While we all know when we are wasting time on social media, it is tougher to uncover the hidden cost that is paid by the entire economy.…
When a Tax Rate Is Not as Simple as It Sounds
Referring to “The Son of Man,” Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte said, “Everything we see hides another thing.” Instead, Magritte could have been describing corporate tax…
The Downside of a Minimum Wage Increase
While it is easy for us to see when the minimum wage goes up, the impact on low wage workers’ non-wage compensation is much less evident.…
Deciding If Your Digital Assistant Is Unethical
Creating a long list of ethical dilemmas, Google’s Duplex is a digital assistant that sounds just like a human when scheduling appointments.…
How Stock Markets Create Peace
Looking at voting preferences, researchers uncovered a surprising change in attitudes about Israeli/Palestinian conflict resolution from new investors.…
China’s Recycling Reversal
When China told the WTO it would no longer recycle a lot of the world’s waste, it created a ripple of externalities from Hong Kong to Portland, Oregon.…
Choosing the Ethics of Self-Driving Cars
Governments have begun to provide guidelines about the ethical choices that will be necessary when programming driverless cars.…
Connecting a Good Economy to Bad Health
It makes sense to assume that when the economy is better, we feel better, We should have less illness and live longer. Correspondingly, in a sick economy, we too feel sicker. Not necessarily. A Recess…
How Affluence Relates to Pollution
China’s first three five-year plans had no mention of the environment. Then in plans five through nine, there was more. And now, looking at plans 11 to 13, we would see that 5% of all words rela…
The Robots Are Coming (With Your Pizza)
Transforming our pizza delivery, our factories, our warehouses and our cars, the many sides of robotics make it our newest frenemy.…