Media Coverage

Issues of accommodation and flexibility are at the new frontier of job design.

Before the pandemic, employers largely maintained that remote work was too cumbersome to allow, with some expressing concerns that individualized accommodations could be perceived as unfair to others. Working from home was rarely offered as an accommodation unless legally protected disabilities were documented.

But the global experiment of working from home, launched by COVID-19 nearly two years ago, changed that: Suddenly, everyone got sent home to work from whatever nook or cranny they could carve out, and heaven and earth got moved to make remote work work.

This shift to widespread remote work effectively leveled the playing field for some. People with mobility issues, for example, had the same chance to work as their nondisabled counterparts without having to face their usual hardships, such as having to arrive at the train station by 6 a.m. to access one of the few designated parking spots, or having to move on to another station if the elevator was broken.

Even though NFTs are strictly digital assets, they’re still taxed just like physical assets, according to tax and technology experts.

“If you sell anything in the physical world, will you have to pay taxes?” said Merav Ozair, Ph.D., a financial tech expert at Rutgers University who specializes in cryptocurrency. “If I sell anything, I will have to record it on my tax report and pay taxes… So if in the physical world it makes sense to you, then why not in the digital world, right? It's an asset, like any asset, whether it's digital or it is physical, there's no difference.”

Inflation has climbed at its highest rate in nearly 40 years, forcing New Jerseyans to dig deeper to pay for everything from cupcakes to automobiles.
Experts say rising prices are the result of an economy that is out of kilter. While demand is sky-high, the supply of products is coming back slowly from being shut down during the pandemic.

The overall CPI, however, began to pick up last year as the global economy awoke from the pandemic to find manufacturers couldn't keep up with their customers' demand, said Farrokh Langdana, professor of finance and economics at Rutgers Business School in Newark and New Brunswick.

In this blog, we reach out to Kevin Lyons, the associate professor of supply chain archeology at the Rutgers Business School in New Jersey, and Arnon Melo, managing director of MELLOHAWK Logistics, one of EDC’s customers, to discuss the importance of supply chain sustainability.

What is it?
Supply chain sustainability is a business strategy implemented by an organization to ensure its supply chain network has a minimum impact on people (human rights, the health and safety of employees) and the planet.

What are some of the worst non-sustainable supply chain examples you’ve seen?

Lyons: Exploitation of workers and exposure of these workers to non-environmentally responsible conditions. One example is chemicals used in the clothing industry that harm the workers and clean water systems where they’re disposed or dumped. Another non-sustainable practice is the inefficient use of energy within the supply chain, including logistics and warehousing. For example, if your company has to lease extra warehouse space to store overstock. Not only are you wasting energy moving the excess inventory, but also on the costs to store it until it’s sold. Ideally, you only want to have enough stock in your warehouse to fill your client orders. Producing and shipping using the just-in-time concept can help make your supply chain more sustainable.

After years of handwringing, lawmakers finally may be taking action to support the manufacturing sector

But the bill falls short of assigning responsibility for the maintenance of such a sprawling database once it is established, said Kevin Lyons, an associate professor of supply chain management at the Rutgers Business School. If it works, Lyons said, the database can “provide alternatives in real-time” in the event that “a manufacturer cannot meet the timeline for delivery or cost.”

"If you think about Bitcoin, this is what we can think about as a DeFi decentralised payment system. Now, you can take it to the next level," Dr Merav Ozair, leading blockchain expert and a FinTech professor at Rutgers Business School, told Euronews Next.

"Bitcoin can only do payments. That's it. Nothing else. So you can think about Ethereum as like the next generation. And Ethereum said, 'OK, this is a nice concept, Bitcoin. Let's create, a playground to allow for all other applications to happen," she said.

Ethereum expanded the use of the blockchain beyond a simple payment system and gave tools to developers to create entire programmes that could be stored on them. These came to be known as smart contracts.

"Any contract that you do in the real world, whether you're taking a mortgage or you're asking for a loan or you would like to trade some stock or bond, it's rule-based. So, this rule base can be coded," said Ozair.

