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Public Research as the Foundation for Private Investment and Growth

Strategic public investment in research and development (R&D) can strengthen the economy almost immediately while encouraging private sector investment for years to come, according to a new study led by the University of Southampton. Conducted in collaboration with UCL and the World Bank and published in The Economic Journal, the research finds that government-funded R&D is a particularly productive form of public investment. Rather than displacing private innovation, it stimulates additional business investment and economic activity even before the full technological benefits of research are realised.

Lead researcher Dr Vincenzo De Lipsis says the findings have important implications for governments seeking to stimulate growth while managing constrained public finances. “At a time when governments are seeking to rebuild industrial capacity while operating within tight fiscal constraints, our findings show that the composition, design and credibility of public investment can be as important as its overall size,” he says. The team set out to understand how quickly public R&D generates wider economic benefits, how large those benefits become, and whether they endure over time.

To answer these questions, the researchers analysed more than 280 quarterly economic observations from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis spanning 1947 to 2017. The dataset included public and private investment, government expenditure, tax revenues and gross domestic product (GDP). The United States’ long history of public investment in innovation enabled the team to examine how government-funded R&D influences the economy over several decades and to trace both its short- and long-term effects.

The analysis showed that public R&D delivers substantially stronger and longer-lasting economic benefits than conventional government spending. A key reason is its ability to “crowd in” private investment by encouraging businesses to increase their own research spending. The researchers estimate that every additional dollar invested in public R&D generates between $2.60 and $4.30 in additional economic output within a year, highlighting its effectiveness as an engine of economic growth.

The study also suggests that the impact of public R&D begins before projects are fully underway. When governments make clear, credible long-term commitments to research and innovation, businesses may adjust their investment plans in anticipation, reducing uncertainty and increasing confidence. According to the authors, governments are uniquely positioned to stimulate innovation because they can support high-risk, long-term research and use innovation-oriented procurement to help create new markets and strengthen productive capacity.

The researchers conclude that public and private R&D should be viewed as complementary rather than competing forms of investment. Public funding is well suited to tackling long-term, high-risk challenges and laying the scientific and technological foundations for innovation, while private firms are better placed to transform those discoveries into commercially viable products and services. Together, sustained public investment and private sector innovation can deliver stronger economic growth, greater resilience and lasting benefits for society.

More information: Vincenzo De Lipsis et al, Macroeconomic Effects of Public R&D, The Economic Journal. DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueag061

Journal information: The Economic Journal Provided by University of Southampton

The Trillion-Dollar Truth Behind Corporate Climate Commitments

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Corporate climate spending is now directing trillions of dollars towards the global transition to net zero, yet a fundamental question remains: does it translate into meaningful climate action? Research suggests that differences in accounting methods alone can cause a company’s reported emissions to vary by as much as twofold, allowing similar businesses to appear either as climate leaders or laggards. A new Nature Sustainability Perspective argues that industry-specific net-zero blueprints are needed to create a consistent scientific basis for measuring and comparing corporate climate performance.

More than 2,000 companies, representing US$36.6 trillion in annual revenue, have pledged to achieve net zero, while businesses collectively hold an estimated 18–21 GtCO₂e of annual emissions reduction potential. Despite this momentum, the latest Net Zero Stocktake found that only 7% of corporate net-zero commitments demonstrate high integrity. The challenge has shifted from encouraging companies to make pledges to ensuring those commitments are supported by credible, science-based methodologies.

Researchers from ESMT Berlin, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Bauhaus Earth, and the University of Sussex propose developing industry-specific net-zero blueprints that establish a common scientific foundation for corporate climate action. Rather than focusing solely on disclosure requirements, these blueprints would standardise emissions accounting, industry-specific target setting, progress measurement, and the governance of unavoidable residual emissions. They would complement existing frameworks such as the GHG Protocol, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).

Lead author Ramana Gudipudi of ESMT Berlin explains that current Scope 3 guidance encourages companies to reduce emissions where possible and offset what remains, but provides little scientific basis for determining what residual emissions are unavoidable. This uncertainty increases reliance on carbon credits and carbon removal technologies, both of which face significant limitations. Industry-specific blueprints would instead translate planetary science into practical business guidance, enabling companies, investors, and regulators to benchmark climate ambition using consistent scientific criteria.

