By Leo Sørensen Oct. 26, 2025 Embracing the bestowment of globalisation as an economic leverage, the renowned superpowers–The United States and China–have engaged in bilateral and transnational trade for decades. Indeed, with the ever increasing prevalence of interdependence within our world today, economic cooperation is considered an imperative in wielding mutual benefits of even the most disparate states. Nevertheless, such assertion tends to be rather challenged than rein

By Taehoon Ahn Oct. 26, 2025 I — Introduction In August 2024, South Korea was shaken by two primary electric vehicles (EV) fires in Cheongna and Geumsan—gun, reigniting public fears of EVs. After these incidents, applications to sell EVs surged by 184 percent, reflecting mounting consumer anxiety and skepticism about EV technology. However, these incidents are not merely isolated events. Since 2020, the frequency of EV fires has incessantly risen, culminating in 72 reported a

By Nathan Chen Oct. 26, 2025 I — Introduction Eight per every thousand people in India are estimated to be living in modern slavery in India as of 2023. The Walk Free Foundation, an international human rights group, ranked India 6th in their global modern slavery index in 2023, marking slow but existent progress. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that a variety of India’s industries are also deeply engrained with child labor, ranging from cigarettes and bricks to garments

By Emma Thompson Mar. 14, 2025 I — Introduction “It is undeniable that the United States is now more politically polarized than it was a decade ago” states NBC News, a news division that covers both national and international news on topics of general interest. Research indicates that the views of American presidents have become more polarized by party identification as time passed; rising from Richard Nixon’s 47 point gap between his party’s approval of him and the oppositio

By Sanghoo Ahn Oct. 28, 2025 Within the realm of a dynamic global economic landscape, consumerism has increasingly driven the growth of industries such as fast fashion and drop-shipping. While the aforementioned industries act as significant economic catalysts in developing countries, the active production of negative externalities is often overlooked. Traditional market mechanisms are unavailing in correcting inefficiencies in the form of environmental and social costs, ulti

By Aanya Sharma Nov. 1, 2025 I - Introduction In every era, sports have done more than entertain—they have helped shape culture, reflect values and build a communal identity. But more than that, they have served as emotional touchstones, connecting people to meaningful memories and collective experience. This emotional pull is a part of a general tendency to romanticize the past. Johan Norberg, a Swedish historian with the Catal Institute, reminds us that this connection to t

By Jack Miller Nov. 2, 2025 Introduction Although less prevalent than other diseases, cancer has been, for a long time, a source of ailment and death for humanity. In 2023 alone, approximately 2 million new cancer cases and over 600,000 cancer deaths were projected to occur in the United States. Naturally, with such high incidents of cancer cases, pharmaceutical companies have entered and established control in the cancer drug industry, effectively becoming what is known as B

By Daniel Wu Nov. 2, 2025 For the last 30 years, increased availability and use of social media have caused millions of adolescents to be exposed to thinness ideals. 67% of teens today say they use TikTok, with 16% of them saying they use it constantly. This marks a massive increase in teenage exposure to social media compared to the past. In just 2 years, the use of social media among teens has increased by 17%, surpassing the percent increase in four years prior.  However,

By Yuki Tanaka Nov. 1, 2025 In a world increasingly marked by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, collectively known as VUCA , the ability to predict and respond to rapidly-changing, unpredictable events seems paramount. Against this backdrop, quantum computing is emerging as a pivotal technology which may become key to navigating the world of the future. On the surface, quantum computing looks set to revolutionize  the field of classical computing; look deepe

By Oliver Brown Oct. 31, 2025 A tide of recent paradigm shifts  amongst a throng of industries is arguably led by an aggressive surge of generative AI adoption across different sectors. With its usage  unfathomably versatile, the technology holds unprecedented potentials  to simultaneously advance productivity and lunge creativity. Nonetheless, this breadth of yields and unmatched productivity have concurrently come to further envenom the long-unresolved crime against humanit

By Arjun Mehta Oct. 30, 2025 I - Introduction Over 668,000 children in Ghana are subjected to child labor in Ghana industries and denied their basic humanitarian rights. 91,000 recorded individuals in forced labor, its ratio to the total population 35 times that of the United States. And yet, only 0.7% of government investigations of worksites were prosecuted and there are less than 180 labor inspectors in the nation. Such issues become far more prominent in Ghana’s gold indu

Emily Zhang Oct. 31, 2025

By Jiweon Kim Oct. 31, 2025 When people consider issues related to the growth of artificial intelligence (AI), the main topics that come to mind include intellectual (dis)honesty, increased social alienation, loss of privacy, and potential job losses and the resultant impact on economies. Lost in the conversation surrounding these problems is the overlooked matter that affects every community that is home to an AI data center: the negative impacts of increased energy consumpt

By Daniel Park Oct. 31, 2025 I - Introduction Over the past decade, the rise of cryptocurrency has received salient attention from various institutions due to its unorthodox approach to traditional financial systems. First launched in 2009, Bitcoin broke through the price point of $100,000 in November 2024 in contrast to its $0.2 price a year after its release. Although the cryptocurrency market has experienced exponential growth, its success in the broader context remains de

By David Zhang Jul. 13, 2024 In boardrooms across the world, the word investment  has acquired a second meaning: negotiation. Governments now compete not just to attract capital, but to surrender it—offering tax breaks, grants, and subsidies in the name of “economic development.” By 2025, global corporate tax incentives totaled US$1.3 trillion annually , according to the OECD Global Fiscal Balance Report (2025) . That figure nearly equals the combined education budgets of the

By Hiroki Watanabe Jul. 16, 2024 For decades, infrastructure was the province of governments—a public good built with public funds. Highways, airports, and water systems symbolized state capacity and collective vision. But over the past twenty years, that foundation has quietly shifted. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Global Infrastructure Investment Outlook (2025) , private capital now finances 56 percent  of all new infrastructure projects in advanced eco

By Priya Iyer Jul. 18, 2024 For decades, carbon credits have been the political and corporate talisman of climate responsibility—a mechanism through which polluters can buy the right to emit, offset, or “neutralize” their carbon footprint. Yet beneath this language of balance lies an uncomfortable truth: the global carbon market has become an accounting fiction. The World Bank Carbon Pricing Dashboard (2025)  values global carbon trading at US$946 billion , nearly triple its

By Grace Lin Jul. 21, 2024 Price was once the simplest signal in economics—a reflection of supply, demand, and human judgment. Today, it is a line of code. Across industries, from ride-sharing to cloud computing, prices are no longer set by people but by algorithms that adjust every second to optimize profit and efficiency. What began as an innovation in consumer pricing has evolved into a new economic system—one where algorithms price not only products, but people . The MIT

By Satoshi Kimura Jul. 23, 2024 Every time a “Buy Now” button is pressed, the planet pays a hidden price. E-commerce—once celebrated as frictionless and immaterial—has become one of the fastest-growing sources of carbon emissions. The International Energy Agency (IEA) Logistics and Consumption Report (2025)  estimates that the global e-commerce supply chain emits 4.3 billion metric tons of CO₂ annually , more than the aviation and maritime industries combined. Convenience has

By Aarav Kumar Jul. 24, 2024 For centuries, money has been the state’s most sacred instrument—a symbol of sovereignty and a tool of control. Yet as physical cash fades and digital transactions dominate, governments around the world are preparing to reclaim monetary authority through a new instrument: the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) . By 2025, over 130 countries —representing 98 percent  of global GDP—were exploring or piloting CBDCs ( International Monetary Fund Digi