Author Archives: Morgan Taylor

Thesis Corner: Is Hosting the Olympics Really Worth the Gold (Standard)?

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Throwing a giant party is a daunting task. It requires a lot of pre-planning, a lot of money for food and entertainment, and a lot of time cleaning up after everyone has gone home. Now imagine hosting the world’s biggest party – the Olympics. The intense competition between countries as they fight to win the bid for host suggests that the benefits of hosting the Olympics outweigh the costs. But is hosting the Olympics really all it’s cracked-up to be? Senior, Holly Ross explores and critiques two common methods of analysis countries use when deciding whether or not to put Continue reading Thesis Corner: Is Hosting the Olympics Really Worth the Gold (Standard)?→

The Cobra Effect

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Have you ever tried to help someone but by intervening you just made everyone worse off? Though your intentions were good, your actions had unforeseen and unintended consequences? Are you ever left wondering how your plan could have gone so poorly? If you answered yes to the above questions, then join the club of those who have fallen victim to the cobra effect. The cobra effect refers to instances when the solution to the problem actually makes the problem worse. This is not to say the solutions were shortsighted or based on poor logic. It is merely that people react Continue reading The Cobra Effect→

Problems with Procrastination

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Whenever I have major deadlines encroaching, I suddenly find YouTube and Facebook utterly fascinating and irresistibly amusing. I end up spending my scarce time randomly surfing the web despite the hours of work I have yet to do. Looking back, I often wonder how I could have possibly justified watching hours of YouTube videos? I mean I’m an economist for heaven’s sake! I am well versed in cost-benefit analysis. I understand the inner workings of achieving market efficiency. So why, despite all my econ know-how, do I often find myself regretting the choices I have made? To better understand my Continue reading Problems with Procrastination→