The proposal comes as political and economic pressures reshape climate policy. The United States withdrew from the Paris Agreement in early 2026, while the European Union’s Omnibus package reduced the scope of the CSRD. Without stronger scientific guidance, the authors warn that investment decisions could become increasingly fragmented, weakening confidence in corporate climate commitments and slowing progress towards global climate goals.

Industry-specific blueprints would also bridge the gap between global climate pathways and company-level decision-making. By linking sector-specific emissions pathways to shared industry value chains, companies could better understand where meaningful emissions reductions are achievable, which emissions are likely to remain, and how progress compares across competitors. For example, a food and beverage blueprint could assess emissions from agriculture, packaging, transport, and refrigeration to identify realistic decarbonisation opportunities while distinguishing unavoidable emissions such as livestock methane.

The benefits would extend across sectors facing very different decarbonisation challenges. Construction companies must reduce emissions embedded in materials such as cement and steel, AI infrastructure must address rapidly growing electricity demand, and financial institutions require robust methods for assessing climate risks across lending portfolios. According to the researchers, industry-specific blueprints would help organisations quantify both the cost of achieving net zero and the financial risks of inaction, enabling more informed investment decisions and encouraging credible climate leadership.

The authors believe these blueprints should become a living scientific resource that evolves alongside advances in climate science, technology, and industry practices, much like the IPCC periodically updates assessments of climate science. With revisions underway for the GHG Protocol, SBTi’s Corporate Net-Zero Standard, ISO 14060, the European Sustainability Reporting Standards, and the growing adoption of ISSB disclosure standards worldwide, they argue the timing is ideal to establish a shared scientific foundation for corporate net-zero commitments. They call on researchers, businesses, policymakers, standard-setters, and funding organisations to collaborate in developing this next generation of corporate climate guidance.

More information: Ramana Gudipudi et al, From corporate net-zero pledges to credible climate action, Nature Sustainability. DOI: 10.1038/s41893-026-01908-6

Journal information: Nature Sustainability Provided by International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

Flexible Working May Open More Leadership Opportunities for Women in Family Businesses

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Digital workplace innovation could help more women become leaders of family businesses by making it easier to balance work and family responsibilities, according to new research from the University of East London. The study suggests that flexible digital working enables women to take on greater strategic and leadership responsibilities without sacrificing family commitments, potentially creating a stronger pipeline of future leaders within family-owned firms.

Although family businesses are often viewed as supportive employers, the researchers argue they can present unique barriers to women’s advancement. Leadership succession is frequently determined through informal family decisions rather than formal recruitment processes. At the same time, traditional gender expectations and assumptions that effective leaders must be physically present in the workplace can disadvantage women with caring responsibilities. These factors may limit opportunities for women to be recognised as future successors.

The researchers argue that digital workplace technologies—including Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Workspace and cloud-based business systems—can help shift attention away from time spent in the office towards measurable contributions and performance. By making collaboration, communication and decision-making more accessible, these tools allow women to participate more visibly in leadership activities while maintaining a healthier balance between work and family life.

The paper proposes a framework explaining how digital workplace innovation can strengthen women’s leadership prospects through four connected changes: building confidence, creating more opportunities to participate in strategic decision-making, increasing business knowledge and changing perceptions of who is prepared to lead. Together, these factors could make leadership pathways more accessible for women in family businesses.

Dr Ozlem Ozdemir, from the Royal Docks School of Business and Law, said that while family businesses are built on close relationships, this does not necessarily make them easier environments for women to reach leadership positions. She explained that women family members may struggle to be viewed as ambitious professionals. Still, digital workplace tools can help redirect attention from who is most visible in the office to who is making the strongest contribution. Co-author Professor Kirk Chang added that collaboration platforms can create new opportunities for talented women to demonstrate leadership, provided businesses judge leaders by results rather than physical presence.

The authors emphasise, however, that technology alone cannot eliminate barriers to leadership. Family businesses must also foster cultures that actively support women, value performance over visibility and challenge traditional assumptions about leadership. Published in the journal Strategy and Leadership, the paper synthesises existing research to propose a framework showing how digital workplace innovation can improve work-life balance while helping more women become future leaders of family businesses.

More information: Ozlem Ozdemir et al, Women entrepreneurs and their leadership in family business: insights from digital workplace innovation, Strategy and Leadership. DOI: 10.1108/SL-04-2026-0200

Journal information: Strategy and Leadership Provided by University of East London

Artificial Intelligence in Investment Decision-Making: A Pusan National University Perspective

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping modern finance, supporting applications such as stock market forecasting, portfolio management, and investment advice. However, researchers from Pusan National University and their international collaborators argue that accurate market predictions do not always translate into better investment decisions. Instead, they suggest that financial AI should be assessed by its ability to improve real-world decision-making rather than prediction accuracy alone.