And that’s exactly what smart contracts are, pieces of code that automatically execute actions if certain parameters are met.

“[Manufacturers] have a whole series of contracts they’re bidding on,” says David Dreyfus, an assistant professor of supply chain management at Rutgers University Business School who specializes in health care operations. “When they win these contracts, they sort of have to scramble and say, oh boy, we got a big one here. What are we gonna do? And who’s going to be pushed off until later?”

Terri Kurtzberg, PhD, a researcher and professor of negotiation strategies and tactics at the Rutgers University Business School, says that the findings are “spot on.” “It resonates with my experience in the classroom,” she says. “If I give students three weeks to do an assignment, they will do it the night before.”

When there is no deadline attached to something, people are still aware that it needs to get done and can put pressure on themselves to work through it sooner, Dr. Kurtzberg says. “It’s low-hanging fruit. You want to answer it immediately and check it off, so you feel like you accomplished something,” she says.

So, whether you know you need a hand moving or want help with a work project, it could be helpful to leave any kind of deadline out of the equation. “If people know they’re never going to get a moment of pressure, they have to put it on themselves—and they usually will,” Dr. Kurtzberg says.

According to Dr Merav Ozair, a blockchain expert and a FinTech Professor at Rutgers Business School in New Jersey in the United States, the hack happened on the “bridge,” which is Layer 2, not Layer 1 and was therefore not the cryptocurrencies that were themselves hacked.

Blockchain expert and a FinTech Professor at Rutgers Business School
Layer 1 is the term that’s used to describe the underlying main blockchain architecture (ie, a blockchain, such as Ethereum or Solana, Avalanche or Algorand). She said layer 1 is almost impossible to hack.

But Ozair explained that Layer 2, the overlaying network that lies on top of the underlying blockchain (such as the Wormhole bridge), is less secure and therefore more vulnerable to code bug exploitations.

“Ethereum and Solana have not been ‘hacked,’ the bridge has been. The analogous is that – if you have a bridge between 2 cities, the ‘attack’ occurred on the bridge between the cities, but each city has not been ‘attacked’ or damaged,” she told Euronews Next.

“Therefore, the solution should be in creating more secure blockchain bridges, shielding any potential ‘attacks’”.

Rutgers Business School's Dr. Merav Ozair explains how the Infrastructure Bill could hurt crypto.

Key points
Blockchain expert Dr. Merav Ozair believes the new Infrastructure Bill could damage the cryptocurrency industry and is built on misconceptions.
New tax requirements don't take into account the way crypto differs from stock investments.

Celebrity chefs and restaurateurs are betting on issuing non-fungible tokens or NFTs as a new way to diversify their revenue stream as the Covid-19 pandemic hit the dining industry hard – and new variants have made recovery even harder.

“Everyone is trying now, especially with the entertainment [industry], trying to allow people back to come and experience in house, because they haven’t done that for a while,” said Prof Merav Ozair, a blockchain expert and a FinTech Professor at Rutgers Business School.

Gathering collectibles as part of the gaming experience is a great way to drive people back into brick-and-mortar restaurants, she added.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued a revised statement in December that simplifies definitions used in financial reporting — Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts Statement No. 8, (CON 8), chapter 4, “Elements of Financial Statements,” which supersedes Concepts Statement No. 6 (CON 6), “Elements of Financial Statements.” FASB’s objective was to eliminate much of the terminology that created difficulties in applying and understanding the prior elements. With few exceptions, the Board stated that the impact of the statement is not expected to significantly change the population of assets and liabilities or modify the classification of revenues, gains, expenses and losses.

Nonetheless, a careful analysis of 36 comment letters responding to FASB’s Exposure Draft since July 2020 seems to indicate that the revised concepts statement could result in changes in the population of assets and liabilities as well as impact the classification of items on the income statement.

