Guest Blogger: This Insights article was contributed by Dr. William Sackley, Director of BB&T Center for Global Capitalism and Cameron School of Business Professor of Finance (this post originally appeared on WilmingtonBiz.com on July 15, 2020).

The stock market, as gauged by the S&P 500 index, just completed its strongest calendar quarter of appreciation during the 21st century, albeit following a dismal first quarter. At this writing, the index is down just over 4% year-to-date, or just over 8% from its February high. That is fairly amazing in the presence of a global pandemic that appears to be escalating rather than abating in the U.S., and which has resulted in a larger disruption of economic activity than during any downturn subsequent to the Great Depression. Should investors be complacent about their equity exposure at this point, or “heading for the exits?”

Story notes contributed by Cetin Ciner, Professor in Finance at the UNCW Cameron School of Business.

Cetin Ciner, Ph.D. professor of finance at UNCW Cameron School of Business has “Stock Return Predictability in the time of COVID-19” accepted for publication in Finance Research Letters, which is rated A by the Australian Business Dean’s Council.

Guest Blogger: Contributed by Dr. Stephen Hill, Associate Professor of Analytics at the UNCW Cameron School of Business (this post originally appeared on WilmingtonBiz.com on May 15, 2020).
 
At the time of the writing of this article (early April 2020), the number of confirmed cases of the Coronavirus globally had just passed 1,400,000. Over a quarter of those cases were in the United States, where almost 13,000 deaths were attributed to the virus. Schools and many businesses are closed. Passenger transportation networks, particularly air travel, have ground to a near halt. We are encouraged to stay home and to distance ourselves from others. Despite these hardships, the pandemic has given analytics professionals a unique opportunity to see their work prominently displayed and to see the public take great interest in data, visualization, and modeling related to the pandemic.

Guest Blogger: Contributed by Heather McWhorter, Regional Director of the Small Business & Technology Development Center (SBTDC) (this post originally appeared on WilmingtonBiz.com on May 1, 2020).
 
The 890,000+ small businesses in North Carolina employ 1.6 million people and account for 60% of the private sector workforce and 45% of the Gross State Product. Like other employers, small businesses are concerned about the immediate and long-term business impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated social distancing requirements.

Guest Blogger: Contributed by Dr. Thomas D. Simpson, Executive in Residence at the UNCW Cameron School of Business. Dr. Simpson joined the Department of Economics & Finance after his retirement from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, DC (this post originally appeared on WilmingtonBiz.com on April 15, 2020).

The Corona Virus pandemic has been a shock to the global economy, precipitating a global recession. For the United States, the news of a 3 million surge in workers filing for unemployment insurance in just one week has sent a clear message that we are not immune to the downturn.

Guest Blogger: Robert Burrus, Dean, Cameron School of Business (this post originally appeared on WilmingtonBiz.com on March 31, 2020)

Greetings from the Cameron School of Business. The hallways might be quiet, but there is a TON of learning going on as we have quickly converted our classes to online classes in the wake of coronavirus. Perhaps we’ll write about how this will change higher education in another blog post. Today, however, we seek to gain some insights about healthcare and economic lessons learned over a century ago during the Spanish flu pandemic. These takeaways include the value of social distancing combined with economic policy to more effectively mitigate the health and economic tragedies.

Guest Blogger: Dr. Thomas Simpson, Executive in Residence of Economics, Cameron School of Business (this post originally appeared on WilmingtonBiz.com on November 20, 2019)

On October 21, 2019, Professor John B. Taylor, Mary and Robert Raymond Professor at Stanford University and George P. Schultz Fellow at the Hoover Institution, presented the BB&T Global Capitalism and Ethics lecture in the Burney Center. Professor Taylor is one of the leading macroeconomists in the world today, and noted best around the globe for his development of the “Taylor rule” for use in conducting monetary policy. He has made seminal contributions to the field of macroeconomics and has a distinguished record of public service, including serving as Under Secretary of the Treasury.

Guest Blogger: Dr. Adam Jones, Cameron's Regional Economist (this post originally appeared on WilmingtonBiz.com on August 23, 2019)

Successful companies, communities, and individuals are intentional in their actions and make decisions based on an objective evaluation of opportunities and situations. Unfortunately, most of us struggle to think laterally without an outside stimulus.

Photo: Professor Adam Jones speaks at the annual Wilmington Regional Economic Scorecard at the Wilmington Convention Center. (Photo by Christina Haley O'Neal)The original photo comes from http://www.wilmingtonbiz.com/more_news/2019/12/03/economist_highlights_regional_growth_opportunities_at_annual_wilmington_scorecard/19715.

Curious about the health of the job market in Wilmington?

Professor and Economics & Finance Department Chair, Adam Jones, shines light on the pattern of the the growing job market in the Wilmington area. Finding your edge in the business world can be a challenging task, but analytics may give you the guidance you need.

Guest Blogger: Dr. Pete Schuhmann, Professor of Economics, Cameron School of Business

In May 2017, Dr. Schuhmann and two other colleagues completed an economic report on the effect of degradation of coastal and marine resources on Barbados tourism. The information below is from the summary of their report. Click here access the full report.