Sound Economics

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→

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)→

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)→

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→

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→

It’s been generally assumed that a large majority of layoffs in 2020 were caused by the economic strain brought on by covid-19 outbreak. However, new data suggests otherwise; big businesses experienced a very different 2020 from most of America. Despite larger companies rolling out layoffs at a higher rate than smaller companies, 45 of the 50 biggest companies in America turned a profit in 2020. While small businesses have lost an average of 12% income loss in 2020, the larger corporations included in this study showed that they had a 2% growth in profits last year. Even companies that previously Continue reading The surprisingly good status of America’s largest companies in 2021→

Colonization and its tools violently disrupt traditional food systems for many Native American communities. Data collected between 2000 and 2010 by the United States Department of Agriculture place the average food insecurity rate at 25 percent for Native Americans and Alaska Natives. To understand the availability of food and its household-level barriers, an explanation of the food price index in Native reservations is necessary. As part of a 12-month study, the First Nations Development Institute collected monthly prices on food products in 40 reservations with the help of several community members. This study designed a hypothetical basket of goods including Continue reading Food Price Index in Native American Reservations, Explained→

Americans love bananas. It is the most consumed fruit by a factor of 3. The banana trade is worth a staggering 25 billion USD a year (Banana Link, 2021)! In the words of probable Economics enthusiast, Gwen Stefani, “This $h^t is bananas…” (Stefani, n.d.) and due to the few times she has been around the track, her potassium laden words are weighted with an air of authority. The giant of the banana industry is the Chiquita Fruit Company. In 2014, this Cincinnati based fruit firm merged with Fyffes and now move 180 million units of bananas per annum (ABC News Continue reading Gwen Stefani teaches us that Bananas are Bananas -B-A-N-A-N-A-S-→

A rising middle class is the yardstick by which emerging economies are measured, and there is no more widely analyzed middle class than China’s. Since China opened in 1979 her economy has had the air of inevitability surrounding it. Analysts and economists trumpeted the arrival of the Chinese century and told the western world to prepare to be eclipsed in both economic and military might. It seemed that China had been unleashed and that its pan-pacific destiny was soon to be manifest. With such an unstoppable juggernaut what could possibly go wrong……Perhaps a phenomenon economists label the “Middle-Income Trap” (MIT). Continue reading Paper Tiger by the Tail→

In recent years, the exclusive consumption of products marketed as “sustainable” has become popular among certain members of Western society, particularly those occupying the middle class. These goods and services encompass diverse sectors including food (ex. organically grown spinach), household goods (ex. reusable linen totes), and even hygiene products (ex. bamboo toothbrush), communicating a narrative that to live a truly “sustainable” life is synonymous with the replacement of conventional products with “sustainable” counterparts. For this reason, consumers often equate their sustainable consumption choices with moral virtue. This consumption trend is motivated by real environmental issues like plastic pollution, global warming, Continue reading Equating Greenness to Goodness: The Illusion of Moral Virtue Drives Demand for Sustainable Alternatives→