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  • U. of I. scholars collecting, analyzing constitutions from around world

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Thomas Jefferson believed that a country's constitution should be rewritten every 19 years. Instead, the U.S. Constitution, which Jefferson did not help to write (he was in Paris serving as U.S. minister to France when the Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia), has prevailed since 1789.

  • U. of I. advertising professor John Wirtz found that sex doesn’t sell in advertising the way many assume it does.

    Research suggests sexual appeals in ads don’t sell brands, products

    Sexy ads stick in the memory more but don’t sell the brand or product, according to research that analyzed nearly 80 advertising studies published over three decades.

  • Photo of Yilan Xu, a professor of agricultural and consumer economics at Illinois

    Paper: Homeownership a ‘dream deferred’ for millennial generation

    Millennials face significant hurdles in their quest for homeownership, said Yilan Xu, a professor of agricultural and consumer economics at Illinois and co-author of a new paper examining homeownership trends among those born between 1980-2000.

  • The government could save money and make air travel safer by offering free enrollment in TSA PreCheck to frequent travelers, according to a new study by Illinois computer science professor Sheldon H. Jacobson.

    TSA could save money by waiving PreCheck fees for frequent travelers, study finds

    There could be an easy way to reduce lines at the airport, increase security, and save the Transportation Security Administration money, according to a new study by University of Illinois researchers: waive the $85 fee for frequent fliers to enroll in the TSA PreCheck program, which allows pre-screened, verified travelers to go through expedited security at airports.

  • Laws about pregnant women and substance abuse questioned

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - In Wisconsin, an expectant woman can be taken into custody if police believe her abuse of alcohol may harm her unborn child. In South Dakota, pregnant alcohol and drug users can be committed to treatment centers for up to nine months.

  • Photo of Maria A. Rodas

    What explains the continuing appeal of Super Bowl advertisements?

    The Super Bowl remains one of the few programs where people aren’t skipping the ads, says a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign business professor and consumer marketing expert.

  • There is a "highly significant relationship" between law students' math skills and the substance of their legal analysis, according to research from Arden Rowell, a professor of law and the Richard W. and Marie L. Corman Scholar at Illinois.

    Research: Poor math skills affect legal decision-making

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The stereotype of lawyers being bad with numbers may persist, but new research by two University of Illinois legal scholars suggests that law students are surprisingly good at math, although those with low levels of numeracy analyze some legal questions differently.

  • Implementing "surge pricing" during rush hour or taxing the number of miles a vehicle traveled might be better than raising the gas tax, says a policy brief co-written by U. of I. economists Don Fullerton and Julian Reif. Illinois graduate student Kaveh Nafari also contributed to the study.

    Economists: Pros, cons to raising the gas tax in Illinois

    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.

  • Parental liability laws misguided and simplistic, legal scholar says

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Durwood Pickle was shocked to find that the Recording Industry Association of America had sued him because his grandchildren had used his computer to illegally download music during visits to his Texas home.

  • Photo of YoungAh Park, a professor of labor and employment relations at Illinois.

    Paper: Email incivility has a ripple effect on households

    The negative repercussions of email incivility extend beyond the workplace, and can even negatively affect a domestic partner’s attitude toward their own work, says a new paper from YoungAh Park, a professor of labor and employment relations at Illinois.

  • Image of professor Mattias Polborn

    Why not have one national primary election for presidential nominees?

    A Minute With...™ Mattias Polborn, professor of economics and political science

  • Photo of YoungAh Park

    What explains 'quiet quitting' in the workplace?

    “Quiet quitting” means forgoing the extra mile at work but is different than work withdrawal or employee disengagement, says University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign labor expert YoungAh Park, who studies work stress and recovery.

  • Children need to understand the basics of advertising better than they do, says Illinois advertising professor Michelle Nelson. So she led the development of a curriculum and website to teach advertising literacy in school classrooms, incorporating lessons on healthy eating. This example ad developed for the curriculum playfully sells parents on feeding their kids vegetables.

    Beyond the big ads: teaching kids ad literacy and nutrition in grade school classrooms

    The Super Bowl will feature car ads, beer ads, food ads – but probably none for carrots. Most food ads, game time or anytime, are pitching less-healthy fare. Kids are often the target. Do they understand what an ad is? Who made it and why? Advertising professor Michelle Nelson worked with an Illinois school district to develop an advertising literacy curriculum that also promotes healthy eating.