“Our desire for instant gratification hasn’t disappeared,” Rutgers Business School Professor Ashwani Monga wrote in an email. “But we have accepted that gratification may not be as ‘instant’ as it used to be. Patience is being forced upon us. Even after the supply chains stabilize, the sudden stockouts and delayed deliveries will remain seared in our memory, particularly because these events have coincided with emotional scars from the times we live in--the economic, physical, and psychological pain that the pandemic wrought upon so many.”

Monga thinks this time will scar us: “The remnants of both the pain and the forced patience will likely stay with us, long after the pandemic is gone, just as the events of the Great Depression influenced consumers for decades afterward.”

Similarly, a study by Hilal Atasoy at Rutgers Business School finds that during the late 1990s and early 2000s, federal policy programs aimed at expanding broadband internet access led to a substantial increase in the employment rate, especially in rural areas. An important chunk—about 40 percent—of the estimated employment gains were driven by greater labor force participation, suggesting that a decline in job-search costs was one of the drivers of the increase in employment.

New research also suggests, however, that the returns to internet access can be unequal. In the same study, Atasoy finds that, all else being equal, the positive effect of broadband on employment was greater in counties and industries in which a larger share of the workforce had a college degree.

It’s almost a testament, the determination to make your child happy. I was wondering what was your son’s reaction when he first got to hold like a… I don’t know if he got to see like demos or if he got to see the fully-produced figure, but what was his reaction when he first got to hold Sun-Man?
Well, he did see stages of it, so he loved it, but I can tell you how I really knew he had a wonderful reaction was, I went to pick him up at the nursery school one day and all the kids swarmed me, squealing, yelling around my legs. And I was like, “What’s going on here?” And they said, “Menelik told us you can get us any toy we want.”

That’s hilarious. [Laughs]
That’s when I realized what it meant to him, because he was telling his friends about me and about the toy.

How do credit card companies decide whether or not to “instantly approve” an online applicant?

Several factors may influence the decision. The individual’s credit score is a basic indicator of overall creditworthiness. Additionally, other factors, such as prior delinquencies (accounts that are past due) and payment history weigh in as well.

An important factor, of course, is income. This must be disclosed in the application and can be compared to the debt level. Credit history may also feature in approval decisions, with a short credit history indicating an inexperienced borrower.

When does it make sense to worry about getting instant credit card approval?

The credit card company may initiate “hard inquiries” when an individual applies for several credit cards at the same time. Those who have had excessive credit card usage (using more than 30% of available credit) are viewed as engaging in potentially risky behavior as well. Any previous delinquencies and late payments on utility bills etc. are things to worry about since these will show up in the credit report.

The purchase of NFTs essentially gives people membership to a yet-to-open establishment promising omakase – and exclusivity.

Merav Ozair, a blockchain expert and fintech professor at Rutgers Business School, says this kind of use of NFTs might be new, but that she expects many more brands will follow suit. “People think of NFTs as the cute stuff, the Beeple and the fancy art,” she says, referring to the artist whose NFT sold for more than $69 million at a Christie’s auction. She thinks NFTs have the potential for broader use, like the way Flyfish will allow people to own, lease and sell their memberships.

“The power of NFTs is authentication – they facilitate the transition of ownership,” Ozair said. “When you think about it, everything in your life is about is transferring ownership.”

“The crazy thing is in the last several years, it really feels like based on your political affiliation, you’re operating on different facts,” Ponce de Leon added. “It’s hard to compromise when we can’t even agree on what reality is. It makes it almost impossible to talk about what the solutions are.”

Nancy DiTomaso, a professor of business and management at Rutgers Business School, said that is by design. As issues of racism and inequality persist and politicians and others offer possible solutions, she said, there has been an effort “orchestrated by right-wing billionaires who have put together organizations to try to change the conversation.” Those include conservative-leaning think tanks and other entities that try to influence politics, higher education, the judiciary and more.

“To some extent, the rush among Republican legislators to try to prevent people from talking about racial inequality is another manifestation [of the] wish to keep things hidden … under wraps,” she added.

And when investors sell, they don't just sell in one asset class. Retail investors and institutional investors might sell assets to cover for losses in other ones. If crypto was once a hedge from inflation and traditional market forces, that era may be long gone. "There was a time when you could think about Bitcoin as a way to diversify from the market," but that's no longer the case, said Merav Ozair, a blockchain expert and fintech professor at Rutgers Business School.

