The New Jim Crow provides an insight into mass incarceration. The rationale for assigning this reading is to challenge the assumptions related crime and punishment and determine where the breakdown between assessment of crime and punishment for crime limit the social benefit of punishment. Also, in evaluating the punishment and cycle of crime, it is possible to understand how data itself may assist in