The Megadorm

Massive dormitories are the way of the future, Or at least Charlie Munger thinks so. Charlie Munger is billionaire in America who made his money working for Warren Buffet with investments. But this naturally begs the question, what is a billionaire doing designing college dorms? It boils down to supply and demand. For years, Mr. Munger has listened to family members complaining about sharing dorm rooms with annoying roommates. On most college campuses, the demand for single rooms is much greater than the supply, and this issue has only been emphasized due to the housing restrictions that have come with Continue reading The Megadorm

Public vs Private vs Individual Ownership of Government: A Survey of Dangerous Ideas in Three parts. (Part II)

Click here to read Part I PART II: Monarchy The 20th century was a bad time for Monarchies and Monarchs. One of the myriad results of the “War to end all Wars” was the dissolution of many European monarchies, and the establishment of more democratic forms of governance. “From the viewpoint of economic theory, the end of WWI can be identified as the point in time at which private government ownership was completely replaced by public government ownership, and whence a systematic tendency toward increased exploitation — government growth — and rising degrees of social time preference — present-orientedness — Continue reading Public vs Private vs Individual Ownership of Government: A Survey of Dangerous Ideas in Three parts. (Part II)

Public vs Private vs Individual Ownership of Government: A Survey of Dangerous Ideas in Three parts. (Part I)

PART IDemocracy (Public Ownership) What would happen if we applied basic economic principles to various forms of governance in order to ascertain the most efficacious and stable governmental system? Where would democracy stand? Would the undoing of the old order brought about by the Great War still be considered an advance, or in hindsight would it perhaps be considered a mistake? Democracy has historically been given short shrift as a form of government by many political philosophers throughout history. To summarize the Greek (birthplace of democracy) thoughts on democracy let us turn to two quotes from Plato: “Tyranny naturally arises Continue reading Public vs Private vs Individual Ownership of Government: A Survey of Dangerous Ideas in Three parts. (Part I)

Unpacking Unpackaged Food: Podcast on Modern Consumption of Bulk Foods

Image sourced from the Today Show. Do you shop in bulk? Which foods do you buy in bulk? Why? The bulk foods aisle can be an unassuming section of the grocery store, but there is plenty to unpack when discussing these unpackaged grocery wares. “Buying in bulk” originated within the 1970’s co-op movement but has since been co-opted by major supermarket chains. At its best, the bulk aisle is a place for consumers to access food products at a reduced price, without the added value of brand-names, packaging, and extraneous supply chain costs. The original ideologies promoted by bulk foods Continue reading Unpacking Unpackaged Food: Podcast on Modern Consumption of Bulk Foods

The developments of microtransactions in gaming

For those unaware, microtransactions are simply defined as a small transaction made online. One industry that utilizes this practice most notably is the gaming industry. Microtransactions in the gaming industry began as a much less prominent concept, that seems to have changed recently. Microtransactions in gaming originated when online games featured the ability to buy skins to change the appearance of characters. These were featured in well-known competitive titles that already had a price of $60 on release, and microtransactions only made up a small portion of profits. However, things began to really accelerate when mobile games gave their take Continue reading The developments of microtransactions in gaming