Global Business / Economy
The Four-Day Work Week: Political Experiment or Salary Negotiation Tactic?Is the four-day work week a genuine rethink of productivity — or a clever way for companies to dodge raises? Alex Pang, Jessica McCabe, and Michael Z. Ironman debate whether shorter weeks reflect real innovation or a distraction from stagnant wages.
Global Business / Economy
Is the Consumerization of Investment Banking Democratizing Finance — or Giving Retail Investors Access to Products Designed to Be Misunderstood?Is easier access to sophisticated investment products actually empowering retail investors — or setting them up to misunderstand what they're buying? Hester Peirce, Michael Kitces, and Catherine M. Mann weigh transparency, financial literacy, and inequality in the consumerization of investment banking.
Global Business / Economy
The Interconnected Economy: Are Financial APIs a Double-Edged Sword?As financial APIs stitch the world's banks and fintechs into one giant, real-time network, could the next crisis spread faster than regulators can react? Brett McDonnell, Kathy Kraninger, and Chris Brummer weigh systemic risk against innovation — and whether any regulatory framework can keep pace.
Global Business / Economy
Is the Sharing Economy Still Sharing Anything — or Did It Quietly Become Just Another Way to Extract Rent From Assets You Don't Own?Did the sharing economy ever really share anything — or was it always just a new way to extract value from assets you don't own? Rachel Botsman, Saskia Sassen, and David B. Clarke debate whether platforms like Airbnb and Uber can be recalibrated toward community, or whether corporate consolidation has already settled the question.
Global Business / Economy
Is China's Belt and Road Initiative a Development Program — or the Most Ambitious Debt Trap in the History of Geopolitics?Is China's Belt and Road Initiative a visionary infrastructure program or a debt trap in disguise? Dr. David Dollar, Dr. Anna Ashton, and Dr. Debra K. Hwang debate whether $1 trillion in global infrastructure investment is genuinely closing the development gap — or quietly entrenching smaller nations in financial dependency and reduced sovereignty.
Global Business / Economy
Is Friendshoring the Geopolitical Fix for Supply Chain Risk — or Just Globalization With a Shorter Guest List?Is friendshoring a genuine geopolitical fix for supply chain risk, or just globalization with a shorter, more exclusive guest list? Harold L. Sirkin argues that partnering with politically aligned nations shields companies from tariffs and sanctions, while Sharon Ng warns it risks overdependence on fewer markets, and Michael R. O'Hare cautions that without environmental safeguards, friendshoring could simply relocate the ecological damage elsewhere.
