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New research examining the economic impact of micromobility on local economies found shared e-scooter systems created an estimated $13.8 million in additional sales across 370 food and beverage companies in four cities over six months in 2019, as compared to four similar cities over the same time period without e-scooter programs. The study compared consumer purchase patterns in four cities that allowed operation of shared e-scooter systems – Atlanta, Austin, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. – to similar cities that did not at the time – Boston, Houston, Phoenix, and Seattle. The study used extensive econometric methods to uncover purchasing that was caused by e-scooter rides, which would not have occurred otherwise. “The post-COVID economic recovery remains slow, but this research shows we shouldn’t ignore the positive impact of micromobility on small businesses,” said Dan McCarthy, senior author of the study and assistant professor of marketing at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. “This is especially relevant for the food and beverage sector, a significant source of jobs, which is suffering sales declines larger than most other sectors of the economy.” The study uncovered e-scooter usage generated significant positive economic spillovers for the food and beverage industry purchasing in a similar way that consumers make impulse purchases at grocery stores – its effects are larger for businesses where the consumption happens more quickly, and businesses selling at lower prices. Across the cities studied with e-scooter programs, total sales in the food and beverage category increased by an estimated 0.6 percent on average, or approximately $921 in incremental spending per available e-scooter for the food and beverage companies over the six-month period studied in the analysis. “Since these companies represent approximately 15 percent of the overall food and beverage market in these cities, the actual impact could be much larger,” said McCarthy. “If, for instance, subsequent research confirmed a similar level of uptick across all food and beverage companies in these markets driven by micromobility, the overall full-year economic impact could be close to $200 million.” If you're interested in learning more - there's a full article published by Emory Business attached. And, if you're a journalist looking to cover this exciting and emerging topic - then let us help. Dan McCarthy is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Emory University's Goizueta School of Business. His research specialty is the application of leading-edge statistical methodology to contemporary empirical marketing problems. Dan is available to speak with media - simply click on his icon now to arrange an intwrview today.
What’s it all mean as ‘Big-Tech’ pivots to privacy? Let our Experts help explain if you are covering
The business of the internet as we know it, is about to change. As companies in the past have thrived, boomed, and found serious cash and success harvesting your data – that model may soon be coming to an end. With companies like Google and Apple leading the way, odds are a serious transformation is about to come and the know that notice has been served, it is getting a lot of attention. The decision, coming from the world’s biggest digital advertising company, could help push the industry away from the use of such individualized tracking, which has come under increasing criticism from privacy advocates and faces scrutiny from regulators. Google’s heft means the change could reshape the digital ad business, where many companies rely on tracking individuals to target their ads, measure the ads’ effectiveness, and stop fraud. Google accounted for 52% of last year’s global digital ad spending of $292 billion, according to Jounce Media, a digital ad consultancy. About 40% of the money that flows from advertisers to publishers on the open internet—meaning digital advertising outside of closed systems such as Google Search, YouTube, or Facebook—goes through Google’s ad buying tools, according to Jounce. March 03 – The Wall Street Journal. But what will this mean for powerhouses like Facebook or the multitude of apps and carriers who rely on data, and the money that comes with it to succeed? What lies ahead will be interesting, and if you are a journalist looking to cover this topic – then let our experts help. Vilma Todri is an Assistant Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. Previously, she worked for Google where she was developing integrated cross-platform advertising strategies for large business clients that partnered with Google and recently wrote a comprehensive paper on this very topic. Vilma is available to speak with media about this subject – simply click on her icon now to arrange an interview today.