To address this challenge, Professor Yoontae Hwang of Pusan National University and Professor Stefan Zohren of the University of Oxford developed the Signature-Informed Transformer (SIT), a decision-focused AI framework. Rather than concentrating solely on predicting future prices, the model learns from how markets evolve and how different assets influence one another, enabling it to optimise investment decisions while accounting for risk. Published in the Proceedings of the 43rd International Conference on Machine Learning on 30 April 2026, the study lists Professor Hwang as first author.

The researchers evaluated the SIT framework using equity market data from the United States and China. Compared with conventional forecasting-based methods, the decision-focused approach delivered stronger risk-adjusted returns and more consistent wealth accumulation. According to Professor Hwang, the findings suggest that future financial AI systems should prioritise decision quality over prediction accuracy to achieve better investment outcomes.

In a second study, the research team investigated whether the reported success of financial AI can be reliably trusted. Analysing 164 studies on large language models (LLMs) in finance published between 2023 and 2025, they identified several recurring sources of bias that could overstate model performance. These included the unintended use of future information, survivor bias resulting from the exclusion of failed companies, unrealistic evaluation settings, and the omission of practical considerations such as transaction costs. Published in the Proceedings of the 43rd International Conference on Machine Learning on 1 May 2026, the study lists Professor Hwang as co-first author.

To improve research quality, the team introduced a Structural Validity Framework, a practical checklist designed to help researchers evaluate whether financial AI systems are tested under realistic conditions and whether their reported performance is likely to generalise beyond laboratory settings. The framework encourages more transparent and rigorous evaluation practices that better reflect real-world financial markets.

Together, the two studies highlight a common principle: AI should be designed to support meaningful financial decisions and evaluated using realistic benchmarks. Looking ahead, the researchers envision AI-powered “flight simulators” for financial markets, enabling institutions and regulators to test investment strategies, financial products, and market shocks in virtual environments before they affect real investors. Such advances could ultimately promote more transparent financial advice and more trustworthy AI systems.

More information: Yoontae Hwang et al, Signature-Informed Transformer for Asset Allocation, Proceedings of the 43rd International Conference on Machine Learning. DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2510.03129

Journal information: Proceedings of the 43rd International Conference on Machine Learning Provided by Pusan National University

Do Penalties Discourage Misconduct—or Normalize It?

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Many people drive more carefully after receiving a traffic fine. But do large corporations, such as airlines, also change their behaviour when they face financial penalties? Researchers explored this question by examining penalties imposed on U.S. airlines for lengthy tarmac delays, asking whether fines genuinely deter misconduct or become another cost of doing business.

A tarmac delay occurs when an aircraft remains on the ground with passengers still on board for an extended period. U.S. regulations generally limit these delays to three hours for domestic flights and four hours for international flights, with airlines facing financial penalties for violations. However, when penalties are relatively small compared with an airline’s profits or the costs of preventing delays, they may be viewed as routine operating expenses rather than meaningful deterrents. Behavioural economics also suggests that small fines can unintentionally signal that rule-breaking is acceptable if the “price” is paid.

To determine whether penalties influence airline behaviour, the researchers focused on delays associated with severe weather, which airlines cannot fully predict or control. This approach enabled them to compare penalised and non-penalised airlines using statistical methods designed to estimate causal effects while minimising the influence of other operational differences.

The study found that penalties were associated with reductions in lengthy tarmac delays for some airlines, but the improvements were generally modest and often temporary. Other airlines responded in ways that differed from the regulation’s intended purpose, including increases in prolonged ground delays and higher rates of flight cancellations.

In ongoing research, the investigators are examining whether the size of the penalty influences airline responses. Preliminary findings suggest that greater reductions follow larger penalties in tarmac delays exceeding three hours, although these effects also appear to diminish over time. The researchers also found evidence that airlines may adjust their operations to remain just below the regulatory threshold, increasing very long ground delays that fall slightly short of the three-hour limit.

Overall, the findings suggest that simply increasing financial penalties is unlikely to produce consistent or lasting improvements in corporate behaviour. The researchers conclude that effective consumer-protection policies should consider not only the size of penalties, but also the durability of behavioural change and the potential for unintended consequences, such as increased flight cancellations or strategic responses to regulatory thresholds.

