News Bureau

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Price spikes for gasoline, grain and other commodities could be magnified if lawmakers curb speculative trading in futures markets, according to a new study released today in conjunction with this weekend's G20 summit.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A deal that ended a three-month strike by Hollywood writers also scored a rare victory for unions by giving workers a financial stake in new technology, a University of Illinois labor expert says.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A hole in public policy is shortchanging U.S. soldiers and civilian workers who become casualties of a new-age war strategy that leans heavily on private contractors, a new University of Illinois study says.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Sharon L. Allen, the chairman of the board of Deloitte & Touche USA, one of the nation's leading accounting and consulting firms, will talk about leadership and integrity Thursday (March 30) as the 2006 Leighton Lecturer on Ethics and Leadership at the University of Illinois' College of Business.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Democratic Party control in Washington could restore lawsuits as an option for workers and consumers now forced to settle disputes through mandatory arbitration that gives employers and businesses an unfair edge, a University of Illinois labor law expert says.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Lessons from the Great Depression are likely guiding an unprecedented wave of government bailouts now propping up American International Group Inc. and other cash-strapped financial firms, a University of Illinois economist says.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The move from physical objects to digital technology in the art world has created a thorny set of legal questions centered on how artists can protect their work from unauthorized use, manipulation or even destruction.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Jean Tirole, scientific director of the Institut d'Economie Industrielle in France, will deliver the David Kinley Lecture in Economics at 3:30 p.m. April 15 (Friday) in 134 Temple Hoyne Buell Hall Auditorium, 611 E. Lorado Taft Drive, Champaign.

Lack of paid sick time makes the U.S. acutely susceptible to a global health crises like COVID-19, and is part of the larger problem of tying health care to employment, says U. of I. labor expert Robert Bruno.

A Minute With™... consumer credit and bankruptcy expert Robert M. Lawless

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Most consumers crave a clear understanding of brand images, making them more receptive to new marketing messages if anything clouds their vision of companies or products, according to a new study by a University of Illinois marketing expert.

A Minute With™... Gary D. Schnitkey, an agricultural economist

A Minute With™... Amit Kramer, a professor of labor and employment relations

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - What Hollywood studios call censorship and copyright infringement, software companies call freedom and parental choice. Any wonder that the legal issues raised by new film software is winding up in the courts and before Congress?

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois College of Business is launching two new scholarship programs to help Central Illinois residents struggling amid a deep and lingering economic downturn, officials announced Thursday.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A team of University of Illinois economics students will compete Nov. 10 in the district finals of the College Fed Challenge, a national contest promoting the Federal Reserve's role in the U.S. economy.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Hans Brems, a University of Illinois professor who helped popularize the use of mathematics as a tool of modern economics, died Sept. 16 at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana. He was 84.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Another crippling financial crisis looms unless the U.S. government thaws credit markets that are starting to freeze up amid a lingering and deepening recession, a University of Illinois economist warns.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - After the precipitous drop in crude oil prices over the past nine months, some policymakers in Illinois have advocated raising the state's excise tax on gasoline, which has remained unchanged at 19 cents per gallon since 1990.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The economy in Illinois may have finally emerged from the depths of the Great Recession, but it hasn't rebounded fast enough to reach pre-recessionary levels of output, wages and employment, according to a new study from a University of Illinois labor expert.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Painful but inevitable Social Security and Medicare reforms will be difficult to sell because years of partisan wrangling have clouded the public's grasp of the programs' dire financial problems, a former government economic adviser warns.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Although the effects of the controversial health care reform act will be somewhat muted for many older Americans, it will inevitably have enough of an impact that seniors will discover that there is plenty to like and dislike about the law, a University of Illinois expert on elder law cautions in published research.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The 2007 Transmission Business School will take place June 4-7 at the Illini Center, 200 S. Wacker Drive, Chicago. This marks the 14th offering of the annual course on electricity markets and the transmission business.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will team with the Edison Electric Institute to offer a 3 1/2-day course on the rapid changes in electricity markets and the transmission business.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will offer a course for industry specialists on electricity transmission and power markets June 14-17.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A gut-level connection with workers may be the key to encouraging whistle-blowing that could chip away at an estimated $652 billion lost to fraud annually by U.S. businesses, an ongoing University of Illinois study suggests.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - It's still an open question if companies will drop employee health care benefits in 2014 in favor of the government-sponsored insurance exchanges created by President Obama's health care overhaul, says a University of Illinois elder law expert.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A repeat of a corporate tax holiday that found little success in stimulating the economy in 2005 is still a long-shot to jump-start a stagnant U.S. economy, says a University of Illinois expert in corporate and international taxation.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Pulling the plug on a government-backed stimulus plan once the U.S. economy rebounds is as important as launching one now, a University of Illinois economist says.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Don't blame just Hurricane Katrina for leaving New Orleans in shambles or single out wildfires for thousands of homes reduced to rubble this year across southern California, a University of Illinois law professor says.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Just over a year ago, the U.S. ethanol industry was still in overdrive, fueling a wave of new factories to keep pace with surging demand for the corn-based gasoline additive.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Ethanol helped drive two years of record profits for grain farmers, but also will hold income down during a looming recession that has already sliced crop prices in half, a University of Illinois economist says.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Exclusive licensing deals are a two-way safety net that fosters cooperation as new product ideas weave their way toward the marketplace, according to new research led by a University of Illinois business strategy expert.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The impact and possibilities of e-commerce in everyday business are among the themes of the 25th anniversary symposium of the University of Illinois Executive MBA Program.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Congress should step in to regulate performance-enhancing drugs in professional sports because players and owners lack incentive to effectively police themselves, former NFL tight end Josh Whitman says.

