University of Wisconsin–Madison

COVID-19’s Impact on Small Businesses

Riley Maszk | December 2021 Never before have we seen such a dynamic shift in normalcy until the global pandemic of the COVID-19 virus. With the hardships in losing our loved ones, facing disconnect with political disagreement, and using action as a means of representing frustration, our economy and its businesses were at risk for …

EQ Vol.11: INTERVIEW with Professor David Johnson

Contributing Writer: Tye Rubin | May, 2021 David Johnson is a professor of economics and a senior lecturer at UW-Madison and has built a reputable career in environmental economics and teaching. Professor Johnson has worked extensively with the Conservation Strategy Fund, which is an organization dedicated to using economics to create long-term conservation solutions by …

Geographic Variation in Treatment and Cost in Healthcare

Kelly Zhang | April 2021 It would seem ideal for all the world to have a single price for all people when they have health issues. However, that may never happen because there are many causes that can affect the final price on every single patient’s healthcare bill. Each doctor has their own way of …

EQ Vol.10: Exchange Rate Misalignment – For Some a Strategy, for Others a Downfall

Contributing Writer: Abby Fehler | May, 2020 The economies of developing countries face many interesting problems, many of which involve trade. For the leaders of developing nations, economic stability is crucial to maintaining political stability. As seen in countries such as Venezuela, economic instability can cause mass protests, violence, and political turmoil. Therefore, a strong …

EQ Vol.10: Los Angeles Metro Rails– An Asset or a Liability?

Contributing Writer: Fatima Ali | May, 2020 Throughout the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, Los Angeles experienced a massive population growth, creating traffic congestion in the L.A. highway system. Tis provided an incentive for lawmakers and city developers to find a method of transportation that would allow a solution to solve the problem of congested …

Americans Need an Insurance Mandate, They Just Don’t Know It Yet

| Ritika Punathil | May 18, 2020 | To understand whether the U.S. health insurance market is experiencing market failure, statistic, economic, and philosophical theory are all needed. The real challenge is determining what market corrections are appropriate for a nation of about 330 million people. Whatever they may be, they must be morally justified. …

The Digital Dump: Navigating China’s Informal Market of Electronic Waste

| Timmy Davenport | March 29, 2020 | Unsustainable waste production in the modern global context is a crisis of pandemic proportions. E-waste is a particular type of waste that covers digital devices such as cell phones, televisions, computers, and essentially any other device that plugs into an outlet. Since these products are composed of …

The EU-UK Signaling Game

| Diquan Xian | May 9, 2019 | Since 2017 March, the United Kingdom has engaged in official withdrawal from the European Union so that it can preserve its policy-making authority especially over the movements of people. Particularly, the withdrawal could be in two forms: hard Brexit or soft Brexit. If the UK would insist …

The Effects of the Minimum Wage: A Short Survey for the Diligent Voter

| Zach Swaziek | May 9, 2019 | The minimum wage has been the focus of many public policy discussions recently. Tony Evers, the newly elected Governor of Wisconsin, announced in February that his budget includes a state minimum wage hike in 2020 and 2021 to $8.25 and $9 per hour, respectively. After two $0.75 …

A Land Tax: A Model for Effective Fiscal Policy

| Austin Schlueter | April 22, 2019 | In 1978, in his book Capitalism and Freedom, Milton Freidman espoused support for a new tax by uttering “the least bad tax is the property tax on the unimproved value of land.” He was by no means the first to promulgate such a tax; this notion goes …