David Eisner, Managing Director at Resolution Economics in the Los Angeles Times:

The Chapter 11 filing may be mainly a strategic business move by Emaar, said David Eisner, managing director of real estate advisory group Resolution Economics. Emaar reported a fourth-quarter loss last week based mostly on a $482-million write-down in goodwill at John Laing.

"This is more a matter of the offshore owners wanting to cut their losses and not put good money after bad in a difficult environment for home builders," Eisner said. "The owners are trying to insulate themselves from further losses." article >>

Navigating a Reduction in Force: Understanding the Economist's Perspective

by Karyn Model, Elaine Reardon, and Christopher Haan

The authors discuss the current business environment regarding reductions in force (RIFs), provide a discussion of the laws under which RIFs are brought, discuss the economist's approach to the analysis of a reduction in force and the statistical methods used to determine whether or not a RIF is biased against protected groups, and present a simple example of a reduction in force statistical analysis (Reprinted with permission from the Winter 2008 issue of the Employee Relations Law Journal). read paper >>