Archive
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Replacing Ginsburg Will Pull Court Right
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The passing of renowned liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday Sept. 18 immediately sparked a heated conflict over her potential successor. The current Supreme Court is ideologically split, and Supreme Court justices receive lifetime appointments, so Justice Ginsburg’s successor will likely decide our generation’s most defining issues.…
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Racial Disparities in Access to Public Green Space
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As the COVID-19 pandemic rages around the globe and ravages communities, racial disparities in many aspects of public life in the US have been highlighted. Access to public green spaces, including parks, nature preserves, forests, and community gardens (Wolch et al., 2014) varies across racial and economic lines. Income and…
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A Decarbonized Grid by 2035: Necessary, Dependable, and Affordable
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There is a growing consensus among scientists, policymakers, and stakeholders that society must become more reliant on renewable energy in order to mitigate the effects of climate change. However, the method of and timeline for renewable energy reliance remain unclear and subject to political whims. The plummeting costs of wind…
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Data Breach Notifications Are Too Complex
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The meteoric rise of electronic transactions has resulted in Americans becoming increasingly vulnerable to data breaches. Data breaches can cause grave harm to the consumer, potentially resulting in identity theft and causing significant monetary loss. In 2017 alone, over 2 billion records were breached, costing impacted consumers $1,000 on average.…
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Re-Examining Body-Worn Cameras
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Sparked by the police killing of unarmed teenager Mike Brown, the 2014 Ferguson protests ignited a nation-wide conversation about police reform in the United States. To increase safety and accountability for officers and civilians, many lawmakers responded by requiring officers to wear body-worn cameras. A 2016 survey of police departments…
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The Privacy Concerns of Contact Tracing
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Social distancing. What about digital distancing? How private are digital handshakes? The spread of coronavirus has prompted government officials across the world to use technology to monitor infected individuals’ contacts. The result: digital contact tracing using a smartphone app. The costs: privacy, identity, and possibly more. Nations throughout the world…
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Abolish Single-Family Zoning
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In the United States and abroad, housing crises abound; from San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand, shortages of affordable housing options are common. One cause of such shortages is zoning laws, which in the United States have been around for decade and, at first glance, are sensible. There should be…
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One Intervention Is Not Enough: How Continued Human Capital Investments Reduce Inequality
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How can we use education investments to reduce economic inequality and break intergenerational cycles of poverty? Research conducted by Rucker C. Johnson and Kirabo Jackson published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy suggests that continuous education investments throughout childhood can help narrow gaps in well-being by improving the adult…
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Beyond the Rebound Effect: Energy Efficiency Gaps
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The Paris Climate Agreement has renewed a focus on American state and local policies which aim to reconcile economic growth with the declared goal of limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures. Energy efficiency support programs seek to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels through technological improvements…
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Does the Financial Sector Contribute to Increasing Renewable Energy Consumption?
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Carbon dioxide emissions are one of the major causes of climate change. Developing the renewable energy industry is essential to tackling climate change since that decreases reliance on fossil fuels. As the European Union strategizes for smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth, it prioritizes increasing the ratio of renewable energy to…
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The Uncertain Economy
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These are highly uncertain times. In a matter of weeks, the longest economic expansion in U.S. history has become the sharpest recession on record with the first true pandemic recession. Mass death, record declines in GDP, and job losses are foregrounded against the confusing backdrop of a messy presidential election…