The U.S. economy has been running at less than full throttle for much of the past two decades, several recent studies show. That means corporations invested a smaller percentage of their profits into expanding production.

The result, according to some economists, has been slower growth during most of the past 20 years, when the gross domestic product has grown an average 2.2% a year, compared with 3.2% during the preceding 20 years.

Some analysts have blamed the shortfalls on lack of good investment opportunities. But in new research, two assistant professors of finance at Texas McCombs offer an alternative explanation. Companies are getting too big — and their size gives them incentives to sit on their money rather than put it to work.

New research from Kenneth Griffin, a professor in the Department of Global and Community Health, shows that the virtual reality (VR) program helps students handle complex social situations. This success has led to a new research grant to continue the study.

With Uncle Sam running chronic trillion-dollar deficits, one proposal to increase revenue has been to raise it from the wealthiest Americans: through a tax, not on their yearly income, but on their accumulated wealth.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., introduced one version of a wealth tax, which would tax net worth over $50 million at 2% and net worth over $1 billion at 3%. But it’s never come to a vote, and critics charge it would reduce gross domestic product, partly by reducing people’s incentives to save money.

But new research from Texas McCombs questions whether wealth taxes reduce savings. Marius Ring, an assistant professor of finance, investigates the real-world effects of a wealth tax in Norway — one of the few countries that currently implements one.

A new study by researchers at Wayne State University links exposure to air pollution to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.