Sound Economics

The recent release of the European Social Survey showed several interesting trends regarding the opinions of younger generations regarding welfare policy. Throughout the continent, the younger generations were in strong support of a Universal Basic Income (UBI), with strongest support coming from Russia. The European Social Survey is not the first indication of support for this simplified welfare system. Finland is in the midst of a 2-year long trial run where the government selected 2,000 unemployed individuals to receive a UBI to see how it impacts their employment status, income, and social well-being. A similar pilot experiment is taking place Continue reading Is Universal Basic Income the future of welfare?→

In my last post, I outlined some of the stereotypes associated with econ majors and why I personally decided to major in economics. For this post, however, I am planning to address research and opinions which say that economics makes you a bad person, or more specifically, ” to exhibit a range of “debased” moral behavior and attitudes” (Etzioni, 2015). For this post I will be citing some relevant academic literature, explaining via examples, and trying to correct what I view as a fundamental misunderstanding of economics. Much of the sociological research, as well as a number of blog posts, describe economists and Continue reading Why Should(n’t) You Study Economics? (Part 2)→

Movie franchises are having a bit of a moment right now. Between Star Trek, Star Wars, J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the DC Extended Universe, it is almost impossible to escape movie franchises. And if you did not start all of these at the beginning, good luck catching up (take the Marvel Cinematic Universe for example; there are 17 movies already). The amount of time and money required to catch up on these franchises would be quite large. Say, for example, that the average length of a movie is two hours, it would take almost a Continue reading The Economics of Media Franchises→

Last Friday, I registered for my last undergraduate semester, and now I’m feeling a bit nostalgic. This made me start thinking about how I ended up as an economics major, given that I spent my first year here assuming I’d be a chemistry major. (I guess making that big of an assumption should’ve been a clue) I think the main two factors were a fun, engaging economics teacher in high school, and a class called IPE 201, with Lisa Nunn. I ended up joining IPE 201: Introduction to International Political Economy, a week into the semester, after a brief foray Continue reading Why Should(n’t) You Study Economics? (Part 1)→

About a week ago, a professor sent me a link to an article discussing how free markets do not evenly distribute wealth but instead lead to wealth concentration. The article focused on the work of a Tufts University Mathematician, Dr. Bruce Boghosian, who has created a model that represents a simple free market to show how, as time progresses, wealth becomes more and more concentrated, into the hands of fewer and fewer people. Unlike traditional economic models, which presuppose that markets are built off of supply and demand that eventually equilibrate, this model assumes markets are exist transaction to transaction. Continue reading Thoughts on Inequality→

In the United Kingdom, you need a license to operate a television. As of April 1, 2017, a color TV license costs £147 annually and a black and white TV license costs £49.50 annually. (At the time of writing this article, the exchange rate was approximately $1.31 to £1, according to the Federal Reserve Economic Data, which puts the rates at $191.88 and $64.61 US dollars.). According to the Official TV Licensing website, a license is required for the viewing or recording of live television on any device (including traditional television sets, computers, mobile phones, gaming consoles, etc.), and anyone Continue reading The Costs and Benefits of Public versus Private Broadcasting→