Expert Q&A from Emory University, Goizueta Business School

A new study from professor Tom Smith at Emory University's Goizueta Business School finds that Georgia’s position as fourth in the presidential primary lineup could have a sizable economic impact on the state.

He says in the most likely scenario, which includes 11 Republican candidates and 1 Democratic candidate, he estimates an early presidential primary in Georgia could generate $1.12 billion and create more than 10,000 jobs.

$220 million of the overall projected gains and over 2,200 jobs come from direct economic benefit to the state’s economy as a result of campaign spending, wages earned, and new tax revenue. The impact would be spread across the entire state.

Over $900 million of the overall projected gains and 8,700 of the estimated jobs come in the form of potential ‘rewards’ for Georgia by a current candidate or future president who campaigned early in our state. The majority of this impact would be felt outside of the Metro Atlanta region.

In an effort to speed up baseball games and attract more fans, Major League Baseball has unveiled a new set of rules during Spring Training. The rules include a 30-second clock between batters, 15-seconds for pitchers to start their motion, players must be in the batter’s box with eight seconds left on the clock before running to their larger bases.

Research by Goizueta Sports Marketing Professor Mike Lewis finds that sports fandom is down and attracting Gen Z could be the key to attracting new fans. Lewis’ research shows younger people like sports with continuous action like soccer and esports. The pitch by baseball to make the game faster is an effort to attract a younger fan.

For the first time in five years, apartment prices have fallen for the past six months. Research from Apartment List shows the median rent in January was 3.4% less than the cost of the same apartment in August. The reasons include recent layoffs, rent prices forcing some to live with family and finally, the biggest delivery of new supply in over twenty years.

Rohan Ganduri, assistant professor of Finance at Goizueta Business School, explains why now is the time to negotiate renewals and while the decline is nice for renters, overall prices are still much higher than they were prior to the pandemic.

A recent study finds women in 2022 earned 17% less than men on average earning 82 cents for every dollar a man makes. The wage gap is even larger in women of color. The 2022 numbers come after the Covid-19 pandemic rise in unemployment. The study finds employment rates have not returned to pre-pandemic levels especially among women.

The wage gap also differs by job. Health care technicians, physical therapists, bartenders and some teachers had the smallest gender pay gap while real estate brokers, financial advisors and insurance agents had the largest gender pay gap.

Goizueta’s Melissa Williams has done extensive research on the gender pay gap. She is available to discuss these findings.

Chatbot GPT launched in December and has surpassed 100 million monthly users as of January -- surpassing the growth rates of Instagram and TikTok. The AI space is also growing as competition from leading tech firms like Google and Meta enter the space. The AI space is more than a computer writing term papers. Image generation is also a threat to businesses. Goizueta marketing professor David Schweidel can discuss what image generators mean to consumers and how the technology could impact pending lawsuits and compensation.