Category: Commentary

Commentary, Health Economics

LONG-FORM COMMENTARY: Saving the Lungs of 1.4 Billion: India and the Need for Air Pollution Control

Karthick Arunachalam

Raina Talwar Bhatia, Stanford University -- Air pollution has become one of the most pressing issues of our time, both from a health and economic perspective. According to the WHO, air pollution is responsible for approximately seven million deaths globally. Nine out of ten humans currently breathe ‘polluted air’ (as per WHO guidelines), with inhabitants of low and middle-income countries feeling the greatest consequences. Although the health effects of air pollution are well-documented, much less attention is given to its economic consequences. The total global cost of air pollution in 2015 was $330 billion and is expected to rise to $3.3 trillion by 2060 based on the current trajectory. Alongside the healthcare costs, air pollution decreases agricultural productivity, increases absenteeism and reduces productivity in the workplace, and creates greater resident interest in emigration and immigration. While all low and middle-income countries are disproportionately impacted by air pollution, none draw the concern and attention of the international community and health experts like India.

Commentary

COMMENTARY: What is a Digital Nomad? Introducing the New Nomadic Workforce

Karthick Arunachalam

Alma Andino Frydman, Stanford University -- The COVID-19 pandemic drastically transformed how people work. Before the pandemic, only 5% of American workdays were WFH (“working from home”); as the pandemic engulfed the world, this number rose to a staggering 50%. For many, the pandemic forced a natural divergence from the “9 to 5” work structure. Many workers realized they were just as, if not more, productive working at their own pace, and for many, there was no going back to the office.

Commentary, Politics

COMMENTARY: Universal Basic Income: The Need for Wider-Scale Programs

Karthick Arunachalam

Gabriel Frank-McPheter, Stanford University -- This past Democracy Day, Stanford students filled Dinkelspiel Auditorium to hear from Andrew Yang, a man perhaps best known for his call for a universal basic income. Since his 2020 presidential run, this once obscure idea has now become quite popular. For the first time in American history, direct cash payments were issued to the population at large as a form of economic stimulus during the pandemic.

Commentary

LONG-FORM COMMENTARY: China’s Economic Decline is Imminent—Which Spells Trouble for Taiwan

Karthick Arunachalam

Andrew Zeng, Stanford University -- Recent scholarship on the question of whether Taiwan will face an imminent invasion from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been divided into two diametrically opposing camps, with neither camp seemingly able to achieve a decisive advantage over the other. The problem stems largely from the fact that the Chinese political system is notoriously opaque; as a corollary, it is nigh impossible to extrapolate its intentions exclusively from its leaders’ speeches and public-facing communiques. So as Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders deny the statehood of Taiwan in increasingly provocative and aggressive terms, the central problem for American and Taiwanese policymakers is to deduce whether their statements are pretense or preparation.

Commentary

LONG-FORM COMMENTARY: The Mixed Impacts of a $15 Minimum Wage and Exploring Alternatives

Karthick Arunachalam

Kyle Feinstein, Stanford University -- Raising the national minimum wage by 107% to $15 per hour would increase the wages of many jobs, particularly in rural communities where some employers have monopsony power. However, a minimum wage of $15 per hour would also contribute to unemployment, widen disparities in the labor market, and reduce the hours worked for small businesses. Because of these effects, it may be necessary to consider the alternative policies of setting the minimum wage as a percentage of a city’s average cost of living and expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit to assist low-income earners.

Commentary

COMMENTARY: New Crisis, New Plan: Lessons Learned From China’s Response to Its Recent Housing Crisis

Karthick Arunachalam

Jenna Teterin, Stanford University -- 2008 and 2009. Mortgage defaults, foreclosures, bank bailouts. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These are all words and phrases that come to mind when talking about the housing crisis. The collapse of financial institutions caused by subprime mortgage rates in 2008 and 2009 was felt by the entire United States; more acutely by the over six million American households that lost their homes. But there’s a new housing crisis looming—just not in the United States. The Evergrande Crisis, eponymously named after the Chinese property giant, has introduced a new epidemic of individual and public real estate catastrophes.

Commentary, Health Economics

COMMENTARY: That Time a South American Country Fought Big Tobacco—and Won

Karthick Arunachalam

VinhHuy Le, Stanford University -- In 2010, the world’s largest tobacco conglomerate descended on an international courtroom ready to fight. Philip Morris International, the company behind cigarette brands like Malboro and Chesterfield, sued the South American country of Uruguay for $25 million. But why pick on a country whose entire GDP at the time was half the size of Philip Morris’ net worth?

Commentary, Macroeconomics

COMMENTARY: The Pandemic Economy and the Power of Labor

Karthick Arunachalam

Devan Bhumralkar, Stanford University -- Inflation has become an unfortunate fact of life in the post-pandemic era. But with Americans dipping deeper into their savings for holiday shopping and keeping their houses a little cooler this winter season to save on energy costs, many are wondering when—and how—it ends. The Federal Reserve has been on a rate-raising mission to combat inflation since early 2022, but while everyone is concerned about consumer prices, what this means for the job market remains to be seen. By the time the dust settles in the pandemic economy, workers may emerge with higher wages and bargaining power.