The 21st Annual Summer Reading List for Business Leaders from the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business offers diverse recommendations. Highlights include a memoir on AI advances, a book disputing free will, a Grover Cleveland biography, and a novel by Nobel Prize-winning Kazuo Ishiguro.

The mortgage rates we experienced from 2020 into early 2022 are coming back to haunt the housing market. Current interest rates of about 7% for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage have homebuyers leery of purchasing a house and sellers reluctant to put theirs on the market for fear of losing their 3% rate.

Last week’s student loan forgiveness announcement by the Biden Administration leads to the question: How do borrowers initiate action? The White House has indicated that application is likely to open in early October. But what about the meantime? Borrowers can prepare for the process, says Smith’s Elinda F. Kiss.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – In the housing market, 2021 is shaping up to be the year of the bidding war. In the United States, prospective home buyers are facing fierce competition for limited inventory, as low mortgage rates and pent-up demand drives a seller’s market. Homes for sale are seeing multiple offers, often above the asking price and above appraised value.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business proudly presents its 16th annual Summer Reading List for Business Leaders, as recommended by faculty and staff. The 2019 edition covers history, politics, leadership and even strategies for staying focused in a volatile, fast-paced world. Deep Work By Cal Newport

Santiago Luna, the coordinator for the Center for Global Business at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, writes about a photo contest held recently by the center.

Since 2006, finance professor David Kass has led students from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business on an annual trek to Omaha, Nebraska, to partake in the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting. This year he and Smith School finance professor Elinda Kiss tried something different. They hosted more than 100 students, faculty and staff for a “Watch & Learn” event on May 5, 2018, at Van Munching Hall.

Ten undergraduates and three professors cleared their busy springtime schedules to travel to Omaha, Nebraska, last weekend to attend the 2017 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder's meeting and listen to Warren Buffett, also known as the “Oracle of Omaha.” The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business Finance professors David Kass, Elinda Kiss and Julie Pavlovsky led the group for the 3-day excursion.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – The 2010 Dodd-Frank regulatory overhaul was supposed to create a level playing field among home buyers. But a new study from researchers at the University of Maryland’s Robert H.