This Week in Business

We're featuring a series this month called “2019: A Look Ahead” and continue with a look at the banking sector. Overall, banks have done well under the Trump administration that has worked on cutting regulations. But, some banks found themselves in trouble last year, such as the Deutsche Bank which was involved in a tax evasion scandal. With the economy still going strong, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates several times to make sure the economy doesn’t overheat and lead to more economic problems. This move has drawn criticism from President Trump who claims it's hurting the economy. Host Dan Loney speaks with Peter Conti Brown is an Assistant Professor of Business Studies and Legal Ethics at the Wharton school and Lisa Cook is an Associate Professor of Economics and International Relations at Michigan State University, to discuss what might be in store for the Fed and the banks in 2019 on Knowledge@Wharton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the partial government shutdown continues, American farmers who were already impacted by the trade war with China are now facing even more complications. The billions of dollars bailout they were promised to make up for losses due to the trade war are on hold. The offices of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) are closed, creating a backlog of loan applications, among other things. Host Dan Loney talks with Steffen Schmidt, Endowed Professor of Political Science at Iowa State University and Joseph Outlaw, Professor, Extension Economist, and Co-Director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University, to find out more about these shutdown repercussions on Knowledge@Wharton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A little over a week ago, Dr. Kevin Hassett, the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, commented on the Penn Wharton Budget Model (PWBM) analysis of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. That's the legislation that began in 2018 to cut taxes on corporations and most Americans. Dr. Hassett, speaking before the American Economic Association, disputed many of the claims made by the PWBM. The PWBM’s assessment of the impact of the tax cut plan included a slight increase in GDP and an increase in the Federal Deficit. Host Dan Loney talks with Richard Prisinzano, Senior Economist with the PWBM, who also spent 13 years in the Office of Tax Analysis at the Treasury Department, and Kimberly Burham, Managing Director of Legislation and Special Projects with the PWBM, to respond to the Chairman's criticism on Knowlege@Wharton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Christian Terwiesch talks with Tanya Thompson, Director of Global Product Acquisition at Hasbro, and Archit Bhargava, Head of Global Product Marketing at Niantic Inc., about the future of playing games, both physical and virtual, on Work of Tomorrow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2016, U.S. intelligence found evidence of foreign attempts to hack into the country’s electric grid - one of the most crucial parts of American infrastructure. The perpetrators planted malware on online publications they knew utility employees read and emailed resumes with tainted attachments to get into secured systems. Last year U.S. officials publicly blamed Russia's government for this cyberattack, and is now looking at severe penalties against outside entities who try to breach our power system. Host Dan Loney talks with The Wall Street Journal’s energy reporter Rebecca Smith about how she pieced together the steps the Russians took to be able to do all of this in a new investigative piece on Knowledge@Wharton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), which oversees the approval of new drugs and oversees around 80 percent of our food supply, is among the agencies that are impacted by this partial US government shutdown. Last Wednesday, FDA commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb announced routine inspections would be temporarily suspended as hundreds of agency inspectors have been furloughed. This raises the risk of contaminated food products turning up in stores, restaurants and other locations. So how worried should we be? Host Dan Loney is joined by Marion Nestle, Professor Emerita of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health at New York University as well as a Visiting Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University, and Craig Hedberg, Professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and co-director of the Minnesota Integrated Food Safety Center of Excellence, to discuss the implications of the shutdown and resulting food safety on Knowledge@Wharton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s day 24 of the partial government shutdown and so far there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight. Last week, dozens of aviation industry groups sent a letter to President Trump and congressional leaders yesterday urging an end to the partial government shutdown and stressing the harm it's doing to their industry. Transportation Security Officers (TSA), border protection agents, and air traffic controllers have been forced to work without pay, new planes and new air routes have been sidelined. TSA workers have been calling in sick, and unions report all air traffic controller training has been suspended. Host Dan Loney talks with Roger W. Clark, Founding Member and Managing Partner of The Clark Law Group, Dr. Clinton Oster, Professor Emeritus at Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and Jeffrey Price, Professor in the Department of Aviation and Aerospace Science at Metropolitan State University, to discuss more about these complications and how they have affected the consumers on Knowledge@Wharton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The partial US government shutdown has started to impact one aspect of Wall Street – the IPO market. The Securities and Exchange Commission has been partially closed, which means that companies planning to list shares on the stock market this month have to delay their plans. Host Dan Loney talks with David Zaring, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton school, and James Cox, a Law Professor who specializes in corporate and securities law at Duke University, on Knowledge@Wharton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It is now day 24 of the partial US government shutdown and so far there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight. We take a look back at President Donald Trump's speech last week for his first prime-time Oval Office address to the nation to make his case for a wall at the southern border with Mexico. The President said the partial shutdown of the government will continue until he receives the funding for a steel barrier and other border security measures. To look at this political move and the impact of the shutdown, Host Dan Loney is joined by Rogers Smith, Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania and President of the American Political Science Association, and Bill Schneider, Professor of Public Policy at the Schaefer School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, on Knowledge@Wharton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scott Cowen, President Emeritus and Distinguished University Chair of Tulane University, joins hosts Mike Useem and Anne Greenhalgh to discuss his 16-year tenure of leadership at Tulane, including navigating the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, on Leadership in Action. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.