Business & Entrepreneurship

Where machine learning meets spring planting and big data intersects with farming big and small, two Olin Business School researchers have devised a computational model so farmers and seedmakers could take the guesswork out of which particular variety of, say, soybean to plant each year.

Five Olin Business School students showed off their financial savvy and took first place in the “value investing” division of the prestigious Quinnipiac G.A.M.E. Forum last month in New York. 

Reviewing empirical and theoretical papers in the aftermath of the 2007-09 financial crisis, Olin Business School finance expert Anjan Thakor cites a twofold finding from his study. First, U.S. and European banks need to understand that insolvency was the issue that rocked the world, not liquidity; and second, the current standards for bank capital are all wrong and require adjustment.

A new study out of Olin Business School found that CFOs with oversized signatures — a proxy for narcissism — were more likely to make over-aggressive choices, have a higher-than-expected level of restatements and partake in other questionable activities.

The current volatility of the U.S. stock market is no cause for alarm, but a Washington University in St. Louis expert who helped to create a volatility index knows the difficulty in predicting if a fluctuation like the current one will subside quickly or slowly: “It is hard to time volatility spikes.”

As Americans begin to file their last returns under a fading tax system, as President Donald Trump concludes his first State of the Union with a great emphasis on the economy, as the world watches this country undergo tectonic changes, it’s time to cut through the politicking and positioning. Washington University in St. Louis compiled researchers and experts across campus to attempt to put the new tax reform into perspective, plainly speaking.

Overall, aspects of the tax-reform package will reduce the attractiveness of home ownership and mortgages, and it may even adversely affect home prices going forward.

Puerto Rico filed for bankruptcy protection May 3, the largest-ever American municipal debt restructuring in history. As the U.S. territory seeks forgiveness in $73 billion to assorted creditors, an expert at Washington University in St. Louis says the situation should serve as a dire wake-up call to the municipal bond market.

In a concentrated, continuing effort to link Washington University in St. Louis academic research to everyday business practice, the 10th annual Olin Award recognizes an Olin Business School faculty member who joined two University of Pennsylvania professors in crafting a computer model to guide managers who need to forecast behaviors of newly acquired customers.

Young entrepreneur Rebecca van Bergen improves lives around the globe by helping artisans find well-paying, long-term work through her company Nest.