Written by Tanay Pingle For decades, two major firms have held an iron grip over the airplane manufacturing industry: Boeing and Airbus. Boeing currently maintains a 40.6% market share, while Airbus dominates the other 60.4% of the industry. Both of these firms hold incredible leverage over the entire airline industry, allowing them to maintain a…
Author: MJE
Why Designer Brand’s Keep the Middle Class in Poverty: The Marketing and Economics Behind it
Written by Noah Kanter From a young age, many of us have memories of walking in the mall or down Fifth Avenue, staring at the glamorous designer stores. There were so many options from which to look: Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Versace, Prada. Each of these companies has its own “niche” emblem which embodies the…
Retail Crypto: Investing in the approval of Spot Bitcoin ETFs
Written by Terence Ashforth On January 10th, 2024, the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) did something radical. Breaking a decade of precedent, the U.S. Market regulator approved the first exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking Bitcoin (Lang & McGee, 2024). Upon casual reading, the event seemed unremarkable. ETFs comprise 12.7% of U.S. equities, and most are considered…
The Money and Economics Behind The Presidential Election
Written by Tianqi (George) Sun The presidential election of 2024 is coming up. No matter which political party people associate with, there is one undeniable truth: running for president costs billions of dollars. With these contributions, challenges arise, and significant debates around the influence of money on elections have arisen. Campaign financing includes terms such…
The Death of SPACs
Written by Max Brzozowski The stock market killed it first, but now the SEC has picked up a shovel and buried SPACs for good. On Wednesday January 24th, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the adoption of new regulations regarding Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, commonly known as SPACs. These shell companies climbed to a mountainous…
An Exploration of Underwriting in the Insurance Markets
Written by Terence Huang Modern insurance as we know has evolved significantly: the concept of spreading risk and providing financial protection dates back to hundreds of years. For instance, the Marine Insurance Act of 1909 is a focused piece of legislation that protects the interest of the insurers, which remains fundamental in insurance contracts today…
The Economics of Organized Crime: A Sopranos Case Study
Written by Daniel Rosenkranz 24 karat gold watches, 50-foot yachts, houses on the shore, and so much liquid cash it needs to be hidden in the bedroom closet of a retirement home. All of this- from the watches to the cash- define the lavish life of Tony Soprano. In the renowned fictional TV show The…
Op-Ed: How New Ownership of the Phoenix Suns Swung the Title Odds in Their Favor
Written by Beck Smolak On December 20, 2022, a present came early for Phoenix Suns fans as Mat Ishbia bought a majority stake in the team for a record-setting $4 billion (Reynolds 2023). Robert Sarver, the previous owner, had been in charge for almost two decades yet was strongly disliked by the public. Ishbia attained…
No Need to Run
Written by Joshua Ravichandran I’m a runner. In fact- I just ran my first half marathon last week. But let me tell you, there’s one place I’ll never run to. That’s my bank- and that’s thanks to some really smart policy. This paper hopes to answer three big questions. First, what exactly is a bank…
Op-Ed: Applications of Behavioral Economics in Pharmaceutical Policy
Written by Siddharth Desai Pharmaceutical policy was formed under the guise of fundamental economic concepts, which presume the rationality of all involved parties. However, according to behavioral economics, a style of economic analysis that utilizes psychological insights into human behavior to explain economic decision-making, consumers frequently exhibit predictable patterns of irrational behavior (Oxford Dictionary). Policymakers…