The New Deal: How it reshaped the American economy 

The New Deal was a set of domestic policies that was based on the theories of John Maynard Keynes and enacted under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It expanded the role of the federal government in the economy by creating a wide range of programs which offered economic relief to the suffering, regulated private industry, and grew the economy.  Even though it was implemented in response to … Continue reading The New Deal: How it reshaped the American economy 

The Regulations in NYC’s Taxi Market

In 1937, New York City introduced the taxi medallion. Taxi industries in cities have long been closely regulated, as people fear that without official standards, taxi drivers would either face unreasonable job insecurity, or taxi companies would be able to act as price discriminating monopolists, thereby reducing consumer welfare derived from taxis to zero. The taxi medallion is a licence to operate in New York … Continue reading The Regulations in NYC’s Taxi Market

The US National Debt Crisis 

The U.S. national debt has amounted to $29 trillion by running annual deficits, with the last surplus being 20 years ago in 2001. Reacting to the Covid-19 pandemic that has gripped the globe, the U.S. government has accelerated the buildup of debt in an effort to keep households and firms afloat. Shortly after the pandemic outbreak (November 2019), the Trump administration issued an emergency stimulus … Continue reading The US National Debt Crisis 

“The Return of Depression Economics” by Paul Krugman

The Return of Depression Economics combines Krugman’s narrative with his analysis of the significant economic recessions of the past century, culminating to the crisis of 2008. Krugman assesses the crises in the United States of the early 1900’s and the crises in Asia and Latin America of the 1990’s, before perceptively demonstrating their similarities to the Great Recession. He observes that we did not learn … Continue reading “The Return of Depression Economics” by Paul Krugman

Donald Trump's face

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

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

“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