Business Radio Special: The Great Recession: What’s Changed in 10 years Part 2
About one in five workers in the U.S, lost their job in the beginning of the Great Recession and many of them never recovered. What has happened to the millions of people who settled for work below the level in which they were qualified, for less pay? With an improved unemployment number today at 4%, compared to the height of the recession when the unemployment rate peaked at 10 %, the wages are not catching up with the jobs. To look deeper at the impact of The Great Recession on the jobs market, we are joined by Wharton Professor of management PETER CAPPELLI, who is also Director of the Center for Human Resources, IWAN BARANKAY, Associate Professor of Management and Associate Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at Wharton, and DAVID LEWIS, Professor Emeritus of Management, Human Resources and Organizational Behavior at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Then, from January 2009 to December 2013 the U.S. government prevented two of the “Big Three” car companies from going bankrupt by using over $80 billion from the Economic Emergency Stabilization Act. General Motors Company and Chrysler LLC were owned by the taxpayers, leaving the Ford Motor Company on its own. Was this the right decision for a sector of an indicator of the health of the economy? We’ll look at the management changes in the past 10 years and future of the American auto industry as they face staying competitive in a growing fuel-efficient and autonomous vehicle market. We’re joined by JOHN PAUL MACDUFFIE , Professor of Management at the Wharton School and Director of the Program on Vehicle and Mobility Innovation at Wharton’s Mack Institute for Innovation Management, and PAUL EISENSTEIN publisher and editor of TheDetroitBureau.com.
Next, Wall Street has taken quite a ride over the last decade. It lost almost half of its value due to the Great Recession and by some estimates, over $2 trillion in retirement savings was lost by the end of 2008. The recovery has opened the markets to incredible growth, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossing the 26,000 mark, Nasdaq breaking the 8,000 point threshold and the S&P finishing at just under 29,000 last month. But investors are still wary in the stock market as we may soon undergo a significant correction. To look back, and peer into the short and distant futures, JEREMY SIEGEL, joins us. He is a Professor of Finance at the Wharton School. As is GAD ALLON, a Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions, at the Wharton School.
Finally, when the Great Recession hit, some people pointed a finger at business schools, asking why the MBAs who caused the economic turmoil weren’t taught character and accountability. Business schools have been teaching ethics for decades, but did the financial crisis change the way academic institutions, like The Wharton School, emphasize corporate responsibility and ethics? We’re joined by ERIC ORTS, a Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School, STEPHEN ARBOGAST, Professor of Practice of Finance and Director of the Energy Center at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. And ANITA CAVA, a Professor in the Business Law Department at the University of Miami Business School and Co-Director of the University of Miami Ethics Programs.
