Sound Economics – Page 60 – Everyday economics from the University of Puget Sound

Venezuela’s Crisis

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Cole Driscoll — 2 Comments ↓

Since 2005 Latin American countries have seen an increase in economic growth, but now there seems to be a stall in poverty reduction. One country that is experiencing disastrous poverty and inflation rates is Venezuela. The country has been devastated from inflation rates at 140% and a poverty rate that jumped up to 32.1% in 2013. On top of economic distress, the extremely low price of petrol oil has been hurting Venezuela and it is now becoming apparent. Due to this economic decline the Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro, has increased the price of exported petrol oil from $0.01 to $0.60 Continue reading Venezuela’s Crisis→

Campaign Spending Per Vote: Part II

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Matthew Moreno — No Comments ↓

After last week’s post on cost per vote figures last week, I decided to keep the ball rolling. Here are some more figures, compiled from various sources. US Presidential Elections 2012 The Cato institute estimates that, in the general election, the Obama and Romney campaigns directly outlaid $10.37 per vote received and $7.11 per vote received, respectively. Factoring in allied spending, these figures rise to $16.73 per vote received and $20.09 per vote, respectively. Scottish Independence Referendum 2014 The BBC reports that a total of £6.7m was spent by campaign groups in the lead up to the referendum. Around 3,620,000 people cast Continue reading Campaign Spending Per Vote: Part II→

Internal Effects of Saudi Arabia’s Oil Price Decline

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Alex Shaw — No Comments ↓

If you’ve been following recent market trends, or if you drive a car, you know that petroleum and petroleum products (gasoline) have been getting cheaper for the past 18 months or so. The reasons for the decline are complicated to say the least involving OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and are a story for another time, but the truncated story is that Saudi Arabia is forcing prices down because they can produce oil much cheaper than any other country, causing other oil exporting countries to lose money for producing oil. However, this seems to have been having an Continue reading Internal Effects of Saudi Arabia’s Oil Price Decline→

Should We Ban Tipping?

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Tesha Shalon — No Comments ↓

Returning to US after having been abroad for six months required me to retrain my mind in a number of different ways regarding social norms. One of the main things I noticed while traveling was that tips are not a mandatory part of eating out, and were sometimes even seen as rude. They serve more as a signal to the waiter to convey out of the ordinary, outstanding service. This made me think about how in America the price that is advertised to us is often never the price we pay, while in most parts of Europe taxes are incorporated Continue reading Should We Ban Tipping?→

100th Year of Daylight Savings Time!

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Janne Deng — 2 Comments ↓

The 100th year anniversary of daylight savings time will be on March 13th, so to celebrate I thought that it would be helpful to gather a few fun facts about the event and also ask some important questions as well. Like most people, on Monday March 13th at 6:59 a.m. I will be asleep, and I will not recognize when the minute passes and the clock jumps an extra hour ahead. At the premature 8:00 a.m. I will be groggy, disoriented, and dissatisfied with our modern society. And as I drink an unusually large cup of coffee I will ponder along with the rest of Continue reading 100th Year of Daylight Savings Time!→

The Economics of Our Candidates, Part 3

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Nicky Smit — No Comments ↓

Welcome to part three of my three part series on our presidential candidates’ stances on economic issues. In case you missed it, here’s the first on taxation and the second on financial reform. Again, we lost some candidates since last I posted. Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina will be sorely missed, as well as Jim Gilmore, I guess. For this final week, the issue is the Fed! First, a woefully short description of the Federal Reserve (aka the Fed). They deal with monetary policy, playing some role in deciding the value of the dollar by controlling the federal funds rate. Banks and Continue reading The Economics of Our Candidates, Part 3→

Economists and Tinder: Why economists don’t find each other on Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 13, 2016 by Jordyn McLuen — No Comments ↓

Valentine’s Day is almost upon us and in a recent article from The Economist, it was asked why more economists don’t find love with other economists. Would economists benefit from a dating app made just for them? Perhaps this would maximize efficiency in the dating market, or perhaps there’s a reason economists aren’t drawn to each other. They explain that the first obstacle for love between economists is that the market is not thick enough—economics is a field dominated by men. For an “economists only” dating app to work, the market would have to be thick enough to generate network Continue reading Economists and Tinder: Why economists don’t find each other on Valentine’s Day→

Alumni Interview: Ryan Tate

Posted on February 12, 2016 by Lorraine Black — 2 Comments ↓

I interviewed alumni Ryan Tate over Skype about his experiences after UPS and his startup, Venture Equity Exchange. Ryan has a great perspective on entrepreneurship and startups, an often overlooked option for economics graduates (but a potentially very rewarding one if you’re willing to take the risk and put in the work). I’m no dictation machine so I’m going to be paraphrasing Ryan’s answers and our discussion to the best of my ability. Ryan came to UPS (graduating in 2009) from San Diego partly because his father lived nearby in Silverdale and because he appreciated the uniqueness of the school. He majored Continue reading Alumni Interview: Ryan Tate→

Financial Crises and the Far-Right Extremism that Follows Them

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Alex Shaw — No Comments ↓

You’ve probably heard the saying that “those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Unfortunately, there is reason to believe that the circumstances that led to right-wing nationalist support in the early 20th century are reoccurring now in the U.S. and in Europe. This is because there is an eerie political trend when it comes to the aftermath of financial crises. A study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), which covered 800 elections and 100 financial crises from 20 advanced economies between 1870 and 2014, shows that following a financial crisis, the politics of Continue reading Financial Crises and the Far-Right Extremism that Follows Them→

Jeb’s Dismal Return on Investment in Iowa

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Matthew Moreno — 1 Comment ↓

How much should it cost to buy a vote? Not in the direct sense, but in terms of how campaign expenses incurred stack up against the number of votes received. Take a moment and make a mental guesstimate of a reasonable figure. $20? $200? For Jeb Bush and his Super-PAC, that figure was $2,800 in Iowa: $14.1 million divided by around 5,000 votes received. The runner-up in this ignominious statistic was Mike Huckabee, whose campaign spending amounted to slightly under $1,000 per vote received. The Huffington Post put together a fascinating comparison of the Republican field on this metric. To see how Jeb stacks Continue reading Jeb’s Dismal Return on Investment in Iowa→