For students across the United States, the end of August signals the inception of the next school year. For retailers, that means one final rush for back-to-school supplies. The National Retail Foundation estimates that families with school-age children will spend an average of $630 this year on school-related supplies. This includes clothing (92.7%) , shoes … More Econ in the News: Back-to-School Spending
I’ve recently been devoting some time in my internship reaching out to companies involved in the VR and AR ecosystems, especially in the California area. As a result, I thought that I’d briefly discuss the pros, cons, and differences of Virtual and Augmented Reality. Virtual Reality is designed to be fully immersive; 360 degree vision and audio in a … More Virtual and Augmented Reality
Venezuela has been suffering from major hyperinflation during the past few months, due to the current government printing the Bolivar currency so much that it is nearly worthless. After the inflation rate skyrocketed to 68%, the government ceased reporting inflation figures. This has led some economists to make use of unusual (and delicious) methods to track the hyperinflation. Miguel Octavio, a Miami-based financial … More Econ in the News: Arepas and Hyperinflation
I recently got the chance to help out at a Stanford sendoff event. In doing so, I transformed from the energetic freshman I was one year prior to a sagacious sophomore, ready to bestow wisdom on the incoming class. Or something like that. The truth is, I’m still very early into my college journey as well. During my … More Things I Learned my Freshman Year at Stanford
This week’s Econ in the News brings us to the murkier realm of North Korea. As markets increase in prominence, reports of taxes and bribes being imposed on these markets by the North Korean government have also increased in frequency. The result is something known in Korean as a “grasshopper market”, in which … More Econ in the News: Grasshopper Markets and Lotus Flower Capitalism
The collective voices of the interwebs have been in an uproar with the news that Google will reorganize its companies under the umbrella company Alphabet. Besides the fact that Alphabet is trademarked by BMW, this restructuring is actually a good idea for Google to implement. Thanks to company holdings from Android to Zagat, Google is no longer … More G is for Google, and that’s good enough for me
In Palo Alto, you hear a lot from student groups and activists about the increasing gentrification of San Francisco neighborhoods. The long-term implications of rising home prices were recently brought to light by a Business Insider article; because of the sky-high prices, teachers are being priced out of city schools. As the new school year dawns, San … More Econ in the News: When Housing Affects the Next Generation
As the summer reaches its zenith, so, too have I reached the halfway point in my Hollywood internship. Over this summer, I have been fortunate enough to intern at Technicolor. Although the company is perhaps best known for its eponymous technology introducing breathtaking color into the black-and-white movie scene, Technicolor is now in the process of reinventing itself as … More 5 Things I’ve Learned from Interning at Technicolor
At long last, I have obtained my own domain name and created a personal website! I plan on posting thoughts, musings, achievements, and interesting news that I discover over the years.
Andrew Jabara 