The U.S. is currently home to 362 microfinance institutions -- some imported, others homegrown -- that provide small-dollar loans and other banking products to low-income entrepreneurs and small businesses. Still a young industry, it remains to be seen whether microfinance can thrive in the U.S. as it has in developing countries, where the model was pioneered. While there are signs that the industry is gaining traction -- and trust -- among U.S. borrowers, are the barriers to entry simply too high for the model to make a big impact in the country?

Are overconfident CEOs also more likely to be overly optimistic when issuing earnings forecasts? Does in-store marketing -- including a product's location and visibility on store shelves -- make a difference? How does anxiety cripple efforts to negotiate a successful business deal? Wharton professors Holly Yang, Wesley Hutchinson and Eric Bradlow, and Maurice Schweitzer, respectively, examined these issues -- and what they mean for business -- in recent research papers.

The latest economic reports show the U.S. recovery has faltered. But someday, surely, there will be a real recovery. What forces will drive that upturn? And will the healthy economy of the future look different from those of the past -- establishing a "new normal?" Two intertwined factors are critical to any rebound, according to many experts: Home prices must stop declining and begin to rise, and consumers must spend more freely.

Allegations that traders manipulated oil prices in 2008 are reinforcing the buzz -- at the gas pump and elsewhere -- that speculators are driving up the price of oil, triggering wild price spikes and nail-biting volatility. Fingering speculators is a popular pastime these days, but experts at Wharton and elsewhere say the blame is often misplaced. Although speculation can affect prices, most of the recent price swings in oil and other commodities are happening for fundamental economic reasons.