News Bureau

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Your eyes play tricks. And your brain makes it worse.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - New research challenges a growing trend toward holding kids out of kindergarten until they're older, arguing that academic advantages are short-lived and come at the expense of delaying entry into the workforce and other costs.

A Minute With…™ Julian Reif, expert in health care economics

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Heidi M. Hurd was named the dean of the College of Law at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by the board of trustees at its meeting today (July 18) in Springfield.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Health educators and dietitians ought to be more precise the next time they advise Americans that "vegetables and fruit are good for you," according to a study by a nutritional expert at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The rise of managed health care has brought into focus a clash between federal and state jurisdiction over the regulation of health maintenance organizations, legal scholars at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign conclude.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - In spite of the broad scientific consensus about its existence, global warming remains a contentious public policy issue. Yet it's also an issue that requires a public consensus to support policies that might curb or counteract it.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A study co-written by a University of Illinois business professor shows that higher wages are associated with lower levels of employee theft, shedding light on the impact that compensation practices have on shaping employee honesty and ethical norms in organizations.

Credit screening as a condition of employment is a flawed practice that can result in discrimination against low-income and minority applicants, says research from Andrew Weaver, a professor of labor and employment relations at Illinois.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - During the industrial era, financial indicators were a company's primary measuring stick. But as the concept of sustainable development has gained relevance, a fundamental change in the assumptions underlying how businesses are measured has also started to take hold.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Businesses that look only at age to bridge generational gaps among workers risk losing knowledge to retirements, higher turnover and other productivity-clogging problems, new University of Illinois research has found.

The strike of more than 47,000 auto workers is a way of recouping some of what union members lost during the Great Recession, says Robert Bruno, a professor of labor and employment relations at the Urbana campus of the University of Illinois and the director of the Labor Education Program in Chicago.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A new analysis co-written by a University of Illinois expert in health care economics concludes that increases in the pace of medical innovation reduce overall physical risks to health, and thus function in a manner similar to an expansion of or improvement in the efficiency of health insurance markets.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Long mandatory minimum sentences or strong limits on judicial discretion can counter-productively reduce the incentives of prison inmates to engage in rehabilitative behavior, thereby raising recidivism rates, according to published research co-written by a University of Illinois economics professor.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A University of Illinois professor has started a grassroots program to help poor people in India improve their consumer and business skills.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The contrasting incentives of employers and employees under the Affordable Care Act ultimately may result in increased employee harassment and retaliation claims, two University of Illinois law professors say in a paper they co-wrote.

Schools adopting a test-to-stay program in which students were regularly tested for COVID-19 unless they proactively “opted out” of testing experienced an 84% higher testing rate and a 30% lower positivity rate than schools with a voluntary “opt-in” testing model, says a study co-written by Anton Ivanov and Ujjal Kumar Mukherjee, both professors of business administration at Illinois.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The return of LeBron James to the Cleveland Cavaliers may have riveted the sports world and social media, but the phenomenon of "going home," whether to a geographic location or a former job, is not unique to professional athletes.

A Minute With™... John Kindt, a professor emeritus  of business and legal policy

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Lawrence DeBrock, a noted economist and longtime University of Illinois professor and administrator, has been named dean of the university's College of Business, pending approval by the U. of I. Board of Trustees at its May 21 meeting in Chicago.

For tech company workers protesting sexual harassment in the workplace, there are few practical benefits to be gained from employers ending mandatory arbitration beyond an increased perception of procedural justice, says U. of I. labor professor Ryan Lamare.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Bruce P. Smith, a noted legal historian and award-winning University of Illinois law professor, has been named dean of the university's College of Law, pending approval by U. of I. trustees at their Jan. 15 meeting in Chicago.

A Minute With™... Werner Baer, a professor of economics

Companies often overlook the value of the comings and goings of their competitors’ ex-employees, says new research co-written by business administration professor Deepak Somaya.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A new study co-written by a University of Illinois expert in intellectual property law demonstrates that the value of creative works in the public domain such as books, images and music can be estimated at least as precisely as the value of commercially available copyrighted works.

