Sound Economics

During the time that the coronavirus has been in the United States, the stock market has been in constant flux. Thousand point drops multiple days in a row, followed by a huge jump back up from the Dow. After looking at all of these jumps, I would like to take a second to explain why the FED rate cut has had little impact on combatting the coronavirus, and why stocks jumped up due to news on a government stimulus package. Both of these are going to involve an explanation of some macroeconomic ideas, which I will start with. The macroeconomy Continue reading How Should the Economy Combat Coronavirus? (Part 1)→

It seems like an odd question, but what is happiness and why is it important? Do you think happiness is the same for you as it is for others? Does the definition of happiness for economics match that of our own definition of happiness? To begin, the definition of happiness from an economics perspective is the relationship between individual satisfaction and welfare such as wealth and employment. Meaning that the study relying on more expansive notions of utility and welfare, including interdependent utility functions, procedural utility, and the interaction between rational and non-rational influences in determining economic behavior. Economists measure Continue reading Can economics really measure happiness?→

Is it safe to assume that economics is science if some evidence leads towards it not fitting into the four branches of sciences? There are four branches of science, formal sciences, natural sciences, physical science, and social sciences. Formal sciences are known to be the study of logic and mathematics. Natural sciences are classified to be the study of natural phenomena and are divided into two branches, physical and social science. Many such as universities consider economics to be a social science but there are others that are criticizing the field not be a science. They argue that the field Continue reading Why do some think that economics is not a Science?→

This is part two of what UPS professors and students thought were “the most useful ideas in economics.” These next two responses were not popular answers given, however, I think that they are interesting, and may help explain more about economics in the world setting. A more interesting response I received from a student who took law and economics was the idea of transactions costs. A transaction cost is any cost incurred when participating in a market. It is all the costs incurred when you buy or do something. An example from law and econ is legal fees, but a Continue reading What is the Most Useful Idea in Economics? (Part 2)→

With the spring semester quickly zooming by for many seniors as they anxiously await graduation, it seemed like an appropriate time to check in on the job market and see if there are any prominent trends. After high school, there are usually much clearer career paths and organizations to reach career goals: working, higher education, military, etc… For those finishing up their undergraduate degrees, that is not always the case. This flexibility and freedom makes the post-grad job or graduate school hunt stressful. As much as we’d like to think our dream jobs are out there, sometimes the economy cannot Continue reading Will You Find a Job After Graduation?→

Recently, a growing number of “influencer” families have taken advantage of the massive gains available through collaborating with brands and posting content on social media. Instagram and Youtube are the primary platforms hosting this content, but youtube in particular provides an option to monetize posts through selling ads on videos. Companies featured in the ads pay, on average, 10-30 cents per 30 second viewing or click; this revenue is then split between youtube (45%) and the creator (55%). This translates to brands saving millions through ditching traditional forms of advertising, influencers profiting massively in minutes, and youtube reaping the benefits of Continue reading The Rising Market of “Kidfluencers”→

Recently I listened to a podcast called Planet Money, where they interviewed different economists. They asked them a simple yet important question: “What’s the most useful idea in economics?” They received a bunch of different answers and provided practical examples of how those concepts relate to everyday life. Economics is interesting because of the fact that economics explain how society operates and the way people behave and interact in a market setting. This podcast and question shines light on how economic ideas are used when we all make decisions in our everyday lives. That is the beauty of this discipline Continue reading What is the Most Useful Idea in Economics? (Part 1)→

Students–and the rest of the world–often wonder why academics are awarded sabbatical leaves when no one else seems to have this benefit.  Well, the idea of a sabbatical is to give a faculty member time away from other responsibilities, including teaching, so they can advance their professional development.  Sabbaticals are thus typically periods of focused research. In this post, I share the example of my 2019 sabbatical in Paris. I spent this sabbatical at the Centre Population et Développement located at the Université Paris Descartes.  There, I worked with  Christophe Guilmoto (demographer) and Sara Tafuro (economist), scholars researching “missing women,” Continue reading Patriarchs, Proclamations and Procreation, or What Professors Do on Their Sabbaticals→