Tesla: $702 Million Loss Raises Questions About EV Market & Subsidies

Back in December of 2018, the Trump administration announced that it wanted to end federal subsidies for electric vehicles. This may have been in part in retaliation to General Motors for its planned layoffs, however it would also have implications for the future of the renewable fuel and electric car industry. Under current regulations, the subsidies no longer apply to purchases of vehicles from an individual manufacturer after it sells 200,000 of the model. Tesla, one of the most well known electric car brands in recent years, hit this mark in July of 2018. From then, the tax credit was/will Continue reading Tesla: $702 Million Loss Raises Questions About EV Market & Subsidies

Thesis Corner: Julia Ratcliff

In this edition of Thesis Corner, I sat down with Julia Ratcliff to discuss her investigation into the connections of blockchain technology and multi-sided platform theory. What was your thesis project about? Essentially my project was about blockchain and multi-sided platform theory. I was trying to see if technologies could essentially replace these businesses that act as intermediaries between two different groups of people. What were your conclusions? Technically I did a theory based paper, I didn’t do an econometrics paper, but really it was more on the argumentative side because I was trying to work multi-sided platform price theory Continue reading Thesis Corner: Julia Ratcliff

Earnings Ratio Raises Questions About Economic Outlook

The wage gap, or earnings ratio as it is alternatively known, is a well-established phenomenon that has remained pervasive for many, many years. The 2017 earnings ratio was 80%, meaning that women earned 80% of their male counterparts’ salaries, for those that worked full-time, and full-year. Now, you’re probably thinking “Yeah, yeah, I know, women make less than men,” and it’s an atrocious reality of the job market today, but why would I be bringing this back up? The New York Times recently published a study that involved thousands of colleges throughout the United States and profiled their economic diversity, Continue reading Earnings Ratio Raises Questions About Economic Outlook

Thesis Corner: Alia Kabir

In this Thesis Corner interview, I sat down with Alia Kabir to talk about her project that explored the linkages between declining salmon populations due to climate change and local economies. Could you explain a little bit about what your thesis was and what you focused on? Yeah, so it was basically about…salmon. I was trying to see if there was a correlation between the amount of value of the salmon harvests in particular areas across the West Coast and economic indicators in the counties where the ports that salmon were coming in were located. So, it was basically about Continue reading Thesis Corner: Alia Kabir

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

Gearing Up for 2020: The Median Voter Model

Though we are still more than a year out from the 2020 presidential election, candidates are beginning to kick their campaigns into high gear and political tensions are ever rising. There are constantly headlines surrounding who has entered the race, who has dropped out, and articles that seem to make predictions about where the peoples’ votes will go and how candidates will run their campaigns. One of the biggest questions that voters will get the chance to answer is how the left is going to fare, given more extreme candidates, such as Bernie Sanders, have entered the running. One way Continue reading Gearing Up for 2020: The Median Voter Model

Why The 2019 Oscars Could Change the Movie-Going Landscape

The Oscars are a yearly extravagance that many people enjoy from the comfort of their living room, hoping to see one of their favorite nominees win one of the highly coveted awards. Roma’s nomination for Best Picture at the 2019 Oscars is notable for a number of reasons, but one could have major implications for the future of multiplex cinemas. Roma was a film produced by, and initially released on, Netflix. This might not seem special, but the film was nominated for Best Picture at the 2019 Oscars which is unprecedented for a streaming service’s original film. Not only that, Continue reading Why The 2019 Oscars Could Change the Movie-Going Landscape

Guilty on One Count: Negligence (of Opportunity Cost)

The concept of opportunity cost is not foreign to most people who have taken an introductory economics class at some point, nor is it terribly complex to grasp if you don’t have that background. Basically, it is the value attributed to the next best thing that has been foregone in favor of something else. Many economic models take this principle into account when they are interpreted to describe consumer behavior. However, when it comes to application in the real world, Frederick et al. (2009) argue that this assumption that consumers evaluate their opportunity cost at every turn does not hold Continue reading Guilty on One Count: Negligence (of Opportunity Cost)