Leading Thon

Rent declines have already solved the FOMC’s inflation problem.

This piece, which cites the Penn State/ACY Alternative Inflation Rate, appeared in Forbes on Feb. 27. The ACY was created by Brent Ambrose, professor of real estate, Jason and Julie Borrelli Faculty Chair in Real Estate, and director of the Borrelli Institute for Real Estate Studies and Jiro Yoshida, professor of business and King
Faculty Fellow.

“Data published by researchers at Penn State University say that since June 2022 there has been a growing divergence between rents in the real world and rents as they are measured officially: in fact, the Penn State data show that rents have actually declined over the past two months — and, as a result, the overall inflation rate has actually been increasingly negative.”

Zynex: Company’s accounting practices raise red flags, according to accounting experts.

This article, which quotes Ed Ketz, associate professor of accounting, talks about how electrotherapy device manufacturer Zynex is accounting for adjustments, allowances, and nonpayment of the claims it submits to insurers. It appeared in The Capitol Forum on May 24.

“The firm does not provide a quantitative analysis of allowances. That’s a bit unusual as most firms provide at least some data. Their description provides no data about the amounts in the allowance accounts, nor the changes in the account, nor the corresponding bad debts expense. It’s a bit strange.”

The “Reverse Logisitics” of returning stuff

An interactive Shop Talk story exclusively quoted Dan Guide, Smeal Chaired Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management, in The New York Times in February.

“Retailers and manufacturers also make calculations about where to store returned products; if they are, say, damaged or out of season, they should probably go back to warehouses, not stores, Guide said.

Guide said using the specialized retail term underscored its importance as a business imperative. “‘Product returns,’” he said, “make it sound like, ‘Oh, retailers are going to take it back, and it’s no big deal.’”

Authentic brands kicks consumer data strategy into high gear with new CDP.

Research conducted by Brent Ambrose, professor of real estate, Jason and Julie Borrelli Faculty Chair in Real
Estate, and director of the Borrelli Institute for Real Estate Studies, and Jiro Yoshida, professor of business and King Faculty Fellow, was cited in an analysis of the consumer price index that appeared in Bloomberg and was reprinted in The Washington Post on Nov. 21.

“Does this truly represent market prices? That is, if you’re on a two-year lease, or you’re a long-term renter with a good relationship with your landlord, does the change (or lack of it) in your rent accurately reflect what’s going on with the cost of housing? Probably not, argued economists Brent W. Ambrose and Jiro Yoshida of Pennsylvania State University and N. Edward Coulson of the University of California at Irvine in a series of papers …”