Why Did Tougher COVID Restrictions Help State Economies?

An Economist Unravels the False Choice Between Business and Public Health

In April 2020, with the pandemic in full swing, the Economist published: “A Grim Calculus: COVID-19 presents stark choices between life, death and the economy.” Soon Americans were blaming the lockdowns for recession and, in the words of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, “the destruction of millions of lives across America… without any corresponding benefit in COVID mortality.” Before the end of the year, some states, notably Texas, were ending COVID restrictions with the goal of improving their economic activity.

Now that 2020 is mercifully in the past, we have data …

Can Restaurants Become Drivers of Opportunity—Not Inequality? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Can Restaurants Become Drivers of Opportunity—Not Inequality?

To Prosper in a New Era, Eateries Will Have to Reckon With Issues Left to Simmer on the Back Burner

Thousands of restaurants have closed for good across America since WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic last March. Many others remain temporarily shuttered; the remainder limp by with sales a fraction …

Why Two California Billionaires Should Buy Newspapers

Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk Could Launder Their Reputations—And Maybe Serve the Public

To: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
From: Joe Mathews
Re: Acquisition and Reputation

Have you two lost your minds?

Both of you are suffering through long-running, self-inflicted public relations crises. Mark, Facebook’s …

Guadalajara’s Transition From Tequila to High Tech

Offering a Model for Mexico's Future, the City Reinvented Itself as an R&D Hub

In 2009, as the economy of Silicon Valley started to recover from the financial crisis, Bismarck Lepe, a tech entrepreneur with a Stanford pedigree and a few years working at …

Why Suckering Americans Is a Booming Business

Business Fraud Is Thriving Amid Loose Regulation and Short-Term Gain Fixation

American capitalism has always provided openings for hucksters and outright swindlers.

For centuries, this society has been especially receptive to economic innovation and the strategies of wealth-seeking that so often …