The McKinsey Crossword: Rather Iffy | No. 244

Sharpen your problem-solving skills the McKinsey way, with our weekly crossword. Each puzzle is created with the McKinsey audience in mind, and includes a subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) business theme for you to find. Answers that are directionally correct may not cut it if you’re looking for a quick win.

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Is It a Coin Flip or Is It Justice? It Could Be Both.

When a case reaches trial, the judge is expected to be an impartial referee who ensures that justice is served. But new research suggests that a judge’s ultimate decision is often as arbitrary as the flip of a coin—which may actually be a sign of a healthy justice system. Centuries of legal research have shown that judges often make decisions based on bias, chance, or other nonlegal considerations. For example,…

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How Trade Secrets Fuel the International Auto Industry

In 2001, the Chinese auto industry sold fewer than a million cars. By 2017, it was responsible for more than a third of all the cars produced or sold on earth. Quality improved, too: between 2001 and 2014, malfunction rates in domestic Chinese passenger vehicles fell by 75 percent. How did this growth happen so quickly? Part of the answer has to do with “knowledge spillovers” from foreign auto firms…

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When Banks Get Picky about Lending, the Economy May Suffer

An entrepreneur arrives at a bank and asks for funding; a family asks for a mortgage; a medium-sized business asks for a loan. Whether the bank provides financing in each case boils down to the question of lending standards. With looser standards, the borrowers are more likely to get their money, while with tighter standards, they are less likely. For banks, there is an important trade-off at play here. A…

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When AI Thinks Too Much Like a Human

Earlier this year, AI developer Anthropic released a new model that can spend more time “thinking” through a problem, similarly to the way a person might. Stanford and IBM developed AI “twins” of more than 1,000 people that supposedly reason and make decisions just like their real-life counterparts. The hope, for many companies in this space, is to build AI models that reason in a manner that is nearly indistinguishable…

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Surge Pricing in Aisle Five?

When Uber started its surge pricing policy in late 2011, outrage quickly ensued. Horror stories emerged about rides on New Year’s Eve or during snowstorms costing multiple times the standard rate—in one case, 50 times the regular fare. So when U.S. grocery retailers like Walmart and Kroger announced in 2024 that they would start using electronic shelf labels (or digital price labels) in their stores, it naturally raised alarm bells…

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Patented Medicine Prices Review Board publishes new guidelines for PMPRB staff: Finally, some guidance for patentees

On June 30, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) published new Guidelines for PMPRB Staff (the Guidelines) that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2026. These new Guidelines are described as non-binding, and were developed to address both amendments to the Patented Medicines Regulations and new case law. In June 2019, amendments to the Patented Medicines Regulations were announced; BLG published a previous Insight summarizing them. These amendments were…

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Author Talks: How Stoic wisdom can guide modern ambition

In this edition of Author Talks, McKinsey Global Publishing’s Eric Quiñones chats with Robert Rosenkranz, chairman of Delphi Capital Management, about The Stoic Capitalist: Advice for the Exceptionally Ambitious (Bloomsbury Business/Bloomsbury Publishing, May 2025). Rosenkranz explains how adopting Stoic principles of a well-lived life can benefit people both professionally and personally. He points to the Stoics’ emphases on being guided by reason rather than emotion, prioritizing time as a precious…

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Long-term exposure to outdoor air pollution linked to increased risk of dementia

Dementias such as Alzheimer's disease are estimated to affect more than 57.4 million people worldwide, a number that is expected to almost triple to 152.8 million cases by 2050. The impacts on the individuals, families and caregivers and society at large are immense.While there are some indications that the prevalence of dementia is decreasing in Europe and North America, suggesting that it may be possible to reduce the risk of…

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Ohio’s New Mini-WARN Statute

Quick Hits Ohio WARN largely mirrors the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act by requiring covered employers to provide sixty days’ advance notice before a plant closing or mass layoff. Ohio WARN includes ambiguities regarding its stated intent and which “mass layoffs” will trigger its notice requirements. Ohio WARN includes state-specific notice content requirements, including “[a] detailed statement explaining the reason” for the closure or mass layoff and…

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Federal Court confirms amendment process for projects assessed under CEAA 2012

Large-scale projects requiring environmental or impact assessments in Canada are not static: as projects commence and develop, their needs can shift, or plans change. A key question for project proponents is how those changes will impact existing environmental permits, and what the amendment process will look like. A recent Federal Court decision has provided important clarity, confirming that project amendments are to be assessed against the same standards applied in…

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