More information: Hideki Fukui et al, Penalties as prices? evaluating airline strategic responses to tarmac delay penalties in the US, Transportation Research Part A Policy and Practice. DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2026.105063

Journal information: Transportation Research Part A Policy and Practice Provided by Ehime University

Consumers Place More Weight on Distrust Than Trust

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Opening the door to a holiday rental after a long journey only to find it hasn’t been cleaned as promised is enough to leave anyone feeling betrayed. According to new research led by Annabelle Roberts, assistant professor of marketing at the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin, that experience can have lasting consequences. Rather than simply distrusting the property owner responsible, consumers are more likely to approach their next holiday rental host with suspicion. Similar reactions can occur after receiving incorrect information from a customer service representative or being let down by a rideshare driver. “We’re trusting people all the time, whether we think about it that way or not,” Roberts says. “There are many situations where consumers need to decide whether to trust an unknown person, and they may use previous interactions with other people in similar settings as a reference point.”

To understand how trust transfers from one interaction to the next, Roberts and colleagues Emma Levine and Jane Risen of the University of Chicago conducted 21 studies involving nearly 12,000 participants. Ten studies used online trust games in which participants exchanged money with one partner before making trust decisions with another. The remaining studies presented everyday situations, such as asking a co-worker to keep a secret or lending an item to a neighbour. Participants then rated how willing they would be to trust a different person in a similar situation after learning whether their trust had been honoured or betrayed.

Across all 21 studies, the researchers found that even a single interaction shaped future expectations. Positive experiences increased participants’ willingness to trust someone else in a comparable setting, while negative experiences reduced it. Rather than judging each new person independently, people carried lessons from previous encounters into future interactions. The findings suggest that trust is not built from isolated events but from an accumulation of social experiences that influence expectations of others.

Roberts identified two reasons for this pattern. The first is emotional: being deceived or let down is unpleasant, making people more cautious about exposing themselves to similar risks in the future. The second is perceptual. People naturally categorise others into groups, meaning that a bad experience with one rideshare driver, holiday rental host, or service representative can shape expectations of others in the same role. “You’re updating your beliefs about the population with each interaction that you have,” Roberts explains.

The studies also showed that distrust develops more readily than trust. A negative interaction had roughly twice the impact of a positive one, particularly when someone deliberately exploited another person’s trust. Although the research focused on trust between individuals rather than organisations, the findings have important implications for businesses. Companies and service providers may encounter customers whose scepticism stems not from their own actions but from previous negative experiences with similar businesses. Responding promptly to problems and demonstrating reliability can help rebuild confidence over time.

Interestingly, the same pattern did not apply to artificial intelligence. When participants interacted with algorithms in trust games, even unfair outcomes did not reduce their willingness to trust other AI systems. Roberts suggests this is because people do not view interactions with AI as social in the same way they do interactions with humans. “This trust effect is specific to social interactions,” she says. “People don’t lump AI agents together, because they don’t see those interactions as social.” The findings highlight how strongly human relationships shape consumer trust—and how difficult it can be to overcome the effects of a single negative experience.

More information: Annabelle Roberts et al, Learning to distrust: One trust experience changes the expected value of trust, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2026.104930

Journal information: Journal of Experimental Social Psychology Provided by University of Texas at Austin

Gender Pay Disparities in Academia: What’s Behind Them?

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Gender pay gaps in academia have been documented for decades, but why they persist remains an open question. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) examined several leading explanations, including whether differences in research productivity, salary transparency and female representation among faculty account for the disparity. Researchers from the University of California San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy and Rady School of Management analysed faculty salaries across all 10 University of California campuses in anthropology, business, economics, political science, sociology and several smaller social science disciplines. Overall, women earned 23% less than men. After accounting for field, campus and career start date, the gap narrowed to 4.3%, suggesting that other factors contribute to the remaining difference.

One common explanation is that men earn more because they produce more research. To test this, the researchers matched University of California salary records with publication and citation data from Scopus author profiles, while also accounting for academic rank. Faculty with more publications and citations generally earned higher salaries, confirming that research output influences pay. However, including these measures had little effect on the remaining 4.3% gender pay gap. “We tested one of the most common explanations for gender pay gaps in academia: that differences in pay reflect differences in measurable productivity,” said corresponding author Elizabeth Lyons, associate professor at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. “What we found is that productivity matters for pay, but it does not explain away the gender gap.”