"When people panic, they panic cross-border."

NFT experts and artists say they’re wary of Meta’s gambit for a number of reasons. It’s a centralized business, while the NFT community prizes decentralization and autonomy. Meta has tried to censor content on its platform, while NFT artists value free expression. There’s also the suspicion that Meta is only jumping on the bandwagon to capitalize on a Web3 innovation that can make a lot of money. In January, NFT trading broke records, topping $4 billion in sales on OpenSea as celebrities and fashion brands got involved.

Decentralized art sales don’t “resonate well with a company like Facebook,” said Merav Ozair, a blockchain expert and a fintech professor at Rutgers Business School. Ozair says she is dubious of the degree of control Meta will have on price manipulation of the art, highlighting an example of how Meta plans to track people’s movement in the metaverse.

News 12 spoke with professor David Dreyfus, who teaches supply chain management at Rutgers Business School, two weeks ago when many hoped the COVID-19-related situation would be solved by now.

“If you are going to the store, certainly check around and see what others are finding,” says Dreyfus. “Ask friends or neighbors going to the store to look for you for items that may be at a different store. You could of course call the store and see if they have a specific item in stock."

Visakhapatnam: The three-day Academy of International Business (AIB) South Asia Conference (SAC) began here at the Indian Institute of Management Visakhapatnam (IIMV), the hosts, in virtual mode on Sunday.

In the keynote address, Prof. Farok Contractor, President AIB, and distinguished professor, Rutgers Business School, USA, highlighted the agenda of SAC and spoke about the importance of studying international business. He emphasized the roles of international business leading to sustainable development in South Asian economies.

A recent academic study looking at the performance of IRAs found some “striking and unexpected” results. First, for those who make less than $200,000 (or “low-income”), returns on Roth IRAs were 3.6% from 2004 to 2018, versus 8.5% for those who make more (or “high-income”). Further, the Sharpe ratio for those with lower returns was 50% higher (.49 versus .32).

“At the aggregate level, the risk-adjusted performances of IRA plans are comparable to that of the aggregate equity market,” Lorenzo Bretscher of London Business School, Riccardo Sabbatucci of Stockholm School of Economics and Andrea Tamoni of Rutgers Business School write in their paper, “The Unintended Consequences of Roth IRAs.”

“However,” they write, “high-income individuals substantially outperform low-income ones, and this return differential is almost three times as large in ‘tax-free’ Roth IRAs, suggesting that their introduction, intended to help hard-working, middle-class Americans, greatly benefited high-income individuals and amplified wealth inequality.”

The latest restaurant to be launched upon New York’s crowded dining scene does not yet have premises or a menu and will only serve diners who have purchased a token using the digital currency ethereum.

In spite of these drawbacks, or perhaps because of them, tokens giving the holder the right to eat at this establishment at some time in the future were trading this week for $21,000.

Flyfish Club, which is due to open in 2023, has been set up by three restaurateurs and a digital marketing entrepreneur and is being billed as the “world’s first NFT restaurant.”

Merav Ozair, an expert in blockchain technology and a fintech professor at Rutgers Business School, thought the group behind Flyfish Club would need to steadily provide added benefits for token holders.

“This is how they are really going to increase the value,” she said. If they did not, the value of the assets would be entirely based on the quality of the restaurant “and this is super risky.”

Merav Ozair, a blockchain expert and fintech professor at Rutgers Business School, says this kind of use of NFTs might be new, but that she expects many more brands will follow suit. “People think of NFTs as the cute stuff, the Beeple and the fancy art,” she says, referring to the artist whose NFT sold for more than $69 million at a Christie’s auction. She thinks NFTs have the potential for broader use, like the way Flyfish will allow people to own, lease and sell their memberships.

“The power of NFTs is authentication — they facilitate the transition of ownership,” Ozair said. “When you think about it, everything in your life is about is transferring ownership.”

