Michael Totty

Writer

About

Michael Totty is a freelance reporter and editor. Previously, he was a news editor with the Wall Street Journal in charge of assigning and editing Journal reports on technology, energy, health care, management and other topics. Totty works from Berkeley, California.

Research Brief / Ride-Sharing Services

Robotaxis Aren’t Sure Route to Ride-Hailing Profits

A model weighs vehicle cost and ownership to assess benefits to riders, drivers and companies

Map of Peru with gold nugget on top Research Brief / Banking

How Commodity Price Swings Destabilize Bank Relationships

Small firms in Peru shop nationwide for cheap credit, but loyalty runs two ways

Research Brief / Debt

Medical Debt in Collection Estimated at $140 Billion

Poorer residents of states refusing to expand Medicaid hit hardest

A red book entitled "Labor in the Age of Finance: Pensions, Politics, and Corporations from Deindustrialization to Dodd-Frank" by Sanford M. Jacoby Book Review / Labor

How Unions Tried to Harness Pension Fund Clout to Aid Organizing

A book examines labor’s alliance with other large shareholders to rein in corporate power

A person sits in a wicker chair looking a white wall covered in multicolored sticky notes Research Brief / Startups

On Kickstarter, Beware of ‘Feature Fatigue’

Backers like to offer suggestions to a not-quite-finished product

Cartoon of large watering can watering workers like plants Research Brief / Operations

How Diversified Companies Can Redeploy Workers to Enable Growth

Experienced hands help new business lines find their way

A food bank worker is separating out fresh produce into bags for distribution Research Brief / Supply Chain

Fixing a Food Bank’s Pandemic Logistics Problem

Enormous growth and a redrawn supply chain required a new system

A masked person looks at their phone and sits behind a glass counter Research Brief / Supply Chain

A Survival Plan for the Developing World’s Tiny Retailers

Technology and mobile finance needed as nanostores’ compete against online behemoths

Several people look down at their phones while waiting outside at an airport passenger loading zone Research Brief / Pricing

A Proposal to Improve Surge Pricing

Reduce fares in adjacent areas to draw more drivers to where demand is high

A hand preparing to write on a blank paper Research Brief / Sustainability

Organic Wines Prevail in an Analysis of French Wine Ratings

Standards vary and organics capture just 4% of world market

Produce section of a grocery store with people pushing carts in both aisles Research Brief / Supply Chain

How Grocery Co-Ops Fit into the Competitive Landscape

Do for-profit supermarket chains tolerate higher-priced co-ops?

An overhead view of cars waiting in line for vaccine distribution Research Brief / COVID-19

In COVID-19, Should the Logistics Tail Have Wagged the Vaccine Dog?

Balancing vaccine efficacy against need to quickly inoculate more people

Two reshore workers standing Research Brief / Supply Chain

Politicians and Labor Love Reshoring; Investor Reaction Is Mixed

Stock prices dip around some announcements of return of jobs

An industrial chimney emitting smoke Research Brief / Health Care

Like Checking the Weather: Air-Quality App Charts Local Pollution

Information helps users decide when, and whether, to venture outside or exercise