Earlier this year, the consumer watchdog fined three retailers, Michael Hill, MyHouse and Hairhouse Online, almost A$20,000 each for advertising “site-wide discounts” that allegedly never applied to all items on the website.
At first glance, this might look like a straightforward case of using allegedly misleading advertising for an economic benefit. Yet the implications go further.
A world map showing the extent of the British Empire in 1886. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, Boston Public Library/Wikimedia Commons, CC BYThis is the first in a two-part series.
Back in May, the parent companies of private hospital operator Healthscope fell into receivership, burdened by A$1.6 billion in debt.
In recent years, several websites selling ultra-low-cost goods have appeared on the French market. Shein, Temu and AliExpress, to name but a few, are shaking up the online retail landscape. According to a study conducted by BPCE Digital & Payments, the number of payment cards recording at least one monthly transaction on a discount site increased by 20% between the first quarters of 2022 and 2023.
H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty ImagesYou arrive at work, coffee in hand, ready to tackle the day. But your manager seems off, curt in meetings, impatient with questions, and unusually sharp in tone.
A display of Halloween products for sale in West Covina, Calif., on Sept. 10, 2025. Frederic J. Brown/Getty ImagesHalloween is a fun, scary time for children and adults alike – but why does the holiday seem to start so much earlier every year? Decades ago, when I was young, Halloween was a much smaller affair, and people didn’t start preparing until mid-October.
skynesher/GettyWhen we talk about diversity in business, it’s usually in moral or social terms – fairness, inclusion and representation. But our new research suggests diversity also pays off in a very practical way: helping companies make better financial and investment decisions.
Oscar Wong/Getty ImagesYou check prices online for a flight to Melbourne today. It’s $300. You leave your browser open. Two hours later, it’s $320. Half a day later, $280. Welcome to the world of algorithmic pricing, where technology tries to figure out what price you’re willing to pay.
When Starbucks announced that it would phase out its mobile-order pickup-only locations beginning in 2026, it raised a question: Why abandon a format seemingly built for speed and efficiency?
Economists Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt. Ill. Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach Three economists working in the area of “innovation-driven economic growth” have won this year’s Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
