2020 – Vanderbilt Business Review

Dec

31

2020

From Anbang to Ant Group, the Delicate Balance of Innovation and Regulation in Xi’s China

All Posts, Economy and Government

By: Anton Kozyrev Freedom to explore drives innovation. While some may argue over the precise wording, this sentiment generally holds in a variety of circumstances. This phenomenon is seen at a variety of levels within the economy. Google, for instance, has its well-known “20% Time” policy in which it urges employees to spend 20% of their time freely working on new projects. This opportunity to explore has led to the development of numerous noteworthy products, from Gmail to AdSense. Freedom also drives innovation on a larger scale, particularly when it comes to national economic growth. Many proponents of a laissez-faire…

Dec

25

2020

By Rohan Upadhyay

How COVID-19 Exposed America’s Healthcare System

All Posts, Economy and Government

By: Rohan Upadhyay America can’t catch a break with COVID-19. People stay home to avoid getting sick, so they can’t pay the bills and risk getting evicted. If people can’t stay home, then they’re more at risk of getting infected. And even protesting to change eviction policies puts people at risk of catching COVID-19 as people gather in large groups. On top of that, when people get laid off, they lose their health insurance. Just what you need in a pandemic. Healthcare is tied to Employment — Bad Idea In the US, people mainly get health insurance through their employers.…

Dec

17

2020

By Anton Kozyrev

Hong Kong-Singapore Travel Bubble’s Deeper Implications for the Future of the Global Economy

All Posts, Economy and Government

By: Anton Kozyrev In 2003, the SARS epidemic hit Hong Kong – and it hit hard. Hong Kong would go on to suffer 299 deaths related to the airborne illness – one-fifth of the global death total. This harrowing chapter served as the impetus for a major shift in Hong Kong officials and legislators’ mentality and approach to infectious diseases. The people of Hong Kong became more diligent when it came to illness, with a variety of measures ranging from habitually wearing surgical masks for a cold or flu to comprehensive education on how illnesses are transmitted. These efforts proved…

Dec

17

2020

By Trevor Jones

Platzspitz Park: The Key to the Opioid Crisis?

All Posts, Economy and Government

By: Trevor Jones Heroin users at Platzspitz Park, June 1990 Drug use, especially the opioid crisis, is one of the most prominent public health issues in the United States today. According to drugabuse.gov, a government-run site detailing the data about drug abuse in the United States, over 47,000 people die every year due to opioid overdose. The same webpage also states that 1,700,000 American citizens suffer from prescription opioid-related substance abuse disorders, as well as 652,000 with a heroin use disorder. While there is potential for these latter two statistics to overlap, the magnitude of these numbers is still alarming.…

Nov

11

2020

By Dave Ghosh

Why Tech Companies (And Prospective Employees) Should Be Happy About Biden’s Victory

All Posts, Industries

By: Dave Ghosh When President-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office on January 20, 2021, many will cheer for a variety of reasons. It may be because the inauguration marks a change in rhetoric on the part of the leader of the United States. Or it may be because people want a different response to the pandemic. Or it may be because they were personally affected by some of President Trump’s policies. There will also be a lot of people who find themselves feeling disappointed; many of President Trump’s supporters bought into his vision of “law and order” and “mak[ing]…

Nov

08

2020

By Jaime Svinth

6 Ways to Become a More Sustainable Consumer

All Posts, Sustainability

By: Jaime Svinth Consumerism-- we all do it, we all make a living off of it, and, quite frankly, our economy runs because of it. But, it’s 2020, and it’s time to get smart with our consumerism. When it comes to supporting the good of our world- both its people and the environment- we all can contribute, one dollar at a time. However, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with knowing where to begin making sustainable choices. For some of us, we have already shifted towards supporting more ethical brands and ditching plastic straws, but, for others, it can be difficult…

Nov

07

2020

By Trevor Jones

Nuclear Energy: The Bridge to a Cleaner Future

All Posts, Sustainability

By: Trevor Jones When you read the headline of this article, what came to mind? Giant Simpsons-esque cooling towers looming over an indistinct grey building? People’s homes and lives crumbling away because of the Chernobyl disaster? Overly complex diagrams of atoms and blueprints of a maze of machinery? For as long as it has existed, nuclear energy has been cloaked in mystery and fear, becoming a polarizing political issue worldwide. The argument against nuclear energy is more than valid: the looming risk of an accident and nuclear waste’s impact on the environment are the two most common reasons to oppose…

Nov

07

2020

By Anton Kozyrev

Shunned by the West, Huawei explores alternative paths

All Posts, Industries

By: Anton Kozyrev With the ever-escalating trade war with the People’s Republic of China, crackdowns on Chinese companies and entities are on the rise. Technological behemoth Huawei Technologies is no different. Within the past year, many Western governments have declared Huawei an agent of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and have therefore taken strong stances in order to restrict Huawei’s access to broader markets. In fact, the BBC reported in an October 8, 2020 article by Gordon Corera titled “Huawei: MPs claim ‘clear evidence of collusion’ with Chinese Communist Party,” various European parliamentary committees have continued to assert the existence…

Nov

02

2020

By Rohan Upadhyay

4 Steps to Beat Climate Change

All Posts, Sustainability

By: Rohan Upadhyay How to leverage the economy to fight climate change How do we beat climate change in a cost-efficient way? Addressing climate change is ethically correct. But people are concerned that jobs could be lost and the debt could grow from throwing lots of resources at the problem. What’s the answer? Liberals support the Green New Deal — a bold proposal to fight climate change and rebuild US infrastructure (among other things) with $16.3 trillion of government investment over about 10 to 15-years. The proposal means well and has some points about how it will pay for itself.…