A roundup of recent business-related findings from the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business and the UI College of Law:

• Consumers pay up to 31 percent more in insurance premiums because insurance companies have to comply with regulations in every state in which they do business, instead of just a single regulator.
http://now.uiowa.edu/2012/05/driving-insurance-premiums

• Beware the dollar sign online. A study finds a link between online retailers that prominently display dollar signs in their search engine results and lousy scores from the Better Business Bureau.
http://now.uiowa.edu/2012/02/beware-dollar-sign-online

• In their ongoing quest for risk, investors are putting their money into lawsuits, financing the plaintiff and sharing in whatever the award might be, losing everything if the defendant wins. One of our law professors sees a need for regulation to protect all the parties.
http://now.uiowa.edu/2012/02/lawsuits-investments

• A survey by a group of our business students finds the best thing to do with a local dead mall is to blow it up, blow it up real good…..
http://now.uiowa.edu/2012/05/saving-westdale-mall

• Last year, Congress finally changed American patent law to bring it up to speed in the modern world of cell phones and tablet computers. But one of our law professors has found a flaw in the new law that could make all of the changes irrelevant.
http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2012/january/012312patent_law_changes.html