economics – Page 3 – Sound Economics

And the 2016 Nobel Prize in Economics goes to…

Posted on October 10, 2016 by Geremia Lizier-Zmudzinski — 1 Comment ↓

While most of us were sleeping this morning the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom were awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences “for their contributions to contract theory.” Hart, an English-born economics professor at Harvard, and Holmstrom, a Finnish-born economics and management professor at MIT, received the award for improving the design of contracts. Hart and Holmstrom are two giants in contract theory. Though the first formal treatment of contract theory was given by Kenneth Arrow in the 60’s, the pairs’ work, which began in the 1970’s, helped establish contract theory as Continue reading And the 2016 Nobel Prize in Economics goes to…→

The Benefits in the Long Run of Investing in On-Site Child Care Outweigh the Costs

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Megan Waldo — No Comments ↓

As of 2015, America’s workforce was made up of 53.2% men and 46.8% women, and over the past 20 years, this 7-10% gap in genders represented in the workforce has remained fairly consistent. There has been a lot of research done as to why this gap between involvement exists, part of it is due to there being less women in the manual labor, science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, while another aspect is the ever so present gender pay gap. The causation of the gap in gender in the workforce is multi-dimensional though, often the focus of the conversation is set on identifying the Continue reading The Benefits in the Long Run of Investing in On-Site Child Care Outweigh the Costs→

The Game Behind North Korea’s Fifth and Largest Nuclear Test

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Megan Waldo — No Comments ↓

On September 9th, North Korea completed their fifth and largest nuclear test, just fifty miles from the Chinese border. The test was the second this year and a clear example of the increased pace in nuclear trials that Kim Jong Un has been pushing since he inherited power in 2011. The US has attempted to slow this rapidly increasing progression of tests by imposing sanctions and as of July 2016 deploying an advanced missile defense system in South Korea, however, the tests have continued to ensue and now the US is considering placing an embargo on North Korea. According to Continue reading The Game Behind North Korea’s Fifth and Largest Nuclear Test→

The Why Axis: How to get People to Give More

Posted on May 11, 2016 by Alex Shaw — 1 Comment ↓

In Chapter Nine of the The Why Axis, Uri Gneezy and John List examined some of the conventional wisdoms about the techniques used in charity fund raising to try to determine if they really work at all, as well as which work better than others. What are the motivations for people to give to charity? How might these motivations be exploited to get people to donate more? The authors noted that in their travels, that most charities rely on the assumptions and conventional wisdoms of the previous decision makers, “rather than verifiable data.” One of the conventional wisdoms John came Continue reading The Why Axis: How to get People to Give More→

The Economics of Our Candidates, Part 2

Posted on February 7, 2016 by Nicky Smit — No Comments ↓

Welcome to part two of a three part series on our presidential candidates’ stances on economic issues. Take a look at last weeks post on taxation, it’s exciting stuff. There are now fewer candidates, thanks to the Iowa Caucus smashing the hopes and dreams of a few contenders. So goodbye Martin O’Malley, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and, the only person I actually included in last week’s post who’s quitting, Rand Paul. This week I’ll also not look at Ben Carson, because I’d prefer to give more time to fewer candidates. This week, the issue is regulation! An enormous part of Continue reading The Economics of Our Candidates, Part 2→

Presidential Candidates: What’s Their Economics?

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Nicky Smit — No Comments ↓

Welcome to part one of a three part series on our presidential candidates’ stances on economic issues. There are so many candidates, I frankly don’t have room to give them all equal representation. So, NOT included in the series will be candidates with very little vote (consistently under 5%), similar stances as other candidates, and/or very little information on their tax plans. That’s Chris Christie, John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum, and Martin O’Malley. Sorry to disappoint those supporters. This week, the issue is taxation! No presidential candidate can get by without addressing this contentious issue and how Continue reading Presidential Candidates: What’s Their Economics?→

Careers (and internships) in Economics

Posted on September 18, 2015 by Andrew Monaco — No Comments ↓

Studying economics can open up countless opportunities for your future – here’s a short video from the American Economic Association showing the many ways how: To aid in this pursuit, Sound Economics hopes to share some job and internship opportunities with you throughout the semester. You can find many opportunities by visiting LoggerJobs (through my.pugetsound) or from visiting Career and Employment Services. This week, you’ll find: Private Wealth Management Summer Analyst at Goldman Sachs: Seattle (ID# 27101) – Oct. 21 deadline! (Open to sophomores and juniors and available in multiple locations.) Several positions at Liberty Mutual Insurance, including an Actuarial Internship (ID#27103) Continue reading Careers (and internships) in Economics→

An Outside look In

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Connor Lennon — No Comments ↓

Authors: Tesha Shalon and Connor Lennon Often times here, on this blog and elsewhere in the discipline, economics can be a little insular. We’re happy to take our models and insights to how our discipline applies elsewhere, but rarely do we bring in other disciplines to provide an opinion back. So we decided to ask non-economics professors and majors to tell us what they thought economics was. We posed a two part question to the group: 1.) What, in your own words, is economics? and 2.) Is economics useful, why or why not? Without further ado, these are their responses: Continue reading An Outside look In→

Goodhart’s Law and Standardized Tests

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Lorraine Black — No Comments ↓

As the debate surrounding American education reform continues, more states are adopting a system of teacher evaluation that relies heavily (up to 50%) on their students’ standardized test scores. Considering the published studies showing correlations between increased test scores and student success in college and later in life, it’s not surprising that the Education Department has been encouraging school districts to adopt this new evaluation system. Eduardo Porter recently wrote an article for the Atlantic about these new education policies, and their potential for failure due to Goodhart’s law. Goodhart’s law was named after British economist Charles Goodhart, and explains how performance statistics Continue reading Goodhart’s Law and Standardized Tests→