President Biden has been heralded as the most pro-labor president ever, but the state of U.S. labor and the labor movement in 2023 is “very agitated,” reflecting decades of stagnant wage increases and deteriorating job quality, says Robert Bruno, a professor of labor and employment relations at Illinois.

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.

The U. of I. Flash Index fell again in January to 105.3 from its 105.5 level in December. As was the case last month, this is the lowest reading since March 2013 (104.7). This is consistent with data indicating a national economic slowdown.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - When a person living in the U.S. without legal permission or suspected of doing so is involved in a work-related lawsuit, most courts disregard their immigration status when determining remedies, says a study from a University of Illinois expert in labor relations.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 has served as the basis for the reform of many police departments in cities across the country, including Cincinnati, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. And in what's now seen as an increasingly likely next step, Ferguson, Missouri, will undergo its own Department of Justice-administered police reforms.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The increase in the speed of stock trading from microseconds to nanoseconds leads to an increase in order cancellation, but little else of value to investors and the public, says research by a University of Illinois business professor.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Companies that scale back advertising to weather the recession risk sales declines that could linger long after the economy rebounds, a University of Illinois marketing expert says.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Congress should ban employer stock from company-sponsored retirement plans to spare workers the risk of putting too much of their nest eggs in one basket, a new study by a University of Illinois legal expert says.

Consumers who highly identify with a brand take a dim view of the short-term renting of consumer goods via “branded access offers,” according to research co-written by Tiffany Barnett White, a professor of business administration at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an expert in consumer-brand relationships.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Sarbanes-Oxley Act - sometimes referred to as SOX - has come under heavy fire from business groups for adding to the cost of annual corporate audits. Another problem with the law is its encroachment on the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, according to an article in the University of Illinois Law Review.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A program established by a University of Illinois business professor looks to generate interest in higher education for underrepresented local high school students.

With dual-earner families increasingly becoming the norm, President Obama trumpeted the importance of "universal child care" in his State of the Union address - a pivot from previous years, when he advocated for universal pre-kindergarten.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Senior citizens not only drive more these days, but have sped past teenagers as the age group with the highest number of traffic accidents per mile.

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. - The rapid expansion of non-incorporated businesses, such as limited liability companies (LLCs) and limited liability partnerships (LLPs), raises questions ranging from government regulation to professional ethics, according to the latest issue of the University of Illinois Law Review.

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. - A law designed to combat police misconduct is hamstrung by limited resources, a lack of transparency and "political spillover" at the U.S. Department of Justice, says a recently published empirical study by Stephen Rushin, a law professor at the University of Illinois and expert in criminal law and policing.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Gambling addictions would soar and an already-sputtering economy could sink into ruin if Congress overturns a decades-old ban on Internet gambling, a University of Illinois professor and national gambling critic warns.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Ever wonder why CEOs at poorly performing companies continue to receive exorbitant pay packages? According to a study from a University of Illinois labor professor, firms that trumpet how much they value shareholders actually pay their CEOs more, regardless of the quality of their performance as executives.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Jon S. Davis has been appointed head of the department of accountancy and the R.C. Evans Endowed Chair in Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, pending approval by the U. of I. Board of Trustees.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Although development aid is commonly seen as an important tool in the quest to reduce poverty in conflict-riven countries, new research co-written by a University of Illinois expert in development economics concludes that large-scale foreign aid programs can backfire and actually exacerbate violence in some long-running conflicts.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - When Web surfers sign up for a new online service or download a Web application for their smartphone or tablet, the service typically requires them to click a seemingly innocuous box and accept the company's terms of service and privacy policy. But agreeing to terms without reading them beforehand can adversely affect a user's legal rights, says a new paper by a University of Illinois expert in technology and legal issues.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The U.S. Agriculture Department's mad cow disease-testing program is wholly inadequate and the agency's refusal to let processors do their own testing further undercuts the safety of American beef, a University of Illinois scholar writes.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Raising the minimum wage in Illinois to $10 per hour would reduce income inequality, increase consumer demand and grow the state economy, according to a new study from a University of Illinois labor expert.

More organizational learning was associated with design-related product recalls than with process-related recalls, says new research co-written by Gopesh Anand and Ujjal Kumar Mukherjee, both professors of business administration at Illinois.