Category: US

Business and Technology, China, US

China-US Trade Wars: What are the strategic reasons behind China’s stance?

The largest cause of shocks to worldwide stock markets in recent years – other than COVID 19 – has been the threat of the introduction and escalation of the trade war between the US and China. During this conflict, hundreds of billions of dollars have been wiped off the global economy, with the brunt of economic losses being felt by the US and China. In … Continue reading China-US Trade Wars: What are the strategic reasons behind China’s stance?

Unknown's avatarEtonomicsLeave a comment
Economics, US

The Economics of Private Prisons

When it comes to incarcerating criminals, there are two options in the US: state or private. A state prison is entirely owned by the government. The government then needs to oversee almost everything, from hiring the guards to providing the building itself. Although, even with state prisons, much of the work, such as food service and prisoner transportation, is outsourced to private contractors. With a private prison, … Continue reading The Economics of Private Prisons

Unknown's avatarEtonomicsLeave a comment
Smoke stack with yellow sign reading "carbon tax" in the foreground
Economics, Environment, US

Should a form of Carbon Pricing be introduced in the US?

Since 1896, when global warming was first publicly shown to be a consequence of burning fossil fuels, humanity has wrestled with the conundrum of how best to respond to this looming threat. Against the background of politicisation associated with climate change, economists have argued over the benefits and detriments of introducing a carbon tax: a way of taxing companies which emit greenhouse gases so as … Continue reading Should a form of Carbon Pricing be introduced in the US?

Unknown's avatarJamie Ginsberg1 Comment
Professor Cass Sunstein giving a speech
Behavioural, Interviews, Long Read, Politics, US

An interview with Professor Cass Sunstein: Nudges, economic systems, and freedom

Cees Armstrong and I had the pleasure of interviewing Professor Sunstein, the Robert Walmsley Professor at Harvard Law School. Professor Sunstein is the best-selling author of many books, including the critically acclaimed Nudge, as well as the most cited law scholar of all time. He now works with the US government. Continue reading An interview with Professor Cass Sunstein: Nudges, economic systems, and freedom

Unknown's avatarVimal KamathLeave a comment
Stethoscope and calculator over a health insurance claim
US

Why is American healthcare so expensive?

With over 200,000 deaths in the USA at the time of writing, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted one of the nation’s most pressing and long-standing issues. American healthcare ranks as one of the worst in the developed world, despite the fact that the US has the highest national GDP. What factors could have caused this? We shall begin by justifying the premise that American healthcare … Continue reading Why is American healthcare so expensive?

Unknown's avatarPeter PanLeave a comment
NFL badge in front of American footballs stacked on a shelf
US

The Economics of the NFL

For the American people, football’s social importance is on a par with religion. Football is so integrated into America’s quotidian that it’s not uncommon to find a town’s entire population either supporting the Friday night High School Football game on the television screens at a bar, or in the stadium bleachers. At the highest level, the National Football League dominates Sundays, as well as Monday … Continue reading The Economics of the NFL

Unknown's avatarChris Adewoye3 Comments
Donald Trump's face
Long Read, US

Please, Mr Trump, free trade is not evil

“Few propositions command as much consensus among professional economists as that open world trade increases economic growth and raises living standards.” – Nicholas Mankiw, the Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics at Harvard University, once said of free trade. Although this view has been adopted by an overwhelming majority of economists (including Adam Smith himself), it has not experienced popularity among the Western electorate in … Continue reading Please, Mr Trump, free trade is not evil

Unknown's avatarNurasyl Shókeyev2 Comments
Asia, Behavioural, US

The US v. North Korea: The role of game theory

Tension between the United States and North Korea has reached a stage where missile strikes have become an alarming possibility. If tensions escalate further to a state where military action looks almost certain, game theory could offer us insight into finding the best strategy to tackle the problem. Firstly though, what does Kim Jong Un hope to achieve by possessing a nuclear arsenal? It is … Continue reading The US v. North Korea: The role of game theory

Unknown's avatarSeb CarpaniniLeave a comment
Book Reviews, US

“The Entrepreneurial State” by Mariana Mazzucato

Marina Mazzucato’s The Entrepreneurial State aims to dispel the harmful myth that innovation is solely the result of entrepreneurial minds working in laissez-faire environments with backing from dynamic venture capitalists, and that the state is a lumbering impediment to revolutionary research and development. Mazzucato contends that this view, put forward by the USA and others, is far from the truth, and using an armoury of … Continue reading “The Entrepreneurial State” by Mariana Mazzucato

Unknown's avatarEd PenneyLeave a comment