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Issue No. 21
Welcome to this semester’s issue of insight – the first to be produced entirely over Zoom!
In our increasingly technologically advanced and global world, it’s important to stop and wonder: what, exactly, is our end goal? How much is enough? Is our drive for more productivity and growth the thing that is harming our planet, or can we keep growing forever? We might not have all the answers, but we do have thought-provoking articles ranging from the economics of inequality to the future of the human race in space– and many things in between.
I’m sure most of you will agree that it’s been a surprisingly hectic term, given that our degrees can now be produced from the comfort of our living rooms. The lack of pubs is definitely a negative, as is the lack of readily accessible university community which we’ve come to rely on.
I hope you enjoy this semester’s issue of Insight. As always, huge thanks must go to the writers, the editors, and the School of Economics for making it possible
With the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, and increasing inequality, the future can feel more uncertain than ever. Economics concern has been quietly rising in the population – a 2020 YouGov Britons are now almost as likely to say that ‘the economy’ is one of the top three issues facing the country (61%) as they are to say ‘health’ (66%).
In this section, Rinto Fujimonto questions the foundations of economic inequality in the UK and beyond, Fanni Leppanen looks at Corporate Social Responsibility through the lens of the Volkswagen Emissions Scandal, and David English examines the intricacies of environmental disaster.
How much growth is enough to keep the world going? Do we really need to grow? A new theory in economics, de-growth, suggests that maybe we could do without it.
This section is dedicated to that theory: Ollie Ryder-Green & Blair Reid give us an overview of de-growth as a theory, and Milan Marcus looks at the relationship between climate action and de-growth.
Our social lives are changing. Online platforms such as TikTok and Instagram are dramatically changing the way in which we connect to other people, and how we communicate, and the coronavirus pandemic has made communicating online a necessity rather than a luxury.
Amy Cook explores the rise and rise of Zoom in the midst of the pandemic, Nicole Timmermans looks at the most addictive app of 2020 (TikTok, of course) and Dušan Repčák questions the social an economic aspects of happiness in modern economics.
The history of the friction between government and private enterprise is a long and unresolved one; favouring one over the other is still the cleanest distinction between the left and the right in Britain.
Who is right? In this section, Alexadros Avgoustidis questions the effect of the free market on drug prices, Milad Sherzad questions the role of the state in the rail industry, and Aryan Jagtap looks at funding for space missions in the US.
