Category Archives: Original Articles

The Ice Age in relations is here to stay: how US-China tensions are expanding from trade to everything.

Written By: Tanya Singh

The US-China trade relationship has expanded immensely after China’s reformation of its economy and liberalization in 1979.The world’s two largest economies have persevered bitter rivalry locked by a trade battle for a year now. The onset of the pandemic revealed new dynamics in the US-China trade wars, overshadowing the agreement made in January that was meant to draw President Trump’s policy still endeavours to encourage domestic production and purchases leading it to impose more than $360bn worth of tariffs on Chinese goods. According to the “phase one” deal signed in January, China vowed to boost US imports by $200bn above 2017 levels and extend intellectual property rules, however, Trump seems to have delayed the upliftment of tariffs and with the recent indictments regarding Covid-19, it seems that both the countries are back to square one. Here’s how we can break this situation down:

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Defining Affordable Housing in Waterloo

Written By: Natasha Kozak

The rental market is no stranger to the students of Waterloo, Ontario. Everywhere you look there are “for rent” signs in windows, and major housing corporations seem to be taking over, as there seem to be more high-rise student apartment buildings than geese on UW campus. Increasing availability of student housing is a positive thing, as it gives more options for incoming students. However, even though supply of housing is increasing, rental prices are increasing as well. How is this so? Given the basics of supply and demand this phenomenon seems to defy economics. In this article we will look at the discrepancy in rental rates between landlords and tenants and tenant sublets. We will then explore reasons for this discrepancy, and pinpoint who is absorbing the deadweight loss (which, as any student of economics would know, is a less-than-pareto optimal position in which to be).

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How Does COVID-19 Impact All Aspect of Life

Written by: Irina Chen

A global epidemic named coronavirus (also known as COVID-19), first appeared in China in early January. As of March 27th, the virus has infected approximately 590,000 and killed at least 27,000 people worldwide. Schools and businesses have been forced to shut down. The global economy has become unimaginably fragile in recent months. In this article, two aspects, economics and education, are discussed concerning the impact of COVID-19 to humankind.

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Understanding ageing population and how it can impact an economy

Written by: Hammad Mirza

What is Populating Ageing?

To understand ageing from a macroeconomic perspective, it is important to differentiate between the ageing of individuals and the ageing of populations. Interest in the ageing of individuals focuses on survival and longevity (i.e. life expectancy within a country), which make ageing a function solely of changes in death rates.

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