Third grade literacy has improved in Michigan according to a new report on Michigan’s Read by Grade 3 law from Michigan State University’s Education Policy Innovation Collaborative, the strategic research partner of the Michigan Department of Education. Pre-pandemic literacy numbers are up – and that should be good news for students, parents and teachers all around. But will that trend sustain – and what do we all need to keep and eye on and do to ensure that success doesn’t slip? Katharine Strunk, director of the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative, or EPIC, and the Clifford Erickson Distinguished Professor of Education Policy at MSU’s College of Education was a key contributor in this report. “Third grade literacy has improved in Michigan, in particular for traditionally underserved students,” Strunk said. “This is a very good sign that many of the specific literacy supports and interventions in place in Michigan are working. While our study shows promising gains for some third graders, the COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtably set back educators’ efforts to implement evidence-based strategies to help early learners continue to build their literacy knowledge.” The study also found that educators already believed that interventions required by the Read by Grade 3 law are under-resourced, with a clear shortage of high-quality literacy coaches and educators, and disparities in the availability of effective literacy resources. “Overall, teachers and administrators in Michigan believe that literacy coaches are effective in helping teachers to improve their literacy instruction,” said Tanya Wright, co-author of the report and associate professor of language and literacy in the Department of Teacher Education at MSU’s College of Education. “However, because of limited funding for coaches, many schools and teachers do not have access to literacy coaches, and this limited access seems to be even more of a challenge in traditionally underserved schools and districts.” A full article containing the key details and metrics of this report is attached – and it is worthwhile reading for anyone looking to know more about the state of education in Michigan. And, if you are a journalist looking to cover this report or have questions about education – then let us help with your coverage. Katharine Strunk is a professor of education policy and the Clifford E. Erickson Distinguished Chair in Education at Michigan State University. Katherine is available to speak to media regarding this issue, simply click on her icon now to arrange an interview today.
What We Can Learn From Celebrating Irish-American Heritage Month
About two weeks ago, President Joseph Biden declared March 2021 Irish-American Heritage Month. In an official statement, the president said, "We owe a debt of gratitude to the Irish-American inventors and entrepreneurs who helped define America as the land of opportunity... The fabric of modern America is woven through with the green of the Emerald Isle." As the director of the Center for Irish Studies at Villanova University, an institution founded by Irish Augustinians to educate the children of Irish immigrants, Joseph Lennon, PhD, agrees. He hopes to use this presidential declaration as an opportunity to expand the conversation around what it means to be of Irish descent beyond wearing green and watching the annual St. Patrick's Day parade. The way Dr. Lennon sees it, "there is much more to Irish America than a parade and parties." With such a rich history of Irish immigrants and their descendants living in and contributing to the development of the United States, Dr. Lennon sees March 2021 as an important time to reflect on the "contributions and travails of this ethnicity" in a way that reaches beyond "silly slogans and marketing schemes." He reminds us, "there are over 30 million Irish Americans. The Irish contributed massively to the infrastructure of industrial America and later to the civil, education and business worlds—not to mention the Catholic Church." Dr. Lennon also hopes this month will help redefine the larger notion of what it looks like to be Irish and American. He notes that "38% of African Americans have Irish ancestry," but acknowledges that "this is a complicated issue," since in some cases this may stem from abuses suffered during the American practice of slavery. It is important conversations like these that Dr. Lennon wants to bring to light during Irish-American Heritage Month, and he stresses that "more research is needed into understanding this history—as well as the unions between Irish immigrants and northern-bound African Americans during the late nineteenth century." Per Dr. Lennon, these historical events are tied to our present day. He sees a need for "the level of recent racist attachments to Irishness... to be confronted with historical knowledge and anti-racist understandings." With such important issues in mind, Dr. Lennon wants to impart that "the Irish diaspora is global and diverse and Irish culture runs much more deeply and broadly in America than we might guess by just attending the St. Patrick's Day celebrations." He adds, "I'm curious to see if the conversation continues past St. Patrick's Day this year." Despite most St. Patrick’s Day events and programs being virtual in 2021, there are many opportunities to celebrate Irish-American heritage this year. At Villanova, the Center for Irish Studies is hosting a virtual St. Patrick's Day Celebration called "Links Across the Atlantic" on Wednesday, March 17, from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. This free celebration will include live entertainment segments, from an Irish breakfast tutorial with study abroad director Mary Madec to lunchtime laughs with actor Johnny Murphy, and will culminate with a streamed Irish music fèis (or festival) in partnership with Tune Supply, featuring We Banjo 3, the Friel Sisters and One for the Foxes! For more information or to register for this event, please click here.
