Hot Topic Alert: Jan. 29, 2014 Curt Grimm, professor and Charles E. Taff Chair of Economics and Strategy for the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, is available to expand on his comments, below, about the executive order to raise the minimum wage for federal contractors. Announced by President Obama in his State of the Union address, the increase, $10.10 an hour, from $7.25, affects workers under new federal contracts.

Aug. 6, 2013Media AlertAttention: Business and Economics Editors and Reporters COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Long odds face U.S. fast food workers who have been demanding higher wages, says an expert in the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Professor Curt Grimm, the Charles A. Taff Chair of Economics and Strategy, comments on the workers’ demands that include better pay, the right to unionize, and more than doubling the $7.25 minimum wage to $15: