Business and Economics

Whether your companions are overweight or skinny and how much they put on their plates can greatly influence how much you eat. --by Debbie Freeman

As of right now, some 85 percent of the permits that will give utilities and other organizations the right to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere are going to be given away free of charge. Is that allocation scheme in the best interest of U.S. citizens?

For the first time since 2007, Phoenix-area home prices increased from one month to the next, indicating that the worst may be over in the housing decline. --by Debbie Freeman

Phoenix-area housing prices are declining at a slower rate than earlier this year, indicating that the worst is over for falling home values, a new ASU study has found. --by Hal Mattern

Prepare to see more advertising when you go to the movies. Research shows product placement in films boosts stock prices, with a couple of interesting exceptions. --by Debbie Freeman

How do we decide what kinds of water conservation measures to implement when we don't know what future precipitation, temperatures, or population will be? Craig Kirkwood helps people make decisions when conditions are uncertain. --by Diane Boudreau

ASU professors have pooled their intellectual resources to formally tackle some of the developing world's most intractable problems. The result is a social entrepreneurship program called GlobalResolve. --by Adelheid Fischer

What makes some people natural leaders? Business professor Pierre Balthazard believes it's all in their heads, and he's working with neuroscientists to look into the brain and find out how. --by Jessica McCann

Thousands of Americans die from preventable medical errors each year, with the number of deaths equivalent to a jumbo jet crash once a day. But in spite of the safety benefits, many hospitals are slow to embrace potentially life-saving information technology systems. --by Debbie Freeman

As top news headlines trumpet American economic woes, U.S. presidential candidates struggle to reassure panicked investors. But how exactly does the economy influence voting behavior? Researchers are finding out.