     

  • Expert: Legal sports gambling will have a destabilizing effect on economy, sports

    The decision in Murphy v. NCAA will likely usher in an era of unregulated, readily available sports gambling on smartphones, said John W. Kindt, a professor emeritus of business administration at the University of Illinois and a leading national gambling critic.

  • Illinois advertising professor Jason Chambers specializes in the history of advertising related to African Americans.

    Why are familiar brands with Black images getting a rethink?

    At least one familiar brand is being retired and others are getting a rethink due to their use of Black images. Illinois advertising professor Jason Chambers explains why.

  • With expansion, the sugarcane-to-ethanol industry in Brazil could reduce global carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 5.6 percent, an international team reports.

    Scientists: Expanding Brazilian sugarcane could dent global CO2 emissions

    Vastly expanding sugarcane production in Brazil for conversion to ethanol could reduce current global carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 5.6 percent, researchers report in the journal Nature Climate Change.

  • Human trials of cancer drug PAC-1 continue with new investment

    Clinical trials of the anti-cancer agent PAC-1 are continuing to expand, thanks to a $7 million angel investment from an anonymous contributor who originally invested $4 million to help get the compound this far in the drug-approval pipeline.

  • Yunchuan "Frank" Liu, professor of business administration, says outsourcing tends to soften the competition among industry rivals, resulting in consumers paying artificially higher prices for goods.

    Study: Outsourcing hurts consumers by softening competition among firms

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Firms that outsource aspects of their business to a foreign country may profit by saving money, but the practice tends to soften the competition among industry rivals, exacting a hidden cost on consumers, says new research co-written by a University of Illinois business administration professor.

  • Photo by J. Ryan Lamare, a professor of labor and employment relations at Illinois.

    Study: Political representativeness affects trade union membership, influence

    A country’s political system can positively or negatively affect trade union membership and influence, says a new paper co-written by J. Ryan Lamare, a professor of labor and employment relations at Illinois.

  • Graphic of online master’s degree in strategic brand communication, a unique joint program between the College of Business and College of Media at the University of Illinois

    New online master’s degree in strategic brand communication to prepare future brand leaders

    The online master’s degree in strategic brand communication, a unique joint program between the College of Business and College of Media, aims to prepare the strategic leaders of tomorrow in an ever-changing global digital-media environment.

  • Skills gap for U.S. manufacturing workers mostly a myth, paper says

    Despite the outcry from employers over the dearth of job-ready workers, three-quarters of U.S. manufacturing plants show no sign of hiring difficulties for job vacancies, says new research from Andrew Weaver, a professor of labor and employment relations at Illinois.

  • Photo of Ravi S. Gajendran, a professor of business administration at the University of Illinois.

    Good boss? Bad boss? Study says workers leave both

    Workers leave both good bosses and bad bosses, a finding that companies can use to their strategic advantage, according to research from Ravi S. Gajendran, a professor of business administration at Illinois.

  • Industrial and enterprise systems engineering professor Lavanya Marla and collaborators used artificial intelligence to design a customized pricing model for airline customers.

    Artificial intelligence could help air travelers save a bundle

    Researchers are using artificial intelligence to help airlines price ancillary services such as checked bags and seat reservations in a way that is beneficial to customers’ budget and privacy, as well as to the airline industry’s bottom line.

  • Photo of Yuqian Xu, a professor of business administration at the Gies College of Business at Illinois.

    Adoption of mobile payment shifts consumer spending patterns, habits

    Paying for goods with a smartphone not only increases the overall transaction amount and frequency of purchases by consumers, it also effectively replaces the actual, physical credit cards in their wallets, said Yuqian Xu, a professor of business administration at the Gies College of Business at Illinois.

  • Yunchuan "Frank" Liu, a professor of business administration, says when manufacturers bypass retailers and sell directly to consumers online, product quality can suffer.

    Study: Online retail contributes to decline in product quality

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Consumers may revel in the convenience of online shopping, but the low prices on the Internet are often accompanied by even lower product quality, warns new research co-written by a University of Illinois business professor.

  • Photo of by M. Teresa Cardador, a professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

    Paper: Women bear 'status-leveling burden' in male-dominated occupations

    New research co-written by labor professor M. Teresa Cardador examines the “status-leveling burden” women in male-dominated occupations face in cross-occupational collaboration with other women.

