In March, California governor Gavin Newsom declared a moratorium on executions, effectively ending any chance of execution for the 737 California prisoners still on death row. While it is obvious that this move is important for the future of the death penalty in California, the significance of Newsom’s declaration lies in its potential ramifications for […]
Author: Isabel Cholbi
New Paradigms of Prosperity: Challenging Traditional Metrics of Success
It’s a running joke across many college campuses that economics is the “dismal science”. For those who are not economists, it can be hard to connect abstract terms like “absorptive capacity” and “nonparametric statistical methods” to the real lives of people across the globe. Part of the reason that these concepts seem so obfuscated is […]
Political Innovation: Taking a Page from the Business Playbook
We live in a world marred by uncertainty. Each day it seems that more and more crises are coming to the fore: incoming climate disaster, rampant xenophobia, growing economic discontent. Yet the approach by many political leaders to this rapidly-changing environment is the same as it has been for decades: maintain stability, keep law and […]
Femicide in Mexico: What Happens when the State Looks the Other Way
Laura Velazquez had to identify her sister Diana’s body by her braids because her face and torso were left unrecognizable. Diana left her house in Chimalhuacan, Mexico, on July 2, 2017, where she was raped and choked to death by multiple men. Now, almost two years later, the authorities still have not found her murderers, […]
Malaysia: Lessons on Institutional Roadblocks to Climate Change Adaptation
It is one of the world’s most tragic ironies that the most detrimental impacts of climate change will accrue to the countries that have had only a minor role in bringing them about. The Southeast Asian island nation of Malaysia is a prime example. The country is already feeling the disastrous effects of climate change: […]
The Positives of Political Polarization
It’s no secret that Americans are extremely anxious about the current state of our political system. Our reasons for this are varied, but perhaps the most frequently discussed is the recent increase in political polarization, or the widening gap in ideology between opposing political viewpoints. Americans are more sharply divided ideologically than at any time […]