Category: Economics

How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact the economy?

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Sharing an insightful article that was written in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic about the economy! It’s amazing how far we’ve come!

COVID-19 and the Global Economic Recession

We constantly hear about how COVID-19 has or will destroy the economy all the time. Terms like “global economic recession” and “industry shut-downs” are being used more and more as this pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the globe. Even if a large majority of society may not understand exactly what these terms mean, they’ve been used enough times to gather that it doesn’t indicate the situation is getting better, and they are terms you don’t generally want to hear every day on the television. But what much of society doesn’t know, is why these terms are being used. This is imperative to understand in order to identify how to make the situation better.

Health Care and Types of Health Insurance: Fee-for-Service vs EPO vs HMO vs PPO vs Point-of-Service

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Health insurance is an essential aspect of our lives as it helps us manage the cost of healthcare and protects us from financial instability in case of any medical emergency. There are different types of health insurance plans available in the market, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. In this essay, we will compare and contrast the various types of health insurance plans available in the market, including Fee-for-Service vs EPO vs HMO vs PPO vs Point-of-Service.

The Art of Studying Smart

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Most of the world tends to look down upon the idea of procrastination with a frown. She’s lazy. She’s not responsible. She doesn’t have a work ethic. My view of this concept is slightly different. I wish I could slip back into my elementary school days as a model student, but I’m barely learning yesterday’s content by the time tomorrow rolls around. My stress levels and recent academic performance, on the other hand, tell an entirely different story. Procrastination might not be for everyone—some people need rigid schedules for their personal sanity and success, and these individuals should be held in high regard. For the rest of us: if we learn how to properly procrastinate, we could have all the success and time in the world. In fact, there are three simple steps to embracing the art: always keeping the task in the back of your head, being able to self-discipline when it’s time to work, and knowing your personal capabilities and limits. 

Psychology 101: The Stanford Prison Experiment

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What happens when you put good people in an evil place? Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph? Philip Zimbardo, a psychologist and a professor at Stanford University posed the same exact question in 1971, thereby leading to what is known as The Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE). The experiment was originally created to uncover the truth about human nature, a more in-depth look on what our true ambitions were, what really drove us. Zimbardo began by choosing 24 volunteers, making 12 of them “guards” and the other 12 “prisoners”.  They were taken to a prison simulation, a fabricated illusion to make the volunteers feel as if they were actually in prison. He began by  giving the guards ultimate power and left the prisoners vulnerable. This evidently led to a distinction of power between the two groups. 45 years later, people still ponder the  question that drove the experiment to its end. Was this study ethically right?  The Stanford Prison Experiment was not ethically right, it stripped volunteers of emotion temporarily, forcing them to turn against each other and was physically harmful to the majority of the participants. 

History 101: The Banana is Dead, Long Live the Banana

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Native to New Guinea, bananas prefer tropical climates and can be grown year round. In terms of produce, the biggest distinction is between bananas and plantains, both of which belong to the same genus (Musa) and come in a range of cultivars, or varieties. Bananas are generally eaten raw or as part of a dessert or baked good. Plantains are a staple crop, culinary distinct due to their higher starch content, predisposing them to being cooked and fried as part of meals or snacks.

Margaret Chase Smith’s Speech of a Lifetime

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The American experiment was founded on the idea of a democracy where the people hold the ultimate power over the government. But when the government oversteps its power; when it threatens to endanger individual rights, it takes someone with true courage to stand up for the America public. Some of the most striking examples of blatant abuse of power in the last century occurred during the Cold War. From 1947 to 1991, the Capitalist United States (US) and the Communist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) clashed in a series of escalating economic and political tensions. In the midst of this tumultuous period, US government officials became concerned that communist sympathizer would collude with Soviet spies and endanger national security. The most vocal advocate for the “Red Scare” was Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. McCarthy came under the national spotlight during his speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, when he claimed that 205 State Department employees were known communist infiltrators (Achter). Although he lacked definitive evidence to back his claim, McCarthy continued a long string of accusations against celebrities, politicians, and nearly anyone who disagreed with him. McCarthy’s campaign to “expose” communist infiltrators caused innocent Americans to lose their careers and reputations, and fueled McCarthy’s rise to power. This period of mass, unsubstantiated paranoia eventually became known as “McCarthyism” (Achter). Few dared to challenge him, for fear of becoming his next target; At least not until a woman by the name of Margaret Chase Smith stepped into the political fray.

The Rise of Tech: Tech Trends of the COVID-19 Pandemic

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The recent COVID-19 pandemic has turned our world upside down. From the way we greet each other to the schedule of our daily routines, it’s safe to say that everything that was considered the norm at the beginning of 2020 has completely changed. While most people’s eyes are on health officials, tech giants and start-up companies have been using this time to create new inventions to propel society further – or so they say. Here we will analyze the new products and tech trends that have arisen in the wake of this pandemic, what they do, and if they actually serve to help society.

Macroeconomics: The Definition of GDP and Its Implications

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GDP is the universal measure of income among different countries. We’ve heard of the term GDP multiple times, but what exactly is GDP, and how do we measure an entire country’s income? GDP, Gross Domestic Product, measures the total value of all final goods and services produced in the economy of a country during a given year. Important points that need special attention in the definition of GDP are ‘total,’ ‘final,’ ‘country,’ and ‘a given year.’