Economics

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The Rising Threat of Monopolies, as told through Taylor Swift

“I’m the problem.  It’s me.” Taylor Swift sang this lyric from her hit song “Anti-hero” in stadiums of tens of thousands of people. The lyric even made its way to US legislators, with Senators using “Anti-hero” to describe the top ticket-selling website, Ticketmaster. Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” is on its way to being the […]

Debt Ceilings for Dummies

With the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (“FRA”), the Biden administration boasts its commitment to bipartisanship at a time when political polarization reigns. The act follows months of contentious negotiations and allows Democrats to raise the debt ceiling—the maximum amount of money that the government can borrow—so long as they implement Republicans’ federal spending restraints. […]

Administrative Apocalypse and the Prospects of Proprietary Cities

“And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.”  – Daniel 2:43 “For at that time the world was altogether home-bred, every nation looked little beyond their own confines or territories, and the world […]

The Economics 101 of Post-Pandemic Healthcare

While “opportunity” is rarely used to describe the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans have had a unique opportunity to witness both the strengths and pitfalls of the healthcare system over the past year. The high cost of medical care provides a strong entrepreneurial culture that the pharmaceutical industry harnessed to create and distribute innovative treatments rapidly. Yet, […]

Abandon Ship: How SAIL Threatens Intrinsic Curiosity

Illustration by Ishita Khanna Curiosity is the lifeblood of academia. It drives us to the classroom to learn and to the laboratory to discover.  At Northeastern, curiosity propels us beyond the boundaries of the lecture halls to develop skills in the real world. Rather than be content with academic knowledge alone, Northeastern students use six-month […]

Universal Basic Income Is Not Sound Policy (Yet)

In the US, Universal Basic Income (UBI) has become ever salient as the public grows more fearful of mass job displacement. The policy is a type of social security that guarantees a fixed amount of income to citizens. Andrew Yang drew attention to the idea during this year’s Democratic presidential primary through the “Freedom Dividend,” […]

Sears and Streetcars: Color-Blind Capitalism at Work

History shows that capitalism is color-blind. Though not even three hundred years old, free-market capitalism has revolutionized the world. Its positive influence on general economic prosperity is undeniable; most successful countries have adopted some form of free market. However, a growing body of scholars criticize capitalism for its supposed corruption by historical inequities, most notably […]

How to Fight a War Without Weapons

War between states no longer starts on the battlefield. States continue to pursue hegemony—being powerful enough to dominate all other states. As weaker states become stronger, other powerful states will attempt to undermine them to prevent the rise of an alternative unipolar or bipolar power balance.  Within the modern context of nuclear proliferation and the […]

The Pandemic Is a Perfect Time to Forgive Student Debt

You see the picture right there? The one of the Federal Reserve headquarters? You see the trees growing in front of it? They’re the closest we’ve come to money growing on trees. That’s because the Fed governors inside have a special tool, one they’ve used plenty during the pandemic to inject liquidity into large financial […]

Banking for People, Not for Banks

For a man whose beard generates enough drag to slow a freefall, Bill Booth certainly loved to design parachutes. Through patented parachute improvements and the development of instructor-guided tandem jumping, this aerial Hagrid made his beloved sport safer and more accessible. Since Booth began innovating in the 1970s—presumably while manifesting his destiny across the continent—the […]