Debt Crisis: Similarities, Differences and Lessons Learned from the U.S. and Europe
In 2008, the credit crisis in the United States propelled shock waves across the Atlantic to Europe. Europe’s current debt crisis could send damaging waves crashing onto America's shores as well, according to international finance experts at the W. P. Carey School of Business. In wide-ranging interviews, these experts discussed the threat the European crisis poses to the United States, how the U.S. crisis may have contributed to Europe's woes, and whether European leaders are even now recognizing the lessons of the US experience.

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Can Medicare Patients Decipher Prescription Benefit?
Part D, the federal government’s prescription drug insurance program for Medicare enrollees, relies on competition between private insurers to create savings for consumers. This “managed competition” model offers consumers dozens of coverage options with the goal of enabling them to reduce unnecessary out of pocket expenses. Critics of the plan have argued that Part D is too complicated and confusing for its target audience of senior citizens, especially those with dementia. The issue created an opportunity for researcher Jonathan Ketcham, an associate professor in the marketing department of the W. P. Carey School of Business, to look at one of the deep questions in marketing, economics, psychology and public policy: can consumers make sound decisions, or would greater government restrictions make people better off?

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Giving and Receiving Feedback: Conducting a Productive Formal Review
When it’s time for that periodic formal review, do you know how to make the session effective? Minu Ipe, clinical associate professor of management and faculty director of the W. P. Carey MBA Evening Program, explains that there are four steps to success: identify your objective, prepare, deliver and follow up.

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U.S. Job Growth Slow But Steady

The nation added 103,000 new nonfarm jobs in September, according to the latest report from the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Almost as important as the September employment increase was the size of the recent revisions that now put the average monthly gain for the third quarter at 96,000 jobs, similar to the average monthly 97,000 jobs added during the second quarter. Taken as a whole, job growth during the past six months continues a pattern of slow but steady positive economic expansion.

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Gary Dirks: Shedding Light on Energy Sources
Gary Dirks, former president of BP Asia-Pacific and BP China, is currently director of LightWorks, an Arizona State University initiative that capitalizes on ASU’s strength in solar energy and other light-inspired research. In a recent speech at the Economic Club of Phoenix, Dirks talked about the potential for expanding the energy supply by utilizing the power of light. The Economic Club of Phoenix at the W. P. Carey School of Business promotes discussion of economic and business issues among academic, business, labor and public sectors in the Phoenix area.

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The Economic Minute: Cloudy with a Chance of Thunderstorms
The Economic Minute is a snapshot of the economy in Arizona and across the U.S. delivered by an expert from the W. P. Carey School of Business at the beginning of Economic Club of Phoenix luncheons. At the October event, Dean Robert Mittelstaedt described current conditions – an environment where it’s possible for the stock of two companies whose customers are at opposite ends of the income spectrum to reach record highs the same week.

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