On behalf of the Stanford Economic Review Editorial Board, we are honored to present the thirteenth volume of Stanford University’s undergraduate economics journal. During the 2024–2025 academic year, we have focused on fostering a stronger connection between the undergraduate and graduate economics communities at Stanford. Most notably, in an effort to lower barriers to entry… Continue reading Our 2025 Issue
COMMENTARY: Stop Drinking Water—I Need It For ChatGPT
Tanya Rastogi, Stanford University -- Artificial intelligence entails profound water and energy costs, much of which are shouldered by rural communities in the United States.
COMMENTARY: Disinflation Without Relief: Why 2026 Still Feels Like a Cost-of-Living Crisis
Siddharth Bellam, Stanford University -- Inflation is cooling, and by most macroeconomic measures, the United States appears to have avoided a recession. For policymakers, these figures amount to vindication. For a large share of American households, however, they mean very little.
COMMENTARY: Philanthropy’s Power Problem
Elizabeth Bours, Stanford University -- Overwhelming wealth has long produced overwhelming influence. From the Gilded Age’s industrial titans to today’s tech billionaires, philanthropy has served as both a vehicle for social good and a mechanism for consolidating private power.
COMMENTARY: The Evolution, Growth, and Precarious Future of Private Credit
Abby Medin, Stanford University -- Private credit represents a necessary evolution of capital markets, improving efficiency and access to financing– but only with transparency and effective risk management.
COMMENTARY: The End of the Greenback Planet? De-Dollarization and the Future of Global Finance
Liza Poliakova, University of Oxford -- It was the Bretton Woods system of 1944 that established the dollar as the world’s dominant reserve currency. For decades after, dollar hegemony has been the bedrock of the global economic order, an ‘exorbitant privilege’ so entrenched it appeared immutable.
COMMENTARY: The Human Capital Contribution of Public Libraries in the United States
Matthew Hecomovich, University of California, Davis -- The public library, as an institution of social and educational resources, must adapt to the conditions of its time. As a locally and federally funded enterprise, it faces fiscal scrutiny and a need for justification.
COMMENTARY: How Dynamic Game Theory and Fish Stock Regeneration Justify Closed Fishing Seasons
Robert Deal, Gannon University -- Overfishing is a problem on a global scale, with added effect in regions with rich marine biodiversity, effectively posing a threat to marine ecosystems, food security, and the livelihoods of coastal communities.
COMMENTARY: The Fading Light of the Industrial Enlightenment
Colin Chow, National University of Singapore -- When the Nobel Committee awarded the 2025 Prize in Economic Sciences to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt, it did more than recognise three scholars whose work reshaped how we think about growth; it cast a quiet but unmistakable light on an economy standing at a crossroads.
COMMENTARY: The Economics Behind the AI Boom: Lessons from Creative Destruction
Tjai Yu Hui, National University of Singapore -- The artificial intelligence (AI) investment boom has been attributed as one of the key factors contributing to United States (US) and global growth this year.