Booth Links

I'm snowed in with nothing better to do than share my favorite articles involving current/former professors.  Who am I kidding?  I would be doing this anyway:

• THE NEW YORK TIMES.  Research by my Marketing professor, Ann McGill, and Sara Kim, a Booth Ph.D.   student, was featured in an article headlined “Feeling Powerful and Taking Risks,” published January 2.  In the study, one group of subjects was asked to recall a time when they felt powerful, and the other a time when they felt powerless.  Then the subjects looked at a picture of a slot machine, which had been rigged to look either human or nonhuman, and rated the riskiness of the game and their willingness to play.  The people who had been led to feel powerful were attracted by the humanoid machine and thought it lower in risk than the nonhumanoid machine, while the powerless people found the humanoid machine unattractive and risky.
• THE NEW YORK TIMES.  My Advanced Investments professor, John Cochrane, was quoted in an article headlined “Fed’s Crisis Investments Are Showing Big Returns,” published January 10.  Interest income from the Fed’s investment portfolio has produced record profits for the Fed for two consecutive years, the article said.  But over time, when economic conditions improve, the portfolio could become a risk, because the investments could lose value when interest rates eventually rise.  “From the taxpayers’ view, I think it is a mistake to make much of this number either way,” Professor Cochrane said.  “The Fed is acting like a huge hedge fund on our behalf.  It is borrowing at very low short-term rates and investing in long-term government bonds, mortgages and other risky loans.  It made a profit on those investments last year, but it is bearing a lot of risk.”
• U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT.   Research by my Managing in Organizations professor, Nicholas Epley, was featured in an article headlined “Close Relationships Sometimes Mask Poor Communication: People may think loved ones understand them better than they actually do,” published January 24.  “Our problem in communicating with friends and spouses is that we have an illusion of insight,” he said.  “Getting close to someone appears to create the illusion of understanding more than actual understanding.”
• THE TELEGRAPH (London).  More research by Nicholas Epley was featured in an article headlined “Couples Sometimes Communicate No Better Than Strangers,” published January 21.  “Our problem in communications with friends and spouses is that we have in illusion of insight,” he said.  “Getting close to someone appears to create the illusion of understanding more than actual understanding.”
• THE NEW YORK TIMES.  My Accounting professor, Christian Leuz, was quoted in an article about how Goldman Sachs’ purchase of Facebook shares looks like a way to circumvent a 1964 law that limits the number of shareholders in a private company.  “We’ve lowered the bar for certain types of investors that we felt need less protection,” Professor Leuz said in the January 5 article, referring to hedge fund and private equity investments.  “But maybe what we’ve learned in recent years after the financial crisis is that sophisticated doesn’t always mean high-net-worth.”
• FOX SMALL BUSINESS.COM.   My Taxes professor, Ira Weiss, was quoted in an article offering advice to entrepreneurs seeking capital.  “Create an advisory board and use it for contacts,” he said.  “Try to get people interested in what you are doing and ask them for guidance.  Pitch your idea to industry experts.  Favor business models that generate cash sooner.  Get external validation for your idea.   The best way is through creating a product or service and securing customers that can be references.  Finally, bootstrap, bootstrap, bootstrap.”   The article was published January 4.    Professor Weiss is faculty director of the Hyde Park Angels, an angel investing group.