Business & Entrepreneurship

​Ten finalists in the 2014 Olin Cup Competition​ are offering novel solutions to real-world challenges and will vie for $70,000 in seed money to start a new company. The Olin Cup is sponsored by the Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Washington University in St. Louis.

Though the rhetoric in Washington, D.C., may seem to favor a push on progress, broad-based individual tax reform is not possible in the short term, though other opportunities for reform may still exist, says an expert on federal income tax and tax law at Washington University in St. Louis. Adam Rosenzweig, JD, discusses the possibility of tax reform in the lame-duck session.

While political and judicial rhetoric around unions has softened in recent years, images of the past still haunt labor, argue two Washington University in St. Louis researchers. In “Re-Assembling Labor,” published online Nov. 5 in Social Science Research Network, the authors seek to draw the lessons of assembly into contemporary labor law — to re-assemble labor law around the theory and doctrine of assembly that formed its early core.

With Republicans gaining control of Congress after the midterm elections, Speaker of the House John Boehner insists that President Barack Obama could get “burned” if he uses executive action to move forward on immigration reform during the remainder of his presidency. Obama is well within his rights to proceed with the temporary measures he is considering, says an immigration law expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

Election Day is difficult for many political candidates. But it’s no picnic for their supporters either. A new study co-authored by Olin Business School’s Lamar Pierce, PhD, shows just how tough election days can be. The study finds that winning elections barely improves the happiness of those from the winning political party.

To truly understand corporate law in America, the study must go through Delaware, long the favored state of incorporations for U.S. business. Washington University in St. Louis law students annually get a firsthand look at how these important courts operate through the eyes of Delaware Supreme Court and chancery judges who come to St. Louis to deliver lectures and seminars. The students also can work in the Delaware courts through corporate judicial externships and clerkships.

In the digital age in which we live, monitoring, security breaches and hacks of sensitive data are all too common. It has been argued that privacy has no place in this big data environment and anything we put online can and probably will be seen by prying eyes. In a new paper, noted Washington University in St. Louis privacy law expert Neil M. Richards, JD, makes the case that when properly understood, privacy rules will be an essential and valuable part of our digital future.

The business of sports, said Joseph S. Lacob (left), co-executive chairman and CEO of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, isn’t just fun and games. Future successful sports industry leaders must be innovative thinkers with a solid foundational business background, like the new minor in the business of sports at Olin Business School, a program he is helping launch with a $1 million gift.

This week’s announcement that HBO will begin offering new video streaming service without a cable subscription is likely to have significant impact on the television industry. And the ripple effect could happen fast, according to Raphael Thomadsen, PhD, associate professor of marketing in Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Recent revelations that NBC News’ chief medical correspondent violated an Ebola quarantine after returning from Africa, and that a Dallas health care worker infected with the virus boarded a commercial jet have focused the nation’s attention on Ebola and what can be done to protect citizens. While measures like quarantine do restrict the freedom of exposed individuals, they do so to protect the public’s health, says a Washington University in St. Louis expert on biomedical ethics.