Darryl Morris, Talk Radio TV in the UK, interviewed Dr. Merav Ozair about NFTs. "What is an NFT and is there a succinct and easy way of you describing it?"

We speak with Dr. Merav Ozair, Leading Blockchain expert and FinTech Professor at Rutgers Business School, about NFTs and the turbulent removal of the founders of the Pudgy Penguins project.

Temidayo Adepoju discusses the role observation units play in hospital capacity and cost management.

Watch video 10:31

“What we’ve been seeing and hearing is there are shortages of various products at different places – really scattered,” says David Dreyfus, assistant professor of supply chain management at Rutgers Business School.
Dreyfus says that there are still international shipping problems causing supply chain issues. But he says that Omicron is making things worse industry-wide.

“All those people involved in making sure these items make it to our retails places or to the places we may order items online – it’s slowing down because there just isn’t enough labor to keep the same momentum we are used to,” Dreyfus says.

Jeana Wirtenberg, an associate professor at Rutgers Business School, associate director of the Rutgers Institute for Corporate Social Innovation, and the CEO of Transitioning to Green, said a marker of business success is being able to converge company growth with service to the environment.

At Transitioning to Green, a global management-consulting firm that helps companies integrate sustainability into their organizations, Wirtenberg's team is rolling out simulations and games, including an ecological-footprint game in which people can calculate their carbon emissions.

When do you think it makes sense to seek out a credit card with no credit check for new applicants?

If an applicant has a hard time getting a credit card with a traditional vendor, then they may want to look at alternative providers. As with all credit cards, you should get one only if you believe you have the means and discipline to pay it off in full each month. The rate of interest most credit cards charge is usually much higher than the rate at which your savings grows. If you have no savings, I would suggest setting on a path to reduce debt so you can eventually start saving.

Researchers examine every Supreme Court case involving at least one public company between 1946 and 2018

Academics, non-academics, the popular press and citizens frequently speculate and look for clues to predict the outcome of these cases, often with limited success. Do the financial markets, with their collective intellect and wisdom, and efficiency in processing information, also anticipate Supreme Court decisions relating to the corporate world? Can they correctly predict the impact of the actions of the justices, on average?

These are some of the questions we posed in our recent paper, ‘Do financial markets anticipate corporate-related decisions of the United States Supreme Court?’

Merav Ozair, a blockchain expert and Rutgers Business School professor, agrees, adding that the metaverse could disrupt education.

“Education and learning will be a big beneficiary,” she notes. “Education is pretty expensive but once you create a metaverse emulating in-person experiences, you will be able to learn from anywhere and with anyone. You won’t have to spend tens of thousands to travel to a particular school.”

Meanwhile, analysts say the metaverse will be a boon for cryptocurrencies, noting that its development will mark an inflexion point for their usage. As virtual-world platforms take off, stablecoins will likely win the race as most tokens are still too volatile.

Ozair agrees: “The metaverse is a virtual world; you cannot function without virtual currency."

"I am advocating for a truly decentralized, algorithmic-based stablecoin, something similar to DAI (an Ethereum-run decentralized currency pegged to the dollar) or even better,” She adds. "So far, Bitcoin can’t scale and Tether has too many regulatory issues and question marks.”

“I started talking to other mothers and found out they were having the same problem,” Yla Eason, assistant professor of professional practice adds. “They couldn’t find any Black superhero toys for their boys either.”

Out of that absence, Olmec Toys and its flagship figure, Sun-Man, were created in 1985. Now, almost 40 years later, Sun-Man is seeing a resurgence. Thanks to a partnership with Mattel Toys – and in a piece of “sweet irony,” Ms. Eason says – Sun-Man will be sold alongside He-Man as part of the Masters of the Universe collection. Under the partnership licensing agreement, Mattel will be reproducing Sun-Man and the Rulers of the Sun toy collection, but Ms. Eason will retain rights to the property. The toys are slated for a first-quarter release in 2022.

Envisant, a CUSO that is operated as part of the Illinois Credit Union System, became the first CUSO to sponsor Filene Research Institute’s Center of Excellence for Innovation and Incubation, Filene announced on Wednesday.

