Professor of Finance Russ Wermers at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business recently gave the keynote speech for the for the fourth annual Luxembourg Asset Management Summit.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — When the stock market plunged more than 1,000 points in the first minutes of August 25, later rebounding for "only" a 588-point loss that day, did well-intended financial regulations contribute to the volatility? 

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — The video game industry is a massive one, with some $93 billion in annual sales. Budgets for major titles rival those for major motion pictures.

A dispute among U.S. and Gulf carriers over international routes might come down to differences in accounting practices, an Emirates Airlines official said Oct. 14, 2015, during a Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) forum in College Park, Md. Under an arrangement known as “open skies,” airlines of many nations may freely compete on international routes, so long as they don't receive government subsidies.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Is it time for the biggest consumer products group in the world to be broken up? Procter & Gamble may account for more than half of the market for laundry care in the United States (Tide, Gain, Downy), more than two-thirds of the market for razors and blades (Gillette), and 15.5 percent of the beauty and personal care market (Pantene, and on and on). That's added up to a market capitalization of more than $200 billion.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- Consumer spending indicates Americans are not affected by financial market volatility and economic troubles abroad.

International markets have seen some tumultuous times lately. Much of the volatility stems from economic trouble in China, spilling over to other regions. In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up, host Jeff Salkin visits the Smith School to discuss market volatility with Kristen Fanarakis, assistant director of the Center for Financial Policy.

When the South Korean President Park Geun-hye visited Washington, DC, last week, she brought along a small army of business representatives: 166 in all. 

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Want to talk about who is overpaid or underpaid at your office, or gripe about long hours or working conditions? Want to even take those complaints to social media?

When it comes to generating revenue, the U.S. health care system sometimes rewards quantity over quality. Fixing the flawed incentives will require greater transparency about the costs and values of services, experts said Oct. 9-10, 2015, at the sixth annual Workshop on Health IT and Economics, hosted by the Center for Health Information and Decision Systems (CHIDS) at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.