Freight rates are crucial in the shipping industry, underpinning the operations of shipowners, carriers, and trading companies. Over the past two decades, various studies have aimed to model these rates, employing various approaches to study different sectors of the shipping industry. A research team led by Qing Liu and Luqi Ke at the University of Hamburg presents a new review of these studies, which have important implications for the future of freight rate modelling.

An innovative study reveals how US tariffs on Chinese goods have disproportionately affected low-income American households, challenging the effectiveness of protectionist trade policies. Research from an international team of scholars, Professors Mingzhi Xu at Peking University, Hong Ma at Tsinghua University, Jingxin Ning at UIBE, and Luca Macedoni at Aarhus University, provides compelling evidence for the benefits of free trade and the often-overlooked costs of trade barriers.

Inventory management is a key activity in many organizations. Its performance is often measured by the inventory turnover ratio metric, or ITR for short. This is a key performance indicator that managers are incentivised to improve. However, improper measurement of the ITR metric can cause problems in terms of reliability, comparison, and bias. Professor Benjamin Melamed of Rutgers University has proposed novel formulations of Little’s Law. The traditional Little’s Law is used an as approximation of real-life measurement, whereas Melamed’s versions are exact and robust.

Whether policymaking can develop solutions for the inevitable problems that capitalism creates has long been a concern of political economists. One of these issues is rising inequality across the USA and other countries. Inequality is a significant risk for political stability, so it is vital to understand how democratic societies respond to it. Progressive taxation policies, which tax the rich at higher rates, can help to equalize incomes and wealth. Despite this, over the last four decades while inequality has increased, successive US governments have introduced falling tax rates for top earners. Why is this?

The role of EU trade policy is evolving in today’s complex global landscape. Dr. Andrea Christou and Professor Chad Damro at the University of Edinburgh have studied how the EU balances traditional market-oriented goals with emerging geopolitical pressures. Their analysis explores how different EU bodies frame trade policy, highlighting the contrast between the EU’s broader geopolitical strategy and its trade department’s narrower approach.

Brazil, Russia, India and China, often known as the BRICs, have seen explosive growth in the past two decades and have asserted themselves as drivers of globalisation. Many scholars have researched the effects of this growth and development, and how these factors have affected domestic labour conditions. But are they asking the right questions? For instance, if developing countries invest in developed economies, will this lead to improved working conditions in the investing developing nation? Dr Patrick Wagner of the University of Konstanz, Germany, and Professor Damian Raess of the Catholic University of Lille, France, have conducted a study investigating whether Brazilian direct investment in Europe leads to improved working conditions back in Brazil.

Businesses today exist in a changing world, which brings both opportunities for growth and increasingly complex challenges. To survive and thrive, organisations need a robust understanding of HR management. In their research, Professor Xiaobei Li and her colleagues at various universities, including University of New South Wales, Arizona State University and Peking University, recently explored how organisations can motivate their staff to ensure high-quality performance.