The researchers also explored whether salary transparency helps reduce pay inequities. Because faculty salaries in the University of California system are publicly available, the university provided a natural setting to examine this idea. Despite this transparency, gender pay disparities remained. The findings do not suggest that making salaries public lacks value, the authors note, but they indicate that transparency by itself is unlikely to eliminate pay inequities without additional institutional changes.

The study also revealed that gender pay gaps differed substantially across academic disciplines. After accounting for observable factors, significant pay gaps remained in business, sociology and anthropology. In contrast, no statistically detectable gap was found in economics, political science or the smaller social science fields grouped as “other.” One of the most striking comparisons involved economics and anthropology. Women represented fewer than one in five economics faculty members during the study period, yet no measurable pay gap was detected. By contrast, anthropology had roughly equal numbers of male and female faculty, but women still earned about 93 cents for every dollar earned by men. “Women’s representation in the faculty matters and deserves to be better understood, but it won’t necessarily fix the pay gap,” said co-author Gaurav Khanna. “Representation does not necessarily predict pay equality.”

The variation among disciplines suggests that structural differences may influence compensation. Economics and political science often have more centralised academic labour markets and clearer standards for evaluating research. At the same time, anthropology and sociology place greater emphasis on books and monographs, making scholarly output more difficult to compare consistently. Business disciplines may also be affected by differences among specialisations, with men more heavily represented in higher-paying areas such as finance. These differences may help explain why pay gaps are more pronounced in some fields than others.

Although the study does not identify a single solution, it suggests that universities could learn from disciplines where pay disparities are smaller. “The variation across fields matters because it shows these gaps are not inevitable,” said co-author Marta Serra-Garcia, professor at the Rady School of Management. “It also gives universities a place to start—by asking what fields with smaller gaps may be doing differently.” The findings suggest that closing gender pay gaps will likely require more than improving productivity measures, increasing transparency or expanding female representation alone. Instead, institutions may need to examine how discipline-specific hiring, evaluation and compensation practices shape salary outcomes.

More information: Ayelet Gneezy et al, Gender pay gaps in the social sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2524119123

Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Provided by University of California – San Diego

Can China Maintain Grid Reliability While Phasing Out Coal?

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China’s rapid expansion of renewable energy is transforming its electricity system and raising an important question: can the country maintain grid reliability while phasing out coal? Wind and solar power are inherently variable, and as their share of electricity generation grows, conventional coal plants are expected to operate fewer hours while the power system requires greater flexibility. According to a study published in Energy and Climate Management on 25 May 2026, variable renewable energy accounted for 18.2% of China’s electricity generation in 2024. It could reach 65–70% by 2060, making flexibility increasingly critical to maintaining a stable electricity supply.

Researchers led by Tsinghua University explored this challenge using causal loop diagrams to analyse the interactions among renewable deployment, energy storage, electricity markets, capacity payments, and coal retirement. Their analysis suggests that while China’s current coal capacity payment mechanism can help stabilise revenues for coal plants during the energy transition, it may also create unintended consequences. Because payments primarily support existing coal and gas generators, emerging flexible resources—including battery storage, demand-side response, distributed energy resources, and virtual power plants—may receive limited support. The study also notes that administratively determined payments risk overcompensating generators, discouraging innovation, and delaying the retirement of inefficient coal plants.

The paper compares China’s approach with the United Kingdom’s capacity market, where competitive auctions procure reliable capacity from multiple technologies. This market-based system helps reveal the value of reliability while encouraging broader participation from different resources. However, the authors caution that capacity market design remains important. If all technologies are rewarded equally without accounting for storage duration, short-duration batteries may be favoured even though longer-duration resources are better suited to maintaining reliability during prolonged periods of system stress.

Energy storage is identified as a key source of system flexibility. Battery energy storage systems can absorb excess renewable electricity and discharge it when demand increases, reducing renewable curtailment and improving grid stability. However, China’s earlier storage mandates produced mixed results. Although they accelerated deployment, the average utilisation rate of mandated storage projects was only 9% in 2023. The study attributes this largely to limited market access and insufficient revenue opportunities, noting that thermal generators received 91.4% of ancillary service market revenues during the first half of 2023.

