Article by Meghna Pamula Although democracy has greatly expanded globally over the past few decades, democratic backsliding has been a topic of concern over recent years. Democratic backsliding is the state-led debilitation or elimination of the institutions sustaining democracy. Democracy is made up of factors such as voting rights, freedom of the governed, and minority
Article By Anya Syed During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, unemployment rates soared throughout the US, with rates differing across US counties. According to the most recent UCLA Anderson Forecast Report, LA County’s unemployment rate was 4.9%, while Riverside county’s unemployment rate was 3.6% in September 2022. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the
Article By Noah Hendelman The 2020 United States presidential election saw a major increase in mail-in voting as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. This shift was politicized, with republicans falsely claiming the method was more prone to widespread fraud, and democrats hoping that an increased turnout stemming from mail-in voting would benefit their party.
Article by Aryan Totawat The car market is one of many in the U.S. that has seen soaring prices over the past couple of years. In more normal times, it would be an aberration for a customer to pay above “sticker price” (more formally called a Manufacturer-Suggested Retail Price, or MSRP) for their car; they
Article by Kara Hagler Recently, news outlets have shown videos of people stealing from stores and freely exiting the building with no punishment. It begs the question as to how all these people are stealing in broad daylight without facing punishment from the store or police. One potential hypothesis for this open stealing in stores
Article by Nicolas De Mello and Anya Syed When news of Russia’s encroachment into Ukrainian territory began, the global stock market immediately responded. Meanwhile, countries rushed to impose sanctions and called diplomatic meetings to address the dire situation. By early March, 141 countries had condemned Russia for its invasion at the UN and vowed to
The Pandemic’s Partisan Divide By Julia Garbee “There simply was not a strong partisan pattern to Covid during the first year that it was circulating in the U.S … Then the vaccines arrived,” a December 2021 NPR article claimed. While it is true that Republicans are vaccinated at lower rates than Democrats, are vaccinations
Article by Abbas Seltzer Late at night in February 2021, eccentric entrepreneur Elon Musk posted a photoshopped image emblematic of the way he shapes the cryptocurrency landscape. He edited his face onto the baboon from The Lion King as he held up lion cub Simba. Except, he also photoshopped the face of a startled-looking Shiba
Article by Daniel Krasemann April 1st marks the start of Second Chance Month. President Joe Biden addressed the nation and emphasized that the United States is a country of second chances. With over half a million people released from prison every year, Biden properly acknowledges the importance of promoting second chances. Furthermore, 70 million Americans suffer
Article by Nicolas De Mello The Impact of GDP shocks on Fertility Rates Covid-19 has introduced unknowns into our day-to-day lives and has created numerous economic difficulties. In 2020, most of the world suffered negative economic shocks as the uncertainty of a new disease stunned human societies and resulted in significant GDP downturns for many