The Madison, Wis.-based think tank’s Center of Excellence for Innovation and Incubation, first announced in March 2021, is a three-year research project designed to measure and develop credit union innovation capabilities. Credit unions will benefit by gaining access to new insights and resources that will help them become leaders in providing innovative products and services that meet consumers’ current demands, according to Filene. The project is being led by Dr. Jeffrey Robinson, associate professor and academic director of The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development at Rutgers Business School.

Also threatened by Manchin’s announcement are plans for a significant funding increase for the Internal Revenue Service. The agency’s rate of auditing the wealthy has plunged due to budget cuts, a trend “that sends a message to people that they can do as they please with very little risk of consequences,” said Jay Soled, a Rutgers University professor and tax attorney.

Farrokh Langdana, professor & Executive MBA program director

“Dr. Farrokh Langdana is an inspiration and a treasure to all of us who have been through the Rutgers Executive MBA program. His Macroeconomics and International Trade Classes are more than classes – they are experiences that will stay with me. He manages to provide exactly the right level of content to prepare C-suite leaders for their roles, while simultaneously incorporating memorable lessons on leadership, history, global perspectives, current events, art, poetry and more. His classes helped to widen my lens and I was able to see facets of the businesses I support and my life with a new perspective.”

Denise Weber, Rutgers University

“At least until this point, people had tons of money saved up, and from a psychological perspective, they were feeling deprived that they hadn’t purchased stuff [earlier in the pandemic],” Monga said.

But inflation means that people are paying more for the same items (including necessities like food and gas) that they were buying before. Compounding the matter, some people continue to overbuy items for their household out of fear there will be a shortage, and that can raise prices.

“We are in a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Ashwani Monga, a marketing professor at Rutgers University, told Fortune. “People think there are shortages, so they go and they buy more, and there is low supply for others, and prices go up.”

You can also try reaching out directly to the carrier. “If it’s actually in transit, the retailer more than likely will have just about as much information as you. Once it’s left them, it’s really in the hands of that transportation provider at that point,” says G. Tony Bell, an assistant professor in the department of supply chain management at Rutgers Business School.

“Spending time in the communities that surround Rutgers and throughout New Jersey and getting to know the people is so important. What are they dealing with on a daily basis? That’s what matters to them, and so it matters to us,” says Kevin Lyons, a core faculty member of Rutgers Global Health Institute. Lyons, an associate professor at Rutgers Business School–Newark and New Brunswick, has been doing research in Newark related to municipal purchasing disparities, with an eye toward supporting local economic development and resilience by way of ensuring that locally owned businesses have equitable opportunities to offer their goods and services to the city’s large anchor institutions.

“Everyone is grappling with a lot right now. Their openness about their experiences is invaluable, because we can only begin to have an impact once we understand those dynamics better,” says Lyons, whose business acumen and networking connections helped the Equitable Recovery program launch in the South Ward.

Will credit cards be used 15 or 20 years from now? In what form?

My feeling is that credit will still be around in 10-15 years, but perhaps the plastic cards will be replaced with electronic forms such as cell phone-based apps. One thing is certain; our lives will be increasingly embedded within the digital environment.
Sengun (Shen) YeniyurtAssociate Professor in the Supply Chain Management and Marketing Sciences Department at Rutgers Business School

But bitcoin (BTC) prices jumped after the Fed decision was announced at 2 p.m. ET (19:00 UTC), signaling that traders may have been worried about an even more aggressive withdrawal of the stimulus and faster interest rate increases next year. The bitcoin price had fallen 15% just in December alone.

“The market went down before the fed announcement, so it’s probably correcting now,” Merav Ozair, a professor in the finance and economics department at Rutgers Business School, told CoinDesk in a phone interview. “Inflation is coming for sure, and we see it.”

Rutgers Business School (RBS) FinTech Professor & Leading Blockchain Expert Dr. Merav Ozair presents at MarketLit, Australia's first social media investment conference and answers:

1. What are NFTs and why is there so much excitement around them now?

2. What are the biggest applications for NFTs and what are some of the best ways for investors to get access to the NFT space?

