Experts for the Media

President Donald Trump has signaled a push to scale back federal regulation across a wide range of industries, reigniting a national debate over the costs and benefits of government rules. For Joseph Kalmenovitz, an assistant professor of finance at the University of Rochester’s Simon Business School who studies the economics of regulation, the moment underscores the importance of understanding not just what regulations do — but how much they cost.

Kalmenovitz, who combines legal training with cutting-edge empirical methods, has developed innovative ways to measure regulatory intensity. His research shows how compliance requirements translate into millions of additional hours of paperwork for firms — costs that often fall outside public view. A recent Bloomberg Law article cited his work in explaining how Wall Street alone devotes an estimated 51 million extra hours each year to compliance since the Great Financial Crisis.

Beyond tallying hours, Kalmenovitz’s studies also explore how overlapping rules across agencies — what he calls “regulatory fragmentation” — can stifle productivity, profitability, and growth, especially for smaller firms. His long-term aim is to provide evidence-based insights that can guide smarter rulemaking in Washington.

“The dream is that people will take insights from my work and use them to improve the way regulation is conceived,” he told Simon Business Magazine. Kalmenovitz is a leading voice in translating data into meaningful insights about the hidden costs and design of regulation whose work has been published in the Journal of Finance, the Review of Financial Studies, Management Science, and the Journal of Law and Economics. He is available for interviews and can be contacted through his profile.

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet today in Alaska to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022.

But Ukraine, whose president wasn’t invited to the talks, and its European allies, whose representatives were also kept out of the conversation, have expressed fears that a deal could be struck without Kyiv’s involvement.

Randall Stone, a political scientist and director of the Skalny Center for Polish and Central European Studies at the University of Rochester, has been following the developments in the war closely and is available to lend insight to reporters covering the high-stakes summit.

“The war has shifted Russian strategy and economic ties away from the West and toward China, Iran, and India,” Stone told Newsweek last year. “If he succeeds in Ukraine, he will probably seeks to challenge U.S. NATO allies Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, whose membership in NATO he has always seen as a threat to Russia.”

Trump has downplayed his expectations for a possible breakthrough, voicing frustration with what he has described as Putin’s “meaningless” gestures toward resolving the conflict, and referring to the talks as a chance for him to see what Putin has in mind.

The two leaders are expected to hold a joint news conference at the conclusion of their talk.

Contact Stone for fresh perspective on the high-stakes summit.

"Meme stock" fever in the financial markets is back and hotter than ever.

If you're a reporter covering the trend now or in the future (because history suggests it'll boomerang), the University of Rochester invites you to reach out to Daniel Burnside, clinical professor of finance at the Simon School of Business, for insight. 

Burnside has held various roles in the investment, risk management and financial planning fields, and has worked extensively with both individual and institutional clientele.

He recently helped Forbes explain the trend affecting stocks like Krispy Kreme and Kohl's and other brands, and offered advice on how investors should proceed.

"You’re not investing in fundamentals, you’re betting on crowd psychology and social media dynamics,” Burnside told Forbes. 

Burnside encouraged potential investors to “keep it small.” “No more than, say, 5% of your portfolio,” he added. “It’s speculation, not strategy. If you can’t afford to lose it, you can’t afford to meme it.” 

Contact Burnside by clicking on is profile.