  • Economist Julian Simon, while a professor at Illinois, devised the notion of rewarding passengers on overbooked flights if they gave up their seats. The seemingly subtle switch provided a $100 billion jolt to the U.S. economy over the last three decades, says former colleague James Heins.

    Airline overbooking policy well known and so, too, should be its creator

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Thirty years ago, U.S. airlines stopped arbitrarily grounding passengers on overbooked flights, instead offering rewards if travelers give up seats to make room for hurried fliers who need to touch down on time.

  • The male response to depictions of ideal masculinity in advertising is typically a negative one, which has implications for advertisers and marketers targeting the increasingly fragmented male consumer demographic, according to research co-authored by Cele Otnes, a University of Illinois professor of advertising and of business administration.

    Research: Men respond negatively to depictions of 'ideal masculinity' in ads

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The male response to depictions of ideal masculinity in advertising is typically negative, which has implications for advertisers and marketers targeting the increasingly fragmented consumer demographic, according to research from a University of Illinois marketing expert.

  • Headshot of Sean Kennedy

    Climate adaptation increases vulnerability of cocoa farmers, study shows

    Sean Kennedy, a professor of urban and regional planning, found that strategies to keep cocoa farmers in place transferred climate-related risks from chocolate manufacturers to the farmers.

  • Food displays, food colors affect how much people eat, researcher concludes

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Variety may be the spice of life - and a key contributor to an expanding waistline.

  • The claim that Chicago public school teachers arent working enough hours during the school day are unwarranted at best and intellectually dishonest at worst, according to research from University of Illinois labor expert Robert Bruno.

    Research: Chicago public school teachers log long hours

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The claim that Chicago public school teachers aren’t working enough hours during the school day is unwarranted at best and intellectually dishonest at worst, according to research from a University of Illinois labor expert.

  • Photo of U. of I. labor professor M. Teresa Cardador.

    Increased number of female engineers in managerial roles brings unintended consequences

    Increased female representation in the managerial ranks of engineering organizations may add another layer of sex segregation on top of the one it’s intended to mitigate, says a new paper from U. of I. labor professor M. Teresa Cardador.

  • Photo of Alison Dickson, a senior instructor in the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

    Paper: Underemployment pervasive for part-time workers in Illinois

    As many as 61% of hourly workers in Illinois are underemployed, underscoring the need for the state to adopt a fair-workweek law, says Alison Dickson, a senior instructor in the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

  • Photo of U. of I. psychology professor Dolores Albarracin

    ‘Sleeper effect’ accounts for durability of weak messages from credible sources

    The least convincing arguments can reverberate in the public consciousness over time – provided they’re delivered by a credible source, says new research from U. of I. psychology professor Dolores Albarracin.

  • An analysis of more than six decades of death rates from U.S. hurricanes by a team of University of Illinois researchers shows that severe hurricanes with a more feminine name result in a greater death toll. From left, Kiju Jung, a doctoral student in marketing in the U. of I.'s College of Business and the lead author on the study, and Madhu Viswanathan and Sharon Shavitt, both professors of marketing at Illinois.

    Study: Hurricanes with female names more deadly than male-named storms

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - In the coming Atlantic hurricane season, watch out for hurricanes with benign-sounding names like Dolly, Fay or Hanna. According to a new article from a team of researchers at the University of Illinois, hurricanes with feminine names are likely to cause significantly more deaths than hurricanes with masculine names, apparently because storms with feminine names are perceived as less threatening.

  • Photo of Eunmi Mun

    Paper: Within-job gender pay gap persists

    Despite great advances in gender equality, a pay gap persists for women working the same job as their male counterparts, says new research co-written by Eunmi Mun, a professor of employment and labor relations at Illinois.

  • Photo of Eunmi Mun, a professor of labor and employment relations at Illinois.

    Merit-based employment practices contribute to gender pay gap, study says

    Meritocratic employment practices such as performance bonuses often fail to reduce gender-based pay inequality and may actually exacerbate it by allowing the status quo to remain intact at firms, says new research co-written by Eunmi Mun, a professor of labor and employment relations at Illinois.

  • Ill veterans who had radiation exposure now caught in bureaucratic web

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Veterans suffering from cancers linked to exposure to radiation from atomic test explosions encounter a complex and error-ridden process that routinely denies them disability benefits, a University of Illinois scholar says.

