Economics Stories & News

David and Holly Wilson

Doing well by doing good

The newly named Wilson College of Business at UNI is ushering in a new era of education thanks to the historic $25 million gift from David W. Wilson.
Four UNI students with laptop and a binder

UNI Wilson Business students dominate Iowa Excel competition

In a remarkable achievement, students at the Wilson College of Business at UNI swept the top three scores for an Excel competition.
Student in front of I love NY sign

Undergraduate Research Program provides unique opportunities to College of Business students

A program at the UNI College of Business provides students the opportunity to enhance their analytical, research and professional skills – all while having plenty of fun along the way. The Undergraduate Research Program is a unique offering at the college, where students can receive funding, support and chances to present published research at national conferences.
Target representatives at the career fair

5 ways you can prepare for the Career Fair

Career fairs are excellent opportunities to meet potential employers and showcase your expertise and background. UNI Career Services hosts two career fairs every academic year at the Maucker Union  (you can find dates on the online calendar), attended by more than 150 employers.
George Graham Rice

SCAMMER OF A CENTURY AGO PIONEERED TACTICS USED TODAY

George Graham Rice? Never heard of him. Who is he? A century ago, though, he was a famous flamboyant scammer, a pied-piper of stock manipulation. While incarcerated for the third or fourth time, he wrote a series of periodical articles that eventually coalesced into a book. As with other scammers, Rice was brazen, even boastful about his felonious escapades. He wryly entitled his book My Adventures with Your Money.
Closed Sign

Good-bye, mom and pop restaurants and shops

Most of my readers are familiar with small towns in Iowa that have longstanding family-owned businesses, such as family eateries. Grandparents, parents, and children may own and work in these restaurants. They often have loyal employees that are “part of the family.” These owners may be unable to afford to pay their workers much more than $10 per hour, to say nothing of the proposed $15 per hour minimum wage.
Dictionary Billionaire

All hail the billionaire

After months of dreary experimentation in her basement, Dr. von Frankenstein, PhD, has concocted an effective antidote and vaccine for a deadly virus sweeping the United States. She files and receives a patent for her discovery.
Piggy Bank

New ways to milk customers

There’s a new way marketers are getting young people to fork over their money. The new tactic revolves around consumers making four payments of one-quarter the retail price of an item (Amanda Mull, “Jeans Now, Pay Later,” Atlantic, January/February 2021, 18-20). This is just the old come-on--“Buy now, pay later”—in a new guise.
Money in Wallet

What does it mean to live the good life?

By anyone’s estimation, the recently deceased Vernon Jordan was a “mover and shaker.” A commentary on his life referred to him as, “a civil-rights leader, Washington insider, Wise Man, power broker, deal maker, rainmaker, Wall Street banker and, as an interviewer put it a few years ago in the Financial Times, ‘the most connected man in America (Peggy Noonan, “America Loses a Wise Man,” Wall Street Journal, March 6-7, 2021, A13).’” Whew!
Sharnae Lamar

Sharnae Lamar brings her talents overseas

Understanding personal finance is a luxury where Sharnae Lamar (Finance and Economics, ’16) grew up. On the east side of Des Moines, Lamar says there aren’t many people who know how to manage money, invest, grow income — so when she had the opportunity to go to college, business was of interest.