Sound Economics

Most of the worlds environmental damages have come from mineral mines. Over time large markets and industries have been centered around feeding consumer’s obsessions with these shiny and sparkly minerals like diamonds and gold. With a high intrinsic and monetary value those industries for years thrive, but of quartz (pun intended) those industries have become rare due to over extraction. But whoever would have thought that the sand mining industry would someday boom! Currently India’s sand mafia accumulates around $2.3b a year in the illicit market for sand. It’s estimated that 50,000 lorryloads of sand is being mined per day and Continue reading Mafias Cause Negative Externalities→

President Trump’s lack of interest in the opinions of professional economists is causing concern. According to a February report by the Huffington Post, President Trump was concerned about the value of the dollar. Unsure of whether a strong dollar or a weak dollar is good for the US economy, he made a 3 AM call to (now) former national security advisor Michael Flynn, to ask what is essentially a question about macroeconomics. According to the report, Flynn admitted to not knowing, and advised the President to consult an economist instead. This piece of information was picked up by the New Continue reading Trump May Struggle to Deliver on Economic Campaign Promises→

The thriller-horror film, “Get Out” was released in theaters on February 24th and has made more than $150 million gross domestic, according to Box Office Mojo. The movie has received a positive response from movie critics with an 8.2/10 on IMDb and 99% on Rotten Tomatoes. But the real magic behind this film is the low budget at only $4.5 million. NPR’s Planet Money recently dove into the “science” behind producing this film and others created by the production company Blumhouse. Jason Blum is the founder this low-budget film production company. He created this company with the idea that he Continue reading Blumhouse: Minimizing Costs in the Film Industry→

It is finally spring, which is the busiest season in the Office of Admission here at the University of Puget Sound. As a campus host (tour guide), I look forward to meeting all the new prospective students, because it’s a good mix of juniors beginning to look at college, and seniors who have been accepted and are trying to make their decisions. The influx of people does two things: it increases the average tour size, and makes each guide more productive; because they are giving the same number of tours in the same amount of time, but with more people receiving Continue reading College Tours: Fixed Supply and Variable Demand→

The Federal Reserve Bank has been incredibly active recently. Due to a rising stability of growth in the economy, the FED has begun to make changes. The first change that economists cannot stop talking about is the increase in the federal funds rate by a quarter of a percent. The second change is creating a plan to decrease the rather large balance sheet the FED currently holds. Although increasing the federal funds rate is simple, deciding on how to decrease the balance sheet is much more difficult. However, with confidence in the economy, members of the FED are beginning to Continue reading Federal Reserve Balance Sheet Overload→