Haslam College of Business - In The News

Best Rewards Credit Cards: Expert Opinions

Is it sustainable for the best rewards credit cards to offer initial bonuses worth $400+? In the long run, an issuer will only do this if it expects to make up $400 on the new account. Perhaps the new customers the promotion attracts will pile up ...

Analysis: The Canadian trade war will not end well

That’s the deeper problem with this fight. A tariff’s real cost depends on the volume of imports from the country you’re taxing and how easily you can replace it. When the administration imposed its “Liberation Day” tariffs on much of the world, many...

Finding Someone to Blame for U.S. Health Insurance Woes Daniel Butcher

As Americans pay more and more for health insurance every year, with paperwork burdens and denials of doctor-recommended procedures, medications, and other medical services, their anger and frustration at the U.S. healthcare system continues to simme...

‘Everything about her was East Tennessee’: The places that shaped Dolly Parton

I think we owe a lot to Dolly Parton for Tennessee tourism and the kind of goodwill that she's helped create for the state – Celeste Carruthers

Shoppers are less peeved by cost hikes due to scarcity – but retailers more often blame their own rising costs

"If you tell customers demand is high and there are fewer competitors offering the same product or service, shoppers will assume it’ll be harder to find a comparable alternative. So they’re less likely to exit, despite the higher price."

Tennessee’s free community college program ‘pays for itself,’ working paper finds

A recent working paper, published in May by the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that the last-dollar program "pays for itself." Celeste Carruthers, a labor economist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and one of the study's co-...

Tennessee slightly sheds jobs for 8th month in row, inflation at 3.4%

Don Bruce, a professor with the University of Tennessee’s Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research, said that the short-term drop in employment numbers is not something he’s concerned about until it becomes a multi-year trend. “We are still ...

The system was green. The line was down: Where AI is delivering value in supply chains

IThe most effective supply chain AI applications connect risk signals with operational systems, workflows and human decision-makers who can change outcomes.

State report shows increase in new businesses in Shelby Co, slower housing market

The report does not highlight specific business or industry sectors for those respective filings, University of Tennessee Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research Director Don Bruce said. "We're just very impressed by that. It just speaks to...

Amtrak Airo Trains to Start on Cascades This Fall

Alex Scott, a professor of supply chain management at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, said rail’s efficiency is partly due to its ability to carry large numbers of people at once. “If you can get a fully well-utilized rail car, be it humans...

Multi-Generational Workforce Poses Challenges for HR Professionals

There is evidence that age discrimination happens at young ages, especially in some industries, Kulik added. For example, in the tech sector, people in their 30s report experiences of age discrimination, though the Age Discrimination in Employment Ac...

How did Dolly Parton build her dazzling business empire? She owned it

"Parton controlled her own destiny from an early stage, 'at a time when stars were not doing that.'"

Tennessee Business Filings Reach Near-Record Levels in Q2 Report

State economists point out that high volumes of business filings typically lead to future job creation, higher personal income, and growing state revenue. "The latest surge in new entity filings shows that Tennessee continues to be a fertile econo...

Tennessee’s new business filings up 23.1%

Tennessee's new business filings for the second quarter of 2026 were up 23.1%, second only to the new business filings for the first quarter of this year, according to Secretary of State Tre Hargett. "Just when you start to give up hope, with al...

Report from Tennessee Secretary of State Shows Record Business Filings and Stabilizing Tennessee Home Prices

During the second quarter, 24,733 new entities filed in Tennessee, a 23.1% year-over-year increase. A high level of business filings typically leads to jobs, personal income, and state revenue growth. Over the last 12 months, there were 89,532 new ...

Video: The national debt hit $40 trillion. What does that mean for the average American family?

Dr. Michael Kofoed, associate professor of economics at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, joins Inside Sources with some insights.