3. How will the emergence of NFTs work with existing social media platforms?

4. Who do you think should be responsible for regulating social media, NFTs and emerging technology?

When bitcoin was introduced by the Satoshi white paper in 2008, it presented a novel and liberating concept – a peer-to-peer, decentralized payment system that can be used by anyone, anywhere and for everything. It did not require intermediaries or an exchange rate to function, and created a single globally used currency for any type of transaction.

Then greed got in the way.

The use case that it was supposed to deliver has somewhat faded. Instead of focusing on its initial intent – a payment method – the focus shifted to bitcoin as an investment vehicle, a store value, a digital gold.

Lyons is an associate professor at Rutgers Business School, where he focuses on supply chain management, and heads their Public Private Community Partnership Program. His research has focused on how to integrate the different aspects of the supply chain – including raw material extraction, logistics, manufacturing and design – into economic development, financial forecasting and environmental and social justice efforts at the local, nationwide and international levels. With shortages of raw materials and other products hindering economies everywhere, a major push has been to source locally and domestically. Lyons has been involved with the “Buy Newark” initiative, under which businesses in the state’s largest city purchase directly from Newark businesses. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s office said there’s been considerable buy-in from partners such as Rutgers-Newark, United Airlines, Verizon, Panasonic, and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. “We can make the local competitive,” Lyons said in a February interview, as long as local officials do their work to promote the goods and products made in the communities they lead.

“The beauty of it is that it allows you to facilitate transactions that are not possible in the physical world or that would be really complicated and costly,” Merav Ozair, a blockchain expert and a fintech professor at Rutgers Business School, told me.

She said NFTs can also be used to authenticate and transfer ownership of physical objects, like a rare bottle of scotch, in the real world.

"I believe small business owners are always optimistic. It's a challenging political time, but entrepreneurs are focused on generating revenue, being profitable, finding new customers and finding new markets," said Lyneir Richardson, executive director of Rutgers Business School's Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development.

Bullish observers like McCormick see huge opportunities for corporations in the Web3 space. Forging new connections with old and new fans is a big one. “First of all, it reminds you about the brand,” says Dr. Merav Ozair, a leading blockchain expert and fintech professor at Rutgers Business School. “Budweiser may not be the most popular [beer brand], there are the other brands that are trying to compete, so they’re kind of rekindling: ‘Hey, we’re still around, we’ve been around, and we’re still good.”

“That’s one purpose” for corporate NFT projects like Budweiser’s, she continues. “The other is monetizing whatever they can.”

Parul Jain, associate professor of professional practice in the Department of Finance and Economics, said the SPR is primarily a crude petroleum reserve meant to act as an energy stockpile in case of any severe supply disruptions. The reserve was created in 1975 in response to the 1973 energy crisis resulting from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil embargo.

She said the Biden Administration has been concerned about rising oil and gas prices for some time and has been constructing a plan to release oil reserves in coordination with other countries. Korea, Japan, India, China and the U.K. will provide 30 million barrels of oil in conjunction with the U.S. release, making a total of approximately 70 to 80 million barrels.

“So, the overall release amounted to about 70 (to) 80 million barrels, short of the 100 (plus) million barrels that (were) being priced in,” Jain said. “Oil prices actually rose on the heels of the announcement.”

Ashwani Monga, a marketing professor and consumer psychologist at the Rutgers Business School, has seen tons of multicultural toy brands emerge, too, or even just finally get noticed. That’s due to changing consumer habits and the attention that marketers are paying to that, he said.

Due to a changing acceptance of diverse races and cultures in society, people are identifying more with those aspects of their identities and seeking out toys that reflect those newfound identities, he continued. It’s a positive that reaches far beyond recess.

“Expectations drive who we become,” Monga said. “If I’m a child of color and I see a toy of color who is a doctor or a scientist, then I know this is somebody like me and I can do this. Kids get cues, and they live up to those cues.”