Archive
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Are We Ignoring a Crucial Clean Energy Tool?
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Joe Rogers is an MBA candidate at the University of Chicago. There is bi-partisan support surrounding the United States’ transition to a 100% clean electricity grid by 2035. Carbon-free electricity is an important component of the United States’ broader carbon abatement strategy, and our rapid deployment of renewable energy is…
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Study Shows Coral Deaths Continue to Rise
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A newly published international report confirms global warming has damaged coral reefs throughout the world’s oceans. The Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2020 published by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), stated, the world has lost about 14% of its coral reefs since 2009. This report, the…
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Crisis in Cape Town: A Global Warning
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“We are now in Phase 1 of the disaster plan.” Issued by the Safety and Security department of Cape Town, South Africa, in October 2017, this grim warning indicated that the city’s freshwater dam capacity was at 25% and dropping. At 13.5%, the city would have reached “Day Zero,” triggering…
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Political Bad Faith: When Misinformation is the Point
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This article was co-authored by Allison Swimmer, Matilde Tinazzi Martini, Ilina Mitra, and Jose Villalobos Gonzalez. All are first year MPP candidates at University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy. From unfounded theories about homeopathic COVID-19 remedies to baseless claims regarding herd immunity, manipulated information is sweeping across the…
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Decarbonize Housing: Centering Equity While Phasing Out Natural Gas
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As federal climate action falters, America’s mayors have a new plan to stop global warming: ban the use of natural gas in homes. While roughly 58% of American households use gas-powered stoves or heaters, research suggests that doing so is bad for our health and the environment. In use, gas stoves release nitrogen oxide, a…
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Incentives vs Mandates: Encouraging People to Get the Covid-19 Vaccine
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A year after the first vaccines for COVID-19 were administered, the United States is still struggling to reach herd immunity, which scientists estimate to occur when 70% of the population is vaccinated (Robertson et al, 2021). The main challenge in reaching herd immunity has been vaccine hesitancy. People have refused…
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Evaluating the Costs and Consequences of Sanctions
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The joint US, EU, and G7 allies sanctions regime against Russia is unprecedented in scope, magnitude, and timing. The ‘Western’ alliance has targeted a broad range of Russian institutions, entities, and domestic industries. Additional sanctions have been directly levied on Russian elites and their fancy toys. As a senior Biden…
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New Evidence on Insurance and Health Behavior
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Public health officials have long sought to improve health outcomes by influencing bad behaviors, like smoking or lack of exercise. Such behaviors are very clearly detrimental to health, so much so that it seems like no one would perform them—but people inevitably still do. Health policymakers are interested in improving…
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The Race to the Starting Line: The Rise of CBDCs
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Data analysis and visualizations by Vishal Joseph. In the past decade, the value of cryptocurrencies and digital assets has grown exponentially, rising from $14 billion in 2015 to $2 trillion this March (Fig. 1). Figure 1: The market capitalization of cryptocurrencies over the last 7 years. Source: Coininfo.io Within cryptocurrencies,…
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Data Brokers: National Security Starts With Data Security
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On March 21st, 2022, location data broker X-Mode filed a lawsuit against one of its own clients for improperly reselling data to an unauthorized third-party. This is merely the most recent case of a data broker failing to protect sensitive data, whether through data breaches—all major data brokers have been…
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China Launches its Long-Awaited National Emissions Trading Scheme
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China just launched a long-awaited national emissions trading scheme (ETS). As the largest current emitter accounting for more than a quarter of world’s total carbon emissions, this move can potentially have major repercussions. The official commitment to the scheme was initiated in 2015 as part of China’s plan to peak…