Public Policy
September 15, 2020
What is Political Economy? Podcast Episode with Beatrice, James, Rachel & Victor
University of Washington Professors Rachel Heath, James Long, and Victor Menaldo discuss what Political Economy is and what it has to offer. Moderated by Beatrice Magistro: Click here
September 10, 2020
Ronald Coase’s Inimitable Contribution to Evidence Based Policy, By Victor Menaldo
Nobel Prize winning economist Ronald Coase’s 1960 piece, “The Problem of Social Cost”, is one of the most helpful ways to think about cost benefit analysis. It is therefore a pillar of evidence-based policy. Setting the Table: What is Evidence Based Policy? What is evidence-based policy? All public policy starts with a theory,…
August 29, 2020
Center Left Capitalism as the Key to Prosperity, By Victor Menaldo
Capitalism, in its modern form, is only about 250 years old and was ushered in during the industrial revolution. The advent of general-purpose technologies (GPT) transformed the scale of production and put productivity on an exponential growth path for the first time in human history. This ended the Malthusian Trap whereby increased economic productivity engendered…
August 25, 2020
New PE Forum Podcast Episode – Is Cancel Culture Threatening Free Speech?
8/21/2020 – Susan Whiting, Jamie Mayerfeld, Brian Leung, Mark Smith, Victor Menaldo and James Long on Is Cancel Culture Threatening Free Speech? https://soundcloud.com/political-economy-forum-at-university-of-washington/uw-pe-forum-podcast-3-is-cancel-culture-threatening-free-speech “If we don’t try to solve the fundamental problem behind the speech that we dislike and work only to mitigate the symptom — by censoring it — we drive the problem somewhere…
August 6, 2020
A Tale of TikTok and Tariffs – US Technology Policy towards China – By Victor Menaldo and Nicolas Wittstock
As China has become a more assertive international actor, US calls for active industrial policy to counter growing Chinese technological capabilities have grown. Allegedly, China’s technology companies are undermining US companies and hurt the US economy. Often “forced technology transfer” is invoked to justify the recent escalation in anti-Chinese technology policy. Yet, we argue…
August 5, 2020
Is Avocado Demand Driving Cartel Violence? By Megan Erickson and Lucas Owen
Has the growth of the avocado industry caused a surge in violence among Mexican Drug cartels? While the conventional wisdom in the media is that it has, a shibboleth avocado farmers themselves tend to concur with, our research suggests differently. In the last ten years, the demand for avocados has grown rapidly. Conscious of…
July 20, 2020
Political Economy Forum Seminar: Podcast Edition with Professor Mark Smith
On 7/10/20 the UW Political Economy Forum had the pleasure to welcome Professor Mark Smith to our weekly seminar. We tried something new this time : we did things over Zoom and recorded our conversation, which is available to anybody who wants to listen. Mark is Professor of Political Science at UW and the…
July 13, 2020
The Perils of Economic Populism, by Beatrice Magistro & Victor Menaldo
Argentina has cycled between populist democracies and military dictatorships over its modern history. This has catalyzed countless economic crises and catastrophes. The same is true of other Latin American countries. By contrast, Europe’s liberal democracies and the US have largely avoided this predicament, at least since World War II. That is, until now: Their political-economic…
July 9, 2020
Economic Growth and Increased Productivity is Only Half the Battle, By Taylor D.H. Rockhill
My career as an economist started nearly a decade ago, under the watchful eye of the inimitable Deirdre McCloskey. I still fondly remember reading her beautifully written, formidable Bourgeois trilogy and wondering: will I ever come close to attaining her seemingly bottomless well of knowledge? I highly recommend her Bourgeois books, Cult of Statistical Significance,…
July 8, 2020
The Economic, Political & Cultural Follies of Kicking Foreign Students Out, By Brian Ping Leung & Nick Wittstock
After the White House’s recent move to suspend the new issuance of several classes of visas, ICE published a Broadcast Message communicating that foreign students under F and M visas may not remain in the US if they exclusively take online classes in the Fall: “Students attending schools operating entirely online may not take…
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