Rachel Layne

Boston, New York

Reporter, Writer and Editor at Freelance

Freelance journalist. Economy, climate, etc. Seen in @CBSNews, @FortuneMagazine + more. Ex-@business. Adjunct @EmersonCollege. https://t.co/pVX6DDsok9👇

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Articles

Layoffs Surging in a Strong Economy? Advice for Navigating Uncertain Times

Nov 1, 2024 | hbswk.hbs.edu | Rachel Layne

From tech to media to management consulting firms, layoffs are back. Downsizing during a healthy economy can help lay the foundation for efficient growth or make space for new roles that harness newer technology, such as artificial intelligence. Companies such as Dropbox and Intel have also announced staff cuts in reaction to slowing or declining demand.
Research-Based Advice for the Seasonally Overwhelmed and Schedule Challenged

Oct 4, 2024 | hbswk.hbs.edu | Rachel Layne

Stop multitasking. Budget your time. Put down your phone. From juggling your family’s personal commitments to urgent work projects, the start of a new academic year can bring seasonal overwhelm. But it can also offer an opportunity to reflect: How to do things better, achieve more balance, and set more meaningful priorities at work and at home.
Why Small Businesses Deserve More Credit

Sep 24, 2024 | hbswk.hbs.edu | Rachel Layne

It’s Wall Street doctrine that small firms struggle to raise capital at reasonable rates and are often rejected for credit lines and loans because banks think their risk profile is too high. “If you really want to drive investment, targeting those firms that look like they have financial slack could lead to substantial growth.” But new research suggests that small businesses are far more fiscally conservative than banks realize.
The Climate Targets Leaders Need to Know as Regulations Loom

Sep 17, 2024 | hbswk.hbs.edu | Rachel Layne

As investor pressure mounts on companies to show their environmental impacts, leaders are encountering an unwieldy tangle of terms and approaches. Climate accounting and a dictionary of sorts can help demystify the calculations and voluntary targets that companies need to know now, says Michael Toffel, the Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management at Harvard Business School.
Reading the Financial Crisis Warning Signs: Credit Markets and the 'Red-Zone'

Aug 21, 2024 | hbswk.hbs.edu | Rachel Layne

A year ago, most experts thought the US economy was thundering headlong toward recession, as the Federal Reserve moved at a historic pace to slow inflation by bridling interest rates. Yet, despite recent tremors in the stock market, no recession has materialized. Part of the reason may be stock and credit market dynamics—and investor behavior.
Election 2024: What's at Stake for Business and the Workplace?

Aug 16, 2024 | hbswk.hbs.edu | Rachel Layne

In a US presidential election year with more twists and turns than most in recent memory, many of the issues on the ballot impact business. And keeping politics in the workplace respectful is forefront on managers’ minds as a divided nation prepares for weeks of potentially rancorous discourse. Ahead of the Democratic National Convention, HBS Working Knowledge gathered insights from Harvard Business School faculty about what’s at stake for companies, and how the election might impact workplaces.
Watching for the Next Economic Downturn? Follow Corporate Debt

Aug 5, 2024 | hbswk.hbs.edu | Rachel Layne

What really fuels a boom-and-bust cycle in the modern global economy? It’s not always household debt, says a new paper that parses in-depth data across 115 countries. Instead, rising corporate debt may flash the clearest warning that a fiscal crisis is on the horizon. In recent years, experts focused on housing and household debt for good reason: In the United States, a residential housing loan collapse touched off the deep financial crisis of 2008.
Forgiving Medical Debt Won't Make Everyone Happier

Jul 23, 2024 | hbswk.hbs.edu | Rachel Layne

The solution seems obvious. Forgiving medical debt should ease both financial and emotional burdens for the two in five people in the US who carry it. Yet a new comprehensive study that tracked more than 200,000 patients and randomly relieved more than $169 million of medical debt for 83,401 patients finds the reality is much more complicated when it comes to languishing hospital bills.
The New Rules of Trade with China: Navigating Tariffs, Turmoil, and Opportunities

Jul 23, 2024 | hbswk.hbs.edu | Rachel Layne

When former President Donald Trump slapped sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports in 2019, the economic dynamics between the world’s two biggest economies forever shifted. American businesses hoping President Joe Biden would return to decades-long precedent instead find some tariffs escalating, upending longstanding principles of free trade established when China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.
AI in the health insurance industry: An explainer and research roundup

Jun 23, 2024 | themandarin.com.au | Rachel Layne

As artificial intelligence infiltrates virtually every aspect of life, more states in the US are seeking to regulate (or at least monitor) its use. Many are passing legislation, issuing policy rules or forming committees to inform those decisions. In some cases, that includes health insurance, where AI holds great promise to speed and improve administration but also brings the potential for peril, including racial bias and omissions inherent in formulas used to determine coverage approvals.