Boeing and Airbus: A Duopoly Market

The aerospace industry is a driving force of technology and innovation. At the top of this industry, at least in the field of airplane manufacturers, are Boeing and Airbus, headquartered in the US and the UK respectively. These two companies create a duopoly model, each competing with the other fiercely to manufacture planes that carry passengers all around the world. For decades, these rivals have stayed neck in neck with each other, manufacturing very similar airplanes, both trying to stay on the cutting edge of fuel efficiency and passenger safety. In general, Boeing supplies most of the United States’ airlines Continue reading Boeing and Airbus: A Duopoly Market

The Paradox of Voting (Part 2)

We left off two weeks ago talking about gerrymandering.  I demonstrated how a non-majority group could be distributed to have the majority in groupings.  This is exactly what your state legislature does when he/she draws redistricting lines.  They obviously gerrymander for the favor of their political party, by targeting either people who voted for a given party, or demographics.  An example of this is Florida’s 5th congressional district.  This district is considered one of the most heavily gerrymandered districts in the country.  The district contains 47.69% black people which is 31% more than Florida’s general demographic.  This shows that someone Continue reading The Paradox of Voting (Part 2)

Econ of the Anti-Vaxxer

On January 25th of this year, the state of Washington declared a state of emergency because of a measles outbreak.  Following this, and previously to this, vaccinations have been a large part of the local and national conversation. I have to start this post by saying that I am a biased source in the sense that I believe everyone should get vaccinated, but I am going to try to look at this topic from purely an economic standpoint. In order for vaccinations to be effective and prevent an outbreak, the vaccination rate needs to be about 90-95%. Unfortunately, vaccination rates Continue reading Econ of the Anti-Vaxxer

Econ Department Launches Logger Economics Alumni Network

In a move to streamline the networking process for economics students, the department has launched the Logger Economics Alumni Network (LEAN) on LinkedIn. The group will supplement the general services that CES ably provides by providing a dedicated space for current econ students to connect with former econ students. LEAN is set up to fill a niche: offering a one-stop-shop to students seeking grad school advice. The group has members currently enrolled in PhD, Master’s, and Law programs. The hope of launching this network is for economics students to have a place to seek post-grad advice from people who have Continue reading Econ Department Launches Logger Economics Alumni Network

From A Bird’s Eye View: Agri-Tech

Agricultural scandals like the 2019 e-coli infections of Romaine lettuce have led many to question what they eat, where it comes from, and how it’s farmed. This combined with the prediction that by 2050 Earth will be inhibited by 9 billion humans has got a lot of people thinking. One idea is the concept of vertical farming which increases output and decreases yield volatility because of its predictable nature. Vertical farming really hit the spotlight in 2017 when Softbank raised $200 million for a company called Plenty. This has led many people to ask questions like is something so capital-intensive Continue reading From A Bird’s Eye View: Agri-Tech

Overtime Eligibility & Women’s Labor Force Participation

In Econ 244: Gender and the Economy, we have been learning about two particular effects that influence an individual’s decision of how many hours to dedicate to market work: the substitution effect and the income effect. Now, I’m not just bringing this up to tell you about a (super interesting) class that I’m taking, but also because of the recent proposal to increase the threshold salary under which individuals are eligible for overtime pay. Currently, individuals earning $23,700 or less annually are eligible for these additional wages, however the new proposal by the Labor Department would increase that maximum threshold Continue reading Overtime Eligibility & Women’s Labor Force Participation

Amazon: “I am the law!” (in Seattle and D.C)

(Judge Dredd 1995) Rather than back down from the rising national and international antitrust scrutiny put upon Amazon for its continued acquisitions and online-sellers’ growing dependence on the site, the company is preparing for a long fight. Amazon’s in-house lobbyists hires have tripled in the last 3 years, an addition to the 13 lobbyist firms it employs. And while Amazon’s total lobbying amount of $14 Million lags behind Google’s $21 Million. Amazon’s rate of investment into lobbyists is growing far faster than any other tech company, at 460% since 2012. Amazon’s relationship with D.C has become very intense as the Continue reading Amazon: “I am the law!” (in Seattle and D.C)

Unequal Distributions and Price’s Law

Discussions of unequal distributions are present in most evening news segments. Calls against income inequality and wealth inequality often dominate political discussions, especially as we prepare for the upcoming election cycle. Oftentimes, there is an assumption that capitalism is the system that produces such stark differences in distribution. However, this is not the case. Price’s Law states that the square root of a given population produces 50% of the total production. The model does not prove nearly as profound in smaller populations as it does in larger populations. For example, if 10 bricks are produced in a group of 10 Continue reading Unequal Distributions and Price’s Law

DOA vs Magoo’s: A Coordination Model

Last Thursday students at the University of Puget Sound band together to boycott Magoo’s due to the increase in price of their beer pitchers from $5 to $6.50.  Dirty Oscar’s Annex instead proved to be the popular choice of the night and experienced an increase in customers. While the majority found themselves in the famous tater tot bar that is DOA, few were left out of the memo or stuck to their preferences and brought their business to Magoo’s.  Now that this Thursday has rolled around, loggers are left confused of where to go tonight. Previously posted this week on Continue reading DOA vs Magoo’s: A Coordination Model

Thesis Corner: Natanya Glatt

An interview about a neat thesis on an issue that many of us from the Bay Area and similar tech-crazed regions are familiar with! Natanya is an Economics major with Business and Math minors. You can check out her thesis here if you want to know more! What’s your thesis about? How tech workers impact median household prices. I looked at this from an econometric standpoint, collected data from the Census Bureau, and then used a fixed effects model to analyze whether [tech workers] have an impact, adjusting for variables like entity and time and other variables that may affect Continue reading Thesis Corner: Natanya Glatt