Author: Karthick Arunachalam

Commentary

COMMENTARY: Housing Affordability and the Social Safety Net

Karthick Arunachalam

Griffin Young, American University -- The political ramifications of unaffordable housing have already bubbled up in big-city politics, with cities like San Francisco making national headlines for blocking new development while simultaneously dealing with an affordability crisis. Although NIMBY (not in my backyard) views transcend the political spectrum, many of its proponents share a common trait: ownership. While the housing crisis locks many young Americans out of home ownership, rising home prices reward homeowners with a massive increase in home equity. In this way, soaring housing prices create winners and losers.

Commentary, Law and Economics

COMMENTARY: Much Ado About Thinking Machines: Regulatory Paths for Policymakers

Karthick Arunachalam

Thomas Sarsfield, University of Missouri - Saint Louis -- "I propose to consider the question, 'Can machines think?'" So asked Alan Turing in his landmark research essay Computing Machinery and Intelligence in 1950. Six years later, at a conference at Dartmouth College in 1956, researchers would coin the term 'Artificial Intelligence.' At the time, many of the researchers believed a 'thinking machine' would reach human-level intelligence within a generation, and capital began to pour into research projects aiming to advance AI technology.

Commentary

COMMENTARY: DataU: How Much Are You Worth Online?

Karthick Arunachalam

Lily Haak, University of Florida -- In 2010, before the wave of hyper-consumerism and big data engulfed digital markets, author and academic Debra Satz penned “Why Some Things Should Not Be for Sale.” Satz identifies the qualities of repugnant markets—like those for human kidneys or for services that exploit women’s reproductive abilities, child labor, etc.—and qualifies them all as both economically unviable and ethically compromising. Since Dr. Satz published her book, the tech sector has progressed considerably, with the adoption of social media as a full-fledged marketplace. But as consumers reap the benefits of remote online browsing and enhanced accessibility, they’re inadvertently sacrificing components of their privacy. In this new digital landscape, how do we assess the risks of selling our data—are we being bought and sold digitally?

Commentary, Environment

COMMENTARY: Tractors, Sustainability, and Fairness: Understanding EU Farmers’ Protests Against Green Policies

Karthick Arunachalam

Jenna Teterin, Stanford University -- Earlier this year, tractors formed barricades in highways and streets across Belgium, France, and other European Union countries. Blocking traffic with their personal machinery, European farmers protested against policies and decisions made by the EU to promote sustainable practices across industries, agriculture included. Underneath the surface, however, their protests were also shaped by the most basic rule of economics: supply and demand.

Commentary, Culture

COMMENTARY: Not So Golden: The Economic Realities of Hosting the Olympics

Karthick Arunachalam

Kyle Feinstein, Stanford University -- Olympic host cities incur tremendous costs to welcome thousands of athletes from across the globe. Since the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, economists have debated whether the costs outweigh the benefits for potential host cities and how the International Olympic Committee (IOC) can institute reforms to make hosting a more appealing opportunity.

Commentary, Health Economics

LONG-FORM COMMENTARY: Navigating Healthcare Reform: Making the Case for Global Health Budgets

Karthick Arunachalam

Richa Upadhyay, Stanford University -- One in four Americans report that they or a family member struggles to afford healthcare. The American healthcare industry is facing a critical need to control costs and incentivize high-quality care. Empty hospitals and shorter stays should be seen as a sign of efficient healthcare provision and improved population health rather than a revenue red flag. States must align financial and public health incentives through global budgeting, a form of value-based care, to tie hospital payments to health outcomes. 

Commentary, Environment

COMMENTARY: AI and the Green Transition

Karthick Arunachalam

Sriman Thangaraj, American University -- The world sits at a critical juncture, facing unprecedented environmental challenges such as climate change and resource depletion. Amidst these pressing concerns, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a powerful ally. This transformative technology holds immense potential to drive sustainability across various sectors, paving the way for a greener future. 

Commentary, Environment, Law and Economics

COMMENTARY: The CSDDD: Examining the EU’s New Supply Chain Directive

Karthick Arunachalam

Lilly Salus, Stanford University -- The European Union’s new supply chain directive is the first global law of its kind that aims to increase corporate accountability. Officially known as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), the law targets companies that operate in the EU regardless of their nationality or subsidiaries. Companies that have more than 1,000 employees and a net turnover of at least €450m are required to take full responsibility for the preservation of human rights and the prevention of environmental abuse in their global supply chains. Concretely, this means that EU-based companies or non-EU-based companies that conduct a minimum level of business in the EU will become liable for the actions of their suppliers, including matters involving child labor and environmental issues (such as pollution and the loss of biodiversity).

Uncategorized

How Sophisticated Are MLB Players?

Karthick Arunachalam

Leo Oh, Rice University -- Baseball showcases a dynamic between pitchers and batters, where both players must act optimally to maximize their payoff. We frame this interaction as an independent sequence of static simultaneous games, specifically a zero-sum game where the expected run values are used as utilities. This paper aims to determine whether the players learn by updating their belief on the opponent’s probability of outcomes (PO) with two different models.