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Enrico Moretti, Professor of Economics, here at UC Berkeley, starts off his book ‘The New Geography of Jobs’ contrasting California’s two cities, Menlo Park and Visalia. Back in 1969, they had comparable income levels and high-paying jobs. But since then, these cities have diverged. Visalia has one of the lowest average salaries in America, while Menlo Park, and the broader Silicon Valley, has the second-highest average salary in the US with its high paying tech employers. Continue Reading

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As Berkeley students, we’ve had our fair share of instructors. There are those that assign easy write-ups, or notoriously hard papers. Some remember the thought-provoking discussions or the fascinating science demonstrations they saw in class. But a large proportion of these instructors are lecturers, not professors. Every year, they struggle with low pay, a demanding workload and the possibility of not getting a job the following semester.Continue Reading

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In 1971, President Richard Nixon officially proclaimed a war on drugs. Since then, the United States has spent well over $1 trillion on drug prevention and detainment. “If we cannot destroy the drug menace in America, then it will surely in time destroy us,” Nixon told Congress in 1971. “I am not prepared to accept this alternative.” The goal of the war on drugs is to reduce drug use. The specific aim is to destroy and inhibit the international drug trade — making drugs scarcer and costlier, and therefore making drug habits in the US unaffordable.Continue Reading

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Graphics by Nina Tagliabue The BRB Bottomline: Netflix has been the leading power in online streaming services since 2007. However, since the launch of many other streaming services, Netflix has found itself in the middle of the streaming war. Apple launched Apple TV+, Disney launched Disney+, Comcast is getting readyContinue Reading

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The Northeast Corridor serves 17% of the US population, but covers 2% of the land in the US. In a 2014 report by Amtrak, the Northeast Corridor helps support the education and powerhouses that are located in the area. The train is competitive because it connects multiple affluent urban areas within a short distance of each other. From a passenger’s standpoint, the travel time and costs are comparable to driving or flying. Through price discrimination, Amtrak is able to charge higher prices for the consumer.Continue Reading

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Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM) is a video conferencing software which has been widely adopted by businesses, schools, and other institutions as a means of communicating during the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine. Relatively unknown prior to the pandemic, its convenience (45-minute meetings are free) and friendly user interface have led to Zoom skyrocketing in popularity from around 10 million users in December 2019 to over 200 million users in March 2020, solidifying its domain amongst competitors such as Discord, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams, and Skype. Continue Reading

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States have a tax problem. The most consistently profitable companies in the Fortune 500 only pay about half the statutory federal income tax rate—a fourth pay less than 10 percent. Some even get refunds from Uncle Sam—despite making over $160 billion in pre-tax profits, an astounding 30 companies have enjoyed a negative income tax rate in the past three years.Continue Reading

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A total of 101 incidents at various banks across Lebanon from November 1 to January 13, including sit-ins, minor and violent scuffles, hostage taking, and forklifts blocking bank entrances, have only contributed to the exponential decline in consumer confidence in local banks. To regain political balance and hopefully reinvigorate foreign stimulus to abate the rising economic disaster, a new Prime Minister, Professor Hassan Diab, was installed. However, this decision—one that was backed by the US-delegated terrorist militant group Hezbollah—has not sat well with citizens, as they believe the new candidate was selected by the same political elites behind past political corruption in Lebanon.Continue Reading

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In the earlier days of the Internet, tech companies relied on free content to attract users. As the volume of digital content surged, however, quality did not necessarily keep up. It was a struggle to weed through low-quality content, and the time-poor, money-rich in China were willing to pay someone else to do the curating. This was when Ximalaya invited users to become hosts themselves and began to leverage their reputation to charge a fee for their content. With high accessibility, a growing awareness of intellectual property among Chinese netizens, and the convenience of mobile payments Ximalaya got the Chinese to pay for digital content. Ximalaya now has over 5 million hosts who curate and advertise their content, driving sales for the company as a result.Continue Reading

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“Factories with Fences” and “American Made” boasts UNICOR. Better known as the Federal Prison Industries program, UNICOR makes nearly half a billion dollars in net sales annually using prison labor, paying inmates between 23¢ to $1.15 per hour. Despite already earning one-sixth of the federal minimum wage, inmates with final obligations must contribute half of their earnings to cover those expenses. UNICOR, in addition to other government-owned corporations and private prisons, makes millions upon millions of dollars using nearly free prison labor.Continue Reading