the road, people are taking advantage of sharing mobility services such as Uber and Lyft, and the rise in telework during the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the way people think about commuting. Transportation is a growing source of the global greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change, accounting for 23% of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions worldwide in 2019 and 29% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. The systemic changes under way in the transportation sector could begin lowering that emissions footprint. But will they reduce emissions enough? In a new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released April 4, 2022, scientists examined the ...
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Celebrity Crypto Scam Ads On Facebook – The ACCC Is Suing Meta Here’s Why The Tech Giant Could Be Found Liable
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BUSINESS

Celebrity Crypto Scam Ads On Facebook – The ACCC Is Suing Meta Here’s Why The Tech Giant Could Be Found Liable

On the last day of his 11 years as chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Rod Sims announced the commission is bringing a “world-first” claim against Meta (owner of Facebook) in the Federal Court for false or misleading conduct. The ACCC alleges Meta failed to take sufficient steps to stop displaying scam cryptocurrency ads on Facebook in 2019, even after receiving complaints. Sims said the ads led to more than A$650,000 in losses for one consumer. “Those visits to landing pages from ads generate substantial revenue for Facebook,” Sims said. Almost a decade ago, the ACCC failed in an arguably similar misleading conduct claim against Google. This time, however, the commission has some new arguments that focus on Facebook’s business of targeting ads at particu...
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What Employers Can Learn From The Great Resignation
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BUSINESS, IN OTHER NEWS

What Employers Can Learn From The Great Resignation

It’s a startling fact — people are quitting their jobs at a higher rate than normal. According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released in November of 2021, a record 4.5 million people resigned that month. You don’t have to look hard to find out why. A LinkedIn survey found that 74% of respondents said the pandemic was a wake-up call and more time at home led them to think twice about their current job. Some pointed to stress, while others cited general dissatisfaction. As someone who is hard-wired to find silver linings in every situation, no matter how dire, I think we as employers must accept there are lessons to be learned and work we can do to better support employees. 1) Embrace flexibility One thing we learned from the pandemic is we all have lives outside of the office. B...
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What Works And What Doesn’t With Affordable Housing In Pandemic Times
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BUSINESS, IN OTHER NEWS, VIDEO REELS

What Works And What Doesn’t With Affordable Housing In Pandemic Times

Two years of pandemic disruptions have put a spotlight on shortcomings in the U.S. housing market. Some of these shortcomings have their origins in federal and local policy decisions made decades ago. But there are also positive examples of cities making zoning decisions that work to create affordable housing. On Feb. 10, 2022, SciLine interviewed Emily Hamilton, an economist and senior research fellow and director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, about housing policy and how it affects who can afford to live in American cities. Emily Hamilton talks to SciLine about housing policy. Below are some highlights from the discussion. Please note that answers have been edited for brevity and clarity. How have pandemic-linked economic shifts affected hous...
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