Why online recommendations make it easier to hit “buy”
When it is time to buy something online, perhaps a coffee maker, you might head to Amazon and browse items for sale. One particular model might spark interest. The product page may contain recommendations for other goods: complementary products such as coffee filters; or recommendations for different, competitor coffee maker brands offering unique features and prices. E-commerce websites commonly use product recommendations — called co-purchase and co-view recommendations — to keep users locked into the sales funnel and increase customer retention. But what impact do these types of recommendations actually have on consumers? How do they influence one’s willingness to pay for the original product searched? In fact, the level of influence depends on how close a consumer is to making that purchase, says Jesse Bockstedt, associate professor of information systems & operations management at Emory’s Goizueta Business School. In addition, what type of recommendation the consumer sees plays a role in purchasing as well. To shed empirical light on this, Bockstedt teamed with Mingyue Zhang from the Shanghai International Studies University. “We were curious. We knew that recommendation systems are integral to how consumers discover products online – a good 35 percent of Amazon sales can be attributed to recommendations, for instance,” Bockstedt says. “But we knew a lot less about how recommendations change consumer behavior in relation to a focal product.” Specifically, the researchers were interested in looking at the effect of complementary versus substitutable products, and what impact the price of these types of products had on consumer behavior. They also wanted to know whether these effects were more or less amplified depending on whether consumers were at the exploratory phase in the buying process or ready to go ahead and make the purchase. To unpack the dynamics at play, Bockstedt and Zhang ran two experiments that simulated the online purchasing experience. The researchers had volunteers go through the process of evaluating different products and then report back on how much they were willing to pay for each. “We asked volunteers to look at a product page for a computer mouse, and we randomly assigned different recommendations to that page – some that were for other mice, and others that were for goods and products that would complement the original mouse. Going through the experiment, we also manipulated the price that volunteers saw on different pages, both for the recommended substitute and complementary products,” he says. “Finally, we looked at the effect of timing and the sales funnel. In one case we had volunteers look for a highly specific mouse and recommended a particular product page to them. To simulate the more exploratory phase, we gave them many pages and asked them to click on the one they found most interesting.” In total, Bockstedt and Zhang put 200+ volunteers through the replica virtual purchasing experience and recorded their willingness to pay the advertised price for the focal product on scale of 0 to 100, depending on what they had seen and the point in the sales funnel they had seen the recommendations. If you are looking to learn more about this research and the results, Emory has a full article published for reading and review. If you are a journalist looking to cover this topic or if you are simply interested in learning more, then let us help. Jesse Bockstedt, associate professor of information systems and operations management at Emory’s Goizueta Business School. He is available to speak with media, simply click on his icon now – to book an interview today.
Fewer cars, but more fatalities - What's happening on America's pandemic roadways
Fewer vehicles are traveling on America's roadways during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but the number of fatal car crashes in 2020 increased exponentially compared to the same time period in 2019. UConn expert Eric Jackson, a research professor and director of the Connecticut Transportation Safety Research Center, and behavioral research assistant Marisa Auguste examined the increase in a recent essay published by The Conversation: Curious about traffic crashes during the pandemic, we decided to use our skills as a social scientist and a research engineer who study vehicle crash data to see what we could learn about Connecticut’s traffic deaths when the stay-at-home orders first went into place last March. A partnership between the Department of Transportation, local hospitals and the University of Connecticut discovered what many people intuitively knew: Traffic volume and multivehicle crashes fell significantly during the stay-at-home order. Statewide, daily vehicle traffic fell by 43% during the stay-at-home order compared to earlier in the year, while mean daily counts of multivehicle crashes decreased from 209 before the stay-at-home order to 80 during lockdown. What was unexpected, however, was the significant increase in single-vehicle crashes, especially fatal ones. During the stay-at-home period, the incidence rate of fatal single-vehicle crashes increased 4.1 times, while the rate of total single-vehicle crashes was also up significantly. Data about all crash types in the state, whether single- or multivehicle, tell a similar story. Although preliminary, police reports have placed the 2020 year-end total for traffic deaths at 308, a 24% increase from 2019. While the researchers said that it's unclear why this counterintuitive increase in fatalities on the roads has occurred, their advice to drivers? "Check your speed" and "don't drive angry." If you are a journalist looking to know more about this topic, let us help. Simply click on Eric Jackson’s icon to arrange an interview today.
Ten Years Later: Japan Society Remembers the Great East Japan Earthquake (3.11)
To Mark the 10th Anniversary of the Triple Disaster, Japan Society Will Present Programming Reflecting Upon the Aftermath, Recovery and Spirit of Resiliency After the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster devastated the Tohoku region of northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011 (3.11), Japan Society's Japan Earthquake Relief Fund (JERF) raised over $14 million from more than 24,600 donors from all 50 U.S. states and 55 countries, the largest amount raised by a nonprofit not specializing in disaster and emergency relief and the 7th largest fundraising campaign by a U.S. nonprofit organization. Through a series of events and videos leading up to the 10-year anniversary of 3.11, Japan Society invites our community to remember those who were lost, and to look toward Tohoku’s continued recovery. We also extend our sincere appreciation to all who donated to the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund (JERF), which was launched by Japan Society the day after the tragic events of 3.11. Since 2011, JERF has funded more than 65 grant projects and 45 organizations supporting Tohoku’s immediate relief and reconstruction efforts as well as the mid- to long-term recovery of these communities. In 2021, Japan Society has earmarked the remaining funds to support additional projects facilitating community-building and economic recovery in disaster-hit areas where challenges have become further exacerbated by the onset of the global pandemic and additional disasters that most recently struck the region on February 13. More information on these organizations and projects is available here. To mark the 10th anniversary of the triple disaster, Japan Society will report back on how JERF grants have contributed to Tohoku’s recovery, and highlight stories of what was witnessed in the aftermath of 3.11, including Tohoku’s resiliency, the bravery and initiative of all who responded to unprecedented challenges, the strength of U.S.-Japan relations, and the spirit of human generosity and goodwill. As we remember and draw lessons from the events of 3.11, we hope to nurture hope for the future of Tohoku and the world. “2021 is a year to reflect on resilience and recovery as we navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and remember not just the tragedy of 3.11, but the strength of the Japanese people and the generosity of the world in its aftermath,” said Japan Society President and CEO Joshua W. Walker, Ph.D. “As we mark the 10-year anniversary of these events, we honor those who were lost, and extend our gratitude to the individuals and organizations who offered their support, including the donors to our relief fund.” Events include a contemporary theater performance “Ludic Proxy: Fukushima,” held live on March 6, 7 & 11 and available on demand from March 12 - 16. This video adaptation of Brooklyn-based theater-maker Aya Ogawa’s play Ludic Proxy follows a woman visiting her older sister, who lives on the outskirts of the Fukushima nuclear evacuation zone. The interactive play, which features a unique element of audience participation, explores the theme of human survival in the face of disaster. Taking advantage of our expertise in bringing together American and Japanese experts, a live U.S.-Japan symposium on March 9, 7-9pm EST, “Resilience & Recovery: A U.S.-Japan Dialogue Ten Years after 3.11”, will feature leading voices from Tohoku, Japan and the U.S. to discuss lessons learned from 3.11 on resilience and recovery from catastrophes. The symposium will be co-hosted with JERF recipient, ETIC., a Japanese nonprofit dedicated to nurturing social entrepreneurs and recovery efforts in Tohoku. As its first exhibition upon reopening to the public, Japan Society will also present When Practice Becomes Form: Carpentry Tools from Japan opening on March 11th. The exhibition celebrates the resilient spirit of Japanese architecture and craftsmanship through woodworking tools, architectural patterns, and models. The site-specific exhibition design, conceived by the esteemed architect Sou Fujimoto in collaboration with Brooklyn-based Popular Architecture, introduces major themes from the exhibition and is in dialogue with the gallery’s spaces, highlighting an enduring connection between traditional Japanese wooden construction and modern architecture. Viewing is available every Thursday through Sunday with advance timed-entry ticket reservations online. Further digital features include: Testimonials on the impact of JERF’s support from recipients and participants in fund-supported programs; A special season of Japan Society’s Tea Time series featuring six short interviews with key leaders from the U.S. and Japan including former U.S. Ambassador John V. Roos and retired General Ryoichi Oriki on their responses and lessons learned from the disaster; Dialogues between social entrepreneurs from Tohoku and their counterparts in New Orleans, LA and Wilmington, OH to discuss their work in using data, nurturing social entrepreneurship, and rebuilding communities recovering from natural disasters and economic crisis. These conversations feature alumni from “U.S.-Japan Leaders Exchange: Three-Year Training & Networking Program for Leaders in Tohoku’s Recovery and Reconstruction,” a multi-year program organized by Japan Society and ETIC from 2013-16. For a full list of programs and more information about JERF and the fund recipients, visit the Japan Society webpage. About Japan Society Founded in 1907, Japan Society in New York City presents sophisticated, topical and accessible experiences of Japanese art and culture, and facilitates the exchange of ideas, knowledge and innovation between the U.S. and Japan. More than 200 events annually encompass world-class exhibitions, dynamic classical and cutting-edge contemporary performing arts, film premieres and retrospectives, workshops and demonstrations, tastings, family activities, language classes, and a range of high-profile talks and expert panels that present open, critical dialogue on issues of vital importance to the U.S., Japan and East Asia. Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street between First and Second avenues (accessible by the 4/5/6 and 7 subway at Grand Central or the E and M subway at Lexington Avenue). www.japansociety.org
Telecommuting Expert Predicts Permanent Changes to Work After the Pandemic
With the sudden shift to remote work brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, many corporations have had to quickly assemble a patchwork of policies, procedures, and technologies. Timothy Golden, a professor in the Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, foresees that many companies will adopt remote work on a permanent basis, and need to devote considerable attention and focus to systematically assessing the lessons they have learned. Golden is a leading expert in the field of telecommuting, telework, and the relationship between technology and managerial behavior. With more than 20 years of experience studying the impact of remote work on corporations and individuals, Golden’s insights about the future are rooted in a deep understanding of the history of remote work. In the wake of the pandemic, Golden envisions companies adding a Chief Remote Work Officer, who is responsible for maintaining the effectiveness of the company’s remote work program, to their C-Suite. This person will likely be a boundary spanner who garners resources and support from across silos in the company to ensure remote work remains effective in its long-term implementation. With the continuing importance of remote work, the Chief Remote Work Officer will need a seat at the executive table to ensure it receives the attention it needs. With remote work becoming even more firmly engrained in corporate cultures, Golden expects changes in the ways employees interact. With large numbers of employees continuing to work remotely, employees will expect support for this work mode in many forms — from promotion opportunities and performance metrics, to mentoring and technology support. Another implication of remote work going forward is that the demand for real estate will change, and companies will see real estate as platforms for collaborative work, rather than simply for work. With a significant permanent portion of the workforce likely to remain as remote workers, companies will be able to scale back their real estate yet also reallocate existing spaces to ones that are used for more collaborative interactions, rather than simply offices for individualized working. Golden is available to speak about these and other aspects of the future of remote work, as well as specific lessons he has learned through decades of studying this topic.
Personality matters: the tie between language and how well your video content performs
Why does one piece of online video content perform better than another? Does it come down to its relevance, production values, and posting and sharing strategies? Or are other dynamics at play? There are plenty of theories about what, when and how to post if you want to drive the performance of your video. But new research by Goizueta’s Rajiv Garg, associate professor of information systems and operations management, sheds empirical and highly nuanced new light on the type of language to inject in a content if you really want to accelerate consumption. And it turns out that a lot of it depends on personality. Together with Haris Krijestorac of HEC Paris and McCombs’ Maytal Saar-Tsechansky, Garg has run a large-scale study, analyzing the words spoken and used in speech-heavy videos posted to YouTube, and then organizing those words by personality – how they “score” in terms of the so-called Big Five personality traits. “The Big Five is a system or taxonomy that has been used by psychologists and others since the 1980s to organize different types of personality traits. These traits are extroversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism,” says Garg. “In previous research into video content performance, we’ve looked into mechanisms such as posting and re-posting on different channels and how they impact the virality of one video over another. But we were intrigued by the role of language and how different words map to these personality traits, which in turn might have an impact on user emotion or response.” Emory has this entire comprehensive article that includes more details on the Big Five and it is available for reading here: If you are a journalist looking to cover this topic – then let our experts help with your story. Rajiv Garg from Emory’s Goizueta Business School is available to speak with media – simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.
A federal budget is coming soon – and as Canada is still stuck in the grips of COVID-19 and the thin ice its economy is still walking on, it is expected sooner or later, the tab will have to be paid and that bill will be satisfied with taxes. Recently, Don Scott, Director of Tax Services at Welch wrote an insightful piece where he lends his many years of wisdom, experience and perspective to share what he thinks will be how Canada’s federal government digs itself out of what has been more than a year of bills and bailouts. In his piece, he looks at whether or not the government will raise such revenue streams as: corporate and business tax rates personal income taxes capital gains principle residence redemptions and even the GST It’s required reading for anyone interested in the finances of the federal government – and if you are a journalist looking to cover this topic, then let us help. Don Scott is the Director of Tax Services at Welch and is a nationally recognized expert for his extensive knowledge in the area of Personal and Corporate Tax Planning. Don is available to speak with media regarding the upcoming budget, to arrange an interview today – simply click on his icon now.