To better integrate storage, the authors recommend deepening electricity market reforms by expanding spot markets, easing restrictive price caps, and creating more competitive ancillary service markets. These changes would allow storage operators to earn revenue through energy arbitrage, frequency regulation, capacity mechanisms, and other grid services. Rather than requiring individual renewable projects to pair with dedicated storage, the study argues that flexibility should be treated as a shared, system-wide resource that can be deployed where it delivers the greatest benefit.

Looking further ahead, the study identifies long-duration energy storage as an essential component of a fully decarbonised power system, estimating that China could require more than 700 GW of such capacity by 2060. It also proposes strategic reserves as a transitional measure, allowing selected retired coal plants to remain available for emergency use outside the regular electricity market. Overall, the authors recommend piloting competitive capacity markets, expanding revenue streams for storage, supporting long-duration storage technologies, strengthening carbon pricing through an emissions cap and price floor, and using strategic reserves where necessary to maintain grid reliability while accelerating the transition away from coal.

More information: Ying Zhou et al, Maintaining security of power supply in the context of technological change driven by low-carbon transition, Energy and Climate Management. DOI: 10.26599/ECM.2026.9400033

Journal information: Energy and Climate Management Provided by Tsinghua University Press

Guiding Principles for the Future of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming healthcare at an unprecedented pace, yet many hospitals lack practical guidance for evaluating new AI tools beyond their financial cost. To address this gap, University of Virginia (UVA) Health emergency medicine physician R. Andrew Taylor, MD, MHS, and Clemson University researcher Arwen B.L. Declan, MD, PhD, have developed the Total Mission Value framework. Their model is designed to help healthcare organizations adopt AI while ensuring that high-quality, patient-centred care remains the primary focus.

The framework is presented in a new paper that argues healthcare organizations should evaluate AI through an ethical lens rather than focusing solely on efficiency or cost savings. Taylor and Declan emphasize that hospitals face increasing pressure to adopt AI quickly, but they need a structured approach that considers how these technologies affect patients, healthcare professionals, and communities.

At the centre of the Total Mission Value framework is a pyramid that places patient care and the patient experience at its highest priority. The model is grounded in ethical principles and supported by economic sustainability, reinforcing the idea that AI should strengthen healthcare delivery by supporting clinicians rather than replacing them or adding unnecessary administrative burdens.

“AI is being adopted in medicine at a scope and velocity we have never seen before, but hospitals haven’t had a good way to weigh these decisions as a whole,” said Taylor, Vice Chair of Research and Innovation in UVA’s Department of Emergency Medicine. He noted that organizations often prioritize cost because it is the easiest factor to measure. In contrast, the new framework encourages hospitals also to evaluate AI’s impact on patients, staff, and quality of care.

While acknowledging AI’s enormous potential to improve diagnostic accuracy, care delivery, operational efficiency, population health, and research, the authors also caution that these technologies present significant risks. AI systems can introduce bias, lack transparency, disrupt the healthcare workforce, and weaken the patient-clinician relationship if implemented without careful evaluation.

To address these challenges, the framework incorporates five ethically grounded priorities: patient care, staff experience, hospital operations, economic impact, and education and research. Patient care remains the highest priority, emphasizing integrity, honesty, trust, compassion, respect, and truly patient-centred care. Staff experience focuses on using AI to strengthen workforce development, teamwork, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Declan explained that healthcare organizations must resist evaluating AI solely through financial or operational measures. “Hospitals are seeing a huge number of new AI tools marketed to improve healthcare. The challenge is to figure out which ones actually will,” she said. She emphasized that meaningful evaluation requires balancing clinical, operational, and financial outcomes while ensuring patient care remains central to every decision.

Ultimately, Taylor and Declan argue that hospitals must never lose sight of their defining mission: providing exceptional patient care. Taylor hopes the framework will accelerate responsible AI adoption by building trust among clinicians and patients. “Technology should help us take better care of people,” he said. “If we keep that as the goal, the efficiency and the savings tend to follow.”

More information: Arwen BL Declan et al, Integrating mission-aligned value with cost to assess the economic impact of AI in healthcare, npj Digital Medicine. DOI: 10.1038/s41746-026-02892-z

Journal information: npj Digital Medicine Provided by University of Virginia Health System

Pusan National Study Sheds Light on Cryptocurrencies’ Hedging Role Amid Market Instability

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The rapid expansion of sustainable finance has fuelled growing interest in green investments, including green bonds, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) funds, and energy-efficient cryptocurrencies. While these assets are often grouped under the broader umbrella of green finance, little is known about how they interact during periods of market instability. Investors often view green bonds and ESG funds as both ethical and financially resilient investments, while green cryptocurrencies have emerged as lower-energy alternatives to traditional digital assets. Whether these investments complement one another or increase portfolio risk has remained an open question.

