Category Archives: Economics

This is the first installment of our Friday interview series! Every Friday a Sound Economics contributor will conduct an interview with a current student (or alumni). Some economics students spent the summer conducting research, studying abroad, or doing an internship. This is a chance to hear more about their experiences. Since we’re still organizing interviews, I’ll start with my own internship. I interned at a small company (Karson Management) in Boston over the summer – it offered financial services to a wide variety of companies. Initially I thought they offered some sort of financial consulting (i.e. risk management). This was true, but the firm did much more Continue reading Friday Interviews (name pending)!→

I thought it would be appropriate to open up the semester with a gem from my summer reading: the MONIAC Computer. I discovered it in Tim Hartford’s The Undercover Economist. It’s an analog macro-economic simulator developed in the late 1940’s by Bill Phillips, who at the time studied at the London School of Economics. Digital computers, which readily “crunch” numerical simulations for us today, were in their infancy at the time. So, Bill Phillips used a carefully arranged series of tanks and tubes through which moved an actual, physical fluid to simulate the flow of money in the UK economy. The Wikipedia Continue reading A Summertime Gem to Start the Semester→

Welcome to another year of Sound Economics! Starting this Monday, we’ll be bringing you a daily dose of economic news and features on economics students here at the University of Puget Sound. This semester we will: introduce you to our new team of writers; feature several discussions of our theme for the semester: increased minimum wage proposals; present a new collection of profiles of student internships, student research, and economics department alumni. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook, or sign up for our daily e-mail digest!  

Click here to see the photo gallery from this month’s Senior Dinner. Congratulations again to our graduating seniors!

As we begin finals week, and our bloggers take their summer hiatus, readers may be wondering where to go to get their fix of economic news and analysis. Fortunately, the econ blogosphere is under no shortage of excellent blogs worth reading. One such blogger, Noah Smith, has compiled a guide on Bloomberg View titled “These Are the Econ Blogs You Need to Read.” Macro blogs, aggregator blogs (which collect and often synthesize other blogs), game theory and decision making blogs, more partisan (both on the left and right) blogs … the list goes on and on. The realm of econ blogs Continue reading The Economics Blogosphere→

I’ll be taking a little time this summer to do a little reading, and I’m inviting Sound Economics readers and writers to join me in the inaugural Sound Economics Summer Reading club! Below, I’ll give a few books I plan on reading this summer. Feel free to reply in the comments section if you’d like to join me for some summer economics reading. Once fall comes back around, we’ll have something to discuss as a community of readers and econ-enthusiasts! I look forward to writing on these books (and much more) when the fall comes back around! Book #1: Misbehaving: The Continue reading Sound Economics Summer Reading→

77% of voters approved San Francisco’s Prop J last year – and on May 1st the San Francisco minimum wage increased to $12.25. This is the first minimum wage hike of many, as Prop J will raise the minimum wage in the city to $15 by 2018. Although raising the minimum wage seems like the socially optimal option, especially in a city with such a high cost of living, is it feasible for the smaller establishments and local shops that many San Franciscans know and love? Brian Hibbs is the owner of Comix Experience, a comic book store he has run for Continue reading Prop J and San Francisco’s Minimum Wage Hike→

The Kriens Fund for Economics provides financial support for students’ independent research projects. You can extend a project from one of your classes or research a new topic, even one that might later become part of your thesis. Any topic is eligible but projects involving conservation or with an environmental focus are particularly encouraged. New deadline: Tuesday, May 5th Paperwork is available in the Economics Dept. lounge. All you need is a completed application, project proposal, budget, and support of a faculty supervisor. Questions? contact Prof. Garrett Milam, gmilam@pugetsound.edu