Sound Economics

Economics and computer science overlap in surprising frequency.  Most of it is computational; calculating equilibrium, maximizing profit, etc.  Computer science has even integrated into economics through R. Comp sci can make things easier and there’s a wide range of economic applications.  Recently I observed one of these applications. It began when I was studying for my computer science test There was a subject on this test called recursion.  In practice recursion is very difficult, and as any students know, just because you take a test on it, doesn’t mean you understand it. While the application can be difficult, the concept Continue reading Dynamic Stability and Recursion→

Female hormonal birth control and how people pay for it has been controversial throughout the years.  Just a few years ago the Supreme Court allowed Hobby Lobby and other companies to refrain from offering health insurance to their employees that covered the pill and other options if it their owners had religious objections.  This hurt many working women who relied on the insurance from their employer to cover costs for the pill, ring, IUD, patch, etc. So while many people argue over contraception for variety of reasons rooted in religion, health concerns, sexism, the economics of how it is paid Continue reading Benefits and Costs of Over the Counter Birth Control→

Arguments over the moral validity of capital punishment have likely been discussed since the beginning of civilized culture. However, one aspect of this debate that is not commonly discussed is the economic dimension of the issue. The public generally believes that execution costs less money than paying for a lifetime in prison. But, research into the topic reveals that conception to be incorrect. Capital punishment is much more expensive than keeping a criminal incarcerated for their life. The first and most commonly cited reason for the death penalty being more expensive is the actual process of killing the criminal is Continue reading A Quick Look at the Cost of Capital Punishment→

For those that believe in the reality of climate change and its implications, renewable energies are a necessity and the sooner they get here the better. The catch is that a switch from energy sources like natural gas would lead to a much higher utility bill and so hurt people especially from lower-income segments. It is important to understand where solar and wind sources stand from a cost perspective to better grasp how far they are from realistically competing with less sustainable sources like natural gas.  According to “The Economics of Renewable Energy” by David Timmons, Jonathan M. Harris, and Continue reading Renewable Energies: What’s the Holdup→

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→

Sometimes legitimate businesses and industries arise from unusual practices, sometimes these practices are illegal. This is surprisingly the case for anime in the US, an industry which has become a global phenomenon in part due to the illegal and voluntary unpaid labor of digital pirates. It sounds a bit romantic, no? Before legal streaming services became commonplace, western fans would lament the low number of shows and films translated into English or sold internationally. Without many legal avenues available, fans took to illegally copying videos, translating the dialogue into their own subtitles, and distributing these videos on tapes and eventually Continue reading The Anime Industry’s Link to Online Piracy→

Tinder has changed the way that my generation views dating and hooking up. Tinder’s presence has changed the way that people indicate a preference for another person. One of the reasons that it has been able to do this so successfully is by taking the first interaction from a dynamic game to a static game. A dynamic game is one in which moves are sequential someone makes the first move and someone makes the second. A static game is one in which the moves happen at the same time. In the real world, someone always makes the first move; it Continue reading to swipe or not to swipe→

With April Fool’s day just behind us, I stumbled upon a “semi-fictional” Planet Money video on a very important topic: the price of a tooth. As the accompanying article states, the amount parents pay their kids when they lose a tooth has risen much more than one would predict based from inflation. Twenty years ago, the price of a tooth was around $1.30. But last year, it was a whopping $4.13. These numbers are all tracked by Delta Dental, a large dental insurance company. In 1998, they began tracking the amount of money kids find under their pillow by surveying Continue reading An Economic Indicator to Watch: the Tooth Fairy Index→

During a procrastination fueled Wikipedia binge, I stumbled upon a page on the mainly European phenomena of the Pirate Party. Pirate Parties are political parties based on a movement started in Sweden when some activists created a semi-satirical anti-copyright political party. Pirate Parties are varied in their approaches, but they tend to value direct democracy, government transparency, and digital/technological freedoms. Pirate Parties often attract younger, more technologically savvy voters, who most likely feel fed up with the political system and ready to vote for Parties which are less traditional in nature. Pirate parties have been waning in significance due to the Continue reading Pirate Parties and the Free Market of Ideas→