Sound Economics

When I arrived on the Puget Sound campus over two years ago, I experienced a bit of a culture shock. Originally hailing from Southern California, an area typified by strict political conservatives, I always felt out of place as the token democrat. Arriving at Puget Sound, I was astonished by the diversity of ideas, scholarship, and beliefs that have come to characterize this school for me. During my first few weeks at the school, I befriended more then a few Cultural Marxists who introduced me to the canonical literature of the field. My quiver of critical theory terminology quickly expanded, Continue reading Neoliberalism: What is it anyway?→

Exarcheia is a small neighborhood in Athens, Greece that is for the most part unknown to foreigners. It’s dilapidated buildings and abundance of graffiti don’t characterize a welcoming environment, especially to those unfamiliar with the area. This area however isn’t an impoverished neighborhood or an abandoned suburb but is an entire space of ideological opposition in the form of an anarcho-communist movement. Home to a thriving community of far-left intellectuals, artists, and counter-cultural leaders, this neighborhood is contains several anarchist “squats” or abandoned government buildings that now house refugees, the poor, and victims of the Greek economic collapse. These set-ups Continue reading Where capital goes to die: Examining the Greek Anarchy movement→

Today is the deadline for cities to propose their bids to Amazon in hopes of hosting their new headquarters. The ever-growing corporation promises “up to 50,000 jobs paying an average of $100,000”, and cities all over the United States and Canada want this boost in their economy. All of the cities making a bid can be found here. But what price will these cities pay to get it? Corporate subsidies, or breaks on taxes and other concessions, is what city governments use to entice a company into setting up operations there. Is this big spending worth it for the long-term Continue reading Not Cutting It: Corporate Subsidies Abound as Amazon Looks for HQ2 Spot→

Let’s start this article off by saying, while I can’t say that scientists have proved climate change is real (nobody can really prove anything, even economists and scientists), I think the evidence is convincing enough that even if only 97% of scientists believe in anthropogenic climate change, we should probably still do something about it. 81% of climate economics experts believe that a market solution is critical, given that climate change has been called “the greatest market failure the world has seen,” by Nicholas Stern, an economist and climate researcher. Essentially, there are three economic problems occurring with regard to climate Continue reading Time for a Change: Americans Support a Carbon Tax→

The Republic of Nauru, formerly known as Pleasant Island, is a remote, 8.1 square mile island nation that is located in the Micronesian archipelago. Approximately 200 miles East of Kiribati, the island was originally settled around 1000 BC by the Micronesian and Polynesian people. They remained isolated on the island for nearly 3000 years until in the late 1700’s a British whaling ship, captained by John Fearn, discovered the island and gave it its original name, Pleasant Island. It wouldn’t be until 1888 that the island would see its next visitors when Germany annexed the island nation, as part of Continue reading Western Colonialism, a Pacific Island, and Property Rights→