Month: February 2019

Snow is really really expensive. In 2015 the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials investigated the cost of snow removal in 23 states, and found that the overall cost was $1,131,651,978 (AASHTO). Simply put, snow is a financial burden on cities. But this is not the primary concern of students when it comes to cold weather. The only question that matters to a student, no matter how old, is whether or not there will be a snow day. The consensus among the student body here at UPS is that snow days are amazing, and that a break from Continue reading Why You Should Be Less Excited About Snow Days→

The Green New Deal has been the talk of the town this last week, with strong opinions from both democrats and republicans. The majority of democrats are in support of the Green New Deal, as it asks for a fight against climate change and social inequity, two priorities that democrats have. Meanwhile, republicans are in strong opposition as this is an extremely radical plan with little plan for an actual execution. Republicans also do not believe climate change is a priority and think the government should be spending money on other things. These opinions seem to be widely broadcasted at Continue reading What’s the Deal with the Green New Deal?→

Small businesses[1] are frequently said to be the “backbone” of the American economy. The prevailing sentiment concerning regulation on businesses of all sizes is that less is more. Minimum wages, corporate taxes, benefit guarantees, and other worker protections are anathemas to growth and should thus be minimized. This logic gets extended to the assertion that a strong social safety net will harm business and entrepreneurship because of the higher taxes that would inevitably fund such social programs. It makes sense, right? The less businesses spend on employees and taxes, the more they can focus on improving and growing. Regardless of Continue reading A Bottom-Up Perspective on Entrepreneurship→

It’s no secret that the price of drugs in the United States is a touchy subject; wanting affordable drugs now versus the cost of developing presents a difficult dilemma. A lower price for drugs as soon as they’re developed could save lives, but money for expensive R&D also has to come from somewhere. Every year investors spend five times as much as government does on medical research (drugcostfacts.org, 2015), and they aren’t doing it out of the bottom of their heart. The assumption is that investors will only allocate capital to a biotech/pharmaceutical company if they believe they will be Continue reading The Price of Innovation: Medical Drugs→

Gresham’s Law is traditionally thought of when thinking about currencies.  The saying goes that “bad money chases out good money.” This phenomenon occurs when there are two forms of money with different values, but their face value is the same. While the money with lesser value will be used for transactions, the more valuable money is held onto until it disappears from circulation. Think of if the two options for money were plain old rocks or gold and both options were given the same face value. This means you could pay for ice cream with five rocks or five pieces Continue reading Bad Classes Chase out Good Classes→