With popularly elected judges, political influence pervades and taints Illinois courts, said U. of I. legal expert Michael LeRoy.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Shifting the publication of academic journals away from a private, for-profit model could save universities big bucks in the long term while also keeping the marketplace of ideas fully stocked, says a University of Illinois economist.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - In the wake of financial crises, governments that wish to assist crisis victims must choose between publicly financed bailouts and "bail-ins," which use the law to retroactively modify agreements in favor of victims so that private resources support the victims. While bail-ins are politically appealing and may seem fair, a University of Illinois business and law expert argues that they amplify the highs and lows of future business cycles and undermine the policy goals of those who believe free markets allocate investments optimally, as well as those who prefer government guidance in allocating investments.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -The recent settlement of claims by BP from the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster of 2010 is a step in the right direction, but it won't solve the most pernicious problem of the entire debacle - corporate greed, says a University of Illinois expert in maritime law and corporate and government relations.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. –The recent settlement of claims by BP from the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster of 2010 is a step in the right direction, but it won’t solve the most pernicious problem of the entire debacle – corporate greed, says a University of Illinois expert in maritime law and corporate and government relations.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A so-called "Buffett Rule" that would create a higher minimum tax rate for those with income greater than $1 million per year would have little effect on the taxes of the real-life Warren Buffett unless it takes capital gains into account, says a University of Illinois expert on taxation.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The gross receipts tax proposed by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, while a welcome step in tackling the state's budget shortfall, is a flawed approach to taxation, according to a University of Illinois expert.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Cloud computing is a game-changer for businesses, which now face the choice of adapting to the demand for ubiquitous access to data or losing customers to tech-savvy competitors, says a University of Illinois expert in e-business strategy and information technology management.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - For every technological breakthrough that spawns new industry giants such as Microsoft or Intel, old-guard companies wither or die, according to an evolutionary theory of capitalism embraced for well over a half-century.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Although major battles over spending cuts and raising the federal debt limit have been punted for another two months, the fiscal-cliff bill passed by Congress settles most of the significant tax issues that would have an immediate and direct impact on the average taxpayer's pocketbook, a University of Illinois expert on taxation and retirement issues says.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A combination of more federal revenue and less government spending is imperative in order to avoid pushing an already weak economy over the edge, warns a University of Illinois business professor.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Archaic corporate governing systems that failed to ferret out risky business deals helped stoke the nation's deepest financial meltdown since the Great Depression, a University of Illinois business law expert says.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - As the collegiate sports world awaits a federal judge's ruling in O'Bannon v. NCAA, the sport's governing body ought to be prepared to lose, as trial courts in the 9th Circuit are more "player-friendly" than trial courts in all other circuits, according to a statistical analysis from a University of Illinois expert in labor relations and collective bargaining in athletics.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A historic capital punishment case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court could extend a de facto moratorium that has already halted executions for more than five months, a University of Illinois death penalty expert says.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Instead of increasing income taxes on its citizens, the cash-strapped state of Illinois should look to dramatically raise casino licensing fees, which are conservatively calculated to be worth between $250 million and $500 million apiece, not the $100,000 they were valued at in the gambling expansion bill recently voted down in Springfield, says a leading national gambling critic.