  • il and environmental engineering professor Tami Bond is part of a team modeling the impact of the freight industry on human health and the eniviroment.

    New model predicts how ground shipping will affect future human health, environment

    The trucks and trains that transport goods across the United States emit gases and particles that threaten human health and the environment. A University of Illinois-led project developed a new model that predicts through 2050 the impact of different environmental policies on human mortality rates and short- and long-term climate change caused by particulate and greenhouse gas emissions.

  • Photo collage of finance professor David Molitor; recreation, sport and tourism professor Laura Payne; and finance professor Julian Reif.

    Study: Benefits of workplace wellness programs underwhelming

    An interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign studied the efficacy of workplace wellness programs and found only a modest impact on employee health, health beliefs and medical utilization.

  • Photo of Raj Echambadi, the James F. Towey Faculty Fellow at Illinois

    Paper: Strategic trade-offs in automobile design affect market-share value

    Car companies can either “design for satisfaction” by investing in function and ergonomics or “design for delight” by investing in form, says new research from Raj Echambadi, a professor of business administration at Illinois.

  • Amanda Ciafone, a professor of media and cinema studies at Illinois, is the author of the book “Counter-Cola.”

    Professor’s history of Coca-Cola also tells larger story of globalization

    Coca-Cola’s history is one of innovation in image-making, outsourcing and other now-common practices of global capitalism – and of adapting to challenges from activists and movements resisting its practices, says an Illinois professor in a new book.

  • Cultural sensitivity and a holistic approach to individuals are necessary qualities for executives working abroad, says Anupam Agrawal, a professor of business administration at Illinois.

    Cultural sensitivity necessary for global business leaders, scholar says

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Global business leaders must adapt their behavior to the country in which they are doing business or risk being perceived as ineffective and unable to handle complexity, change and ambiguity, says a paper co-written by a University of Illinois business professor.

  • The major shift underway from broadcast and cable to streaming is also bringing targeted advertising to mainstream media, an Illinois professor says.

    Targeted ads are coming to mainstream media. Should we care?

    Targeted advertising is coming to mainstream media, says an Illinois professor of digital media, bringing concerns about equality, division and “total surveillance.”

  • Photo of 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.

    Should the workweek be shortened to four days?

    There’s nothing sacrosanct about the five-day workweek, which is long overdue for an overhaul, says Robert Bruno, a professor of labor and employment relations at Illinois.

  • University of Illinois economics graduate student Juan Sebastian Munoz.

    Paper: School shootings affect school quality, housing value

    Home prices within a school district affected by a school-based mass shooting episode declined by 7.8 percent over the course of at least three years after the incident, according to a new paper co-written by University of Illinois scholar Juan Sebastian Munoz.

  • An outright ban on junk-food advertising aimed at children would be more effective than the current industry-led ban, according to research by University of Illinois economist Kathy Baylis.

    Study: Quebec ban on fast-food ads reduced consumption of junk food

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - With mounting concerns over childhood obesity and its associated health risks in the U.S., would a ban on junk-food advertising aimed at children be more effective than the current voluntary, industry-led ban? According to published research from a University of Illinois economist, advertising bans do work, but an outright ban covering the entire U.S. media market would be the most effective policy tool for reducing fast-food consumption in children.

  • Photo collage of labor and employment relations professors YoungAh Park and Yihao Liu, and graduate student Lucille Headrick.

    Control over work-life boundaries creates crucial buffer to manage after-hours work stress

    Workers with greater boundary control over their work and personal lives were better at creating a stress buffer to prevent them from falling into a negative rumination trap, says a new study co-written by a trio of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign experts who study occupational stress and employee well-being.

  • Photo of 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.

    Are generous unemployment benefits to blame for worker shortages?

    As the COVID-19 pandemic recedes and employers look to restart businesses at full capacity, workers have leverage that they’re using to temporarily stay out of the labor market in certain industries, says U. of I. labor expert Robert Bruno.

  • Photo of Scott Irwin, the Laurence J. Norton Chair of Agricultural Marketing in the department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

    New book chronicles personal, professional journey studying futures markets

    Scott Irwin, the Laurence J. Norton Chair of Agricultural Marketing in the department of agricultural and consumer economics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is the author of “Back to the Futures,” a book that’s part personal memoir and part explainer of the futures market.