Clark Center Forum

About the Clark Center Forum

The Forum for the Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets is home to the European, Finance, and US Economic Experts Panels as well as a repository of thoughtful, current, and reliable information regarding topics of the day.
Europe

Corporate Social Responsibility

Question A:

In pursuing social and environmental initiatives, the average public company generates more benefits than costs in terms of profits.

Responses

© 2025. Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets.
15%
0%
0%
17%
52%
11%
4%
Question B:

In pursuing social and environmental initiatives, public companies would benefit from a measurably lower cost of capital.

Responses

© 2025. Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets.
15%
0%
0%
24%
24%
35%
2%
Question C:

There are substantial social benefits when managers of public companies make choices that account for the impact of their decisions on customers, employees, and community members beyond the effects on shareholders.

Responses

© 2025. Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets.
15%
2%
0%
4%
17%
48%
13%
 
US

Election Economic Policy Ideas

Question A:

Giving the President more direct influence over monetary policy would lead to substantially worse monetary policy decisions.

Responses

© 2025. Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets.
0%
0%
5%
0%
2%
14%
80%
Question B:

Imposing tariffs results in a substantial portion of the tariffs being borne by consumers of the country that enacts the tariffs, through price increases.

Responses

© 2025. Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets.
0%
0%
0%
2%
2%
52%
43%
Question C:

There is little empirical evidence that price gouging is causing high grocery prices.

Responses

© 2025. Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets.
7%
7%
0%
0%
9%
43%
34%
Question D:

Widespread use of price controls creates substantial economic distortions.

Responses

© 2025. Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets.
7%
2%
0%
0%
2%
20%
68%
 
Finance

Abnormal Returns and Active Portfolio Management

This Finance survey examines: It is appropriate advice for retail investors to tilt their portfolio away from the market portfolio towards factors that have been identified in the academic literature to earn positive abnormal returns relative to the Capital Asset Pricing Model 
On Global Markets

Late In the Day

Over the last decade a growing proportion of stock trading has been concentrated into the later stages of the day. As a story on Bloomberg, which caught the attention of many investors and market participants, put it in April – US stocks trade for 390 minutes a day, but only the last 10 minutes seem […] 
Finance

Effects of End-of-Day Trading

In this Finance survey: Stock markets around the world have seen an increasing concentration of trades in or near the closing auction. In the US, for example, about a third of all S&P 500 stock trades are now executed in the final ten minutes of the session, up from 27% in 2021 (a) The increased concentration of trading in the final minutes of the trading day has a measurably detrimental effect on market quality; (b) Strict indexing implemented with trading at the close to avoid tracking error creates a measurable performance drag that could be avoided with more flexible passive strategies 
On Global Markets

Rent Controls and One-armed Economists

Winston Churchill once remarked that “if you put two economists in a room, you get two opinions, unless one of them is Lord Keynes, in which case you get three opinions”. Sadly for policymakers, economists offering up multiple opinions and caveating even themselves has never been a uniquely British trait. Harry Truman became so sick […] 

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