A new study led by Professor Sang Hoon Kang of Pusan National University investigated the interconnectedness between seven green cryptocurrencies and three major green financial benchmarks. Analysing daily market data from November 2017 to July 2024, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers examined how risk is transmitted across sustainable financial markets under different market conditions. Their findings were published in Financial Innovation on 9 June 2026. “As green cryptocurrencies are getting more integrated into sustainable investment portfolios, we wanted to understand their hedging capability and how it differs from traditional green finance options,” explained Prof. Kang.

The research team used a quantile vector autoregression framework, an advanced statistical approach that captures market behaviour during bearish, normal, and bullish conditions. Unlike conventional methods that focus on average market relationships, this approach reveals how risk transmission changes during periods of extreme market stress and strong growth.

The analysis uncovered a pronounced U-shaped pattern in market connectedness. During relatively stable periods, interactions between green cryptocurrencies and traditional green assets remained moderate, allowing investors to benefit from diversification. However, connectedness increased sharply during both market downturns and market booms, causing assets to move more closely together and reducing the effectiveness of diversification.

Portfolio analysis showed that traditional green assets offered only limited protection against volatility originating in green cryptocurrencies. Among the digital assets studied, Cardano and Stellar were the strongest transmitters of volatility across the sustainable finance ecosystem. By contrast, green bonds, clean energy indices, and ESG investments consistently acted as net receivers of volatility, absorbing shocks generated elsewhere in the market.

The findings challenge the common assumption that green financial assets function as reliable safe havens. Although green bonds and ESG investments are often regarded as defensive portfolio components, they remained vulnerable to shocks originating in green cryptocurrency markets, particularly during periods of heightened uncertainty.

The study also demonstrated that major global events strengthened these market connections. Interconnectedness rose significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic and remained elevated during subsequent geopolitical disruptions, reducing diversification benefits and increasing the spread of risk across sustainable asset classes.

As green cryptocurrencies become increasingly integrated into investment portfolios, recognising these asymmetric risk spillovers will be essential. “While investors may need to adopt more dynamic portfolio strategies, regulators should consider measures aimed at monitoring and managing systemic risks associated with emerging green digital assets,” said Prof. Kang. The findings provide new evidence that sustainability-focused investments are not immune to financial contagion and could help investors, fund managers, and policymakers develop more effective risk monitoring and regulatory frameworks for the evolving green finance ecosystem.

More information: Walid Mensi et al, Are green bonds and green energy markets hedges for green cryptocurrencies? A quantile VAR approach, Financial Innovation. DOI: 10.1186/s40854-025-00868-8

Journal information: Financial Innovation Provided by Pusan National University

The Relationship Between Sports Betting Legalization and Household Savings

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The legalisation of sports betting, combined with the rapid growth of mobile platforms such as DraftKings and FanDuel, has made wagering more accessible than ever. While these apps market sports betting as an exciting form of entertainment, new research suggests that increased accessibility is also changing household financial behaviour. Rather than simply shifting spending away from other leisure activities, many individuals are reducing their long-term savings and investments to fund gambling.

A study by BYU Marriott School of Business professors Mark Johnson and Jason Kotter, published in the Journal of Financial Economics, analysed financial transaction data from approximately 184,000 households. The researchers found that households reduced their net investments in brokerage accounts by an average of 20% after sports betting became legal in their state. Among the most frequent bettors, investment deposits declined by more than 50%, with roughly 20 cents of every dollar wagered representing money that otherwise would have been invested for the future.

The findings suggest that many people increasingly view sports betting as a legitimate investment opportunity rather than simply a recreational activity. Although betting may occasionally produce large payouts, the researchers emphasise that long-term financial outcomes are overwhelmingly negative. Unlike diversified investments, such as index funds, sports betting rarely generates consistent returns over time, making it an unreliable strategy for building wealth.

Johnson and Kotter were initially surprised by the source of gambling funds. They expected sports betting to replace other discretionary spending, such as dining out or attending entertainment events. Instead, the evidence showed that many households reduced regular investment contributions to finance betting activity. The repeal of the federal ban on sports betting has therefore shifted gambling beyond entertainment by creating the perception that it offers a realistic opportunity for financial gain.

The researchers argue that sports fans may be particularly vulnerable to overconfidence. Because many people closely follow their favourite teams and players, they often believe they possess unique knowledge that gives them an advantage over other bettors. In reality, only a very small proportion of gamblers consistently outperform the odds or achieve profits over extended periods.

The study also found that perceptions of sports betting become more favourable during periods of economic uncertainty. When confidence in traditional investments declines, some individuals begin viewing gambling as an alternative means of achieving financial success. This tendency appears especially common among younger adults, many of whom perceive major financial goals, such as home ownership, as increasingly difficult to achieve through conventional saving and investing alone.

Beyond reducing savings, frequent bettors also increased spending in sports-related categories, including restaurants, bars, and cable television. These complementary expenses further increase the financial impact of gambling, as betting often becomes part of a broader social and entertainment experience. Consequently, households experience both reduced investment contributions and higher overall discretionary spending.

Johnson and Kotter conclude that sports betting is likely to remain a permanent feature of the financial landscape, making education and harm reduction increasingly important. They argue that public awareness should focus on correcting misconceptions about gambling as an investment by highlighting the actual probabilities of long-term financial success. Helping individuals distinguish between entertainment and investing may reduce the financial risks associated with the growing accessibility of online sports betting.

More information: Scott Baker et al, Gambling away stability: Sports betting’s impact on vulnerable households, Journal of Financial Economics. DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2026.104330

Journal information: Journal of Financial Economics Provided by Brigham Young University

Research shows golf delivers nearly €630 million in societal value in Finland

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A new study published in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living has found that golf generates substantial value for Finnish society. While golf players spend approximately €330 million on the sport each year, the total societal benefits are estimated at nearly €630 million. The research assessed golf’s impact in Finland during 2021 by examining both the economic activity generated through player spending and the wider public benefits arising from increased physical activity, improved well-being and reduced healthcare costs. Using the Social Return on Investment (SROI) framework, the study calculated an SROI ratio of 1.9, rising to 2.4 when broader economic multiplier effects were included.

The research was based on an online survey completed by 1,052 members of the Finnish Golf Union in May 2021, alongside financial data from ten golf courses, national economic statistics and previous research. The study was led by Julia Kettinen, a visiting researcher at the University of Eastern Finland and postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zürich, in collaboration with researchers from Finland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The SROI methodology measures the social, economic and health value generated relative to the investment made, providing a comprehensive picture of golf’s contribution beyond direct financial returns.

Golf players’ annual spending of around €330 million supports a wide range of sectors across Finland. The largest share, approximately €150 million, was spent on shareholder fees, club memberships, green fees and other playing costs. Golf equipment purchases accounted for around €59 million, while domestic golf tourism contributed €50 million. This spending flows throughout the wider economy, supporting employment, local suppliers, subcontractors and tourism services, with significant contributions to wages and regional businesses.

The study also highlighted golf’s important role in promoting physical activity. Survey results showed that 89% of respondents participated in at least four hours of physical activity each week, while 59% engaged in more than two hours of vigorous exercise weekly, well above the Finnish average. As a result, golf participation was estimated to generate around €80.9 million in annual societal savings and additional public revenues. The largest benefits came from increased tax revenue, reduced costs of institutional care for older adults and lower disability pension expenditure.

Overall, the SROI analysis combined three major sources of value: players’ enjoyment and well-being, economic activity generated across Finland and public-sector savings linked to improved health. Together, these produced an estimated €630 million in total societal benefits, with the figure rising to approximately €770 million after accounting for wider economic multiplier effects. The resulting SROI ratios align closely with comparable studies examining the value of sport and physical activity in other countries.

According to Julia Kettinen, the findings demonstrate that golf is far more than a leisure activity. While golfers invest €330 million annually for their own enjoyment, they simultaneously generate roughly €300 million in additional value for society. Beyond stimulating economic activity, golf encourages sustained physical activity, particularly among middle-aged and older adults, for whom regular exercise has the greatest potential to reduce healthcare costs and deliver long-term benefits for society.

More information: Julia Kettinen et al, The social significance of golf in Finland in the year 2021 based on SROI analysis, Frontiers in Sports and Active Living. DOI: 10.3389/fspor.2026.1832817

Journal information: Frontiers in Sports and Active Living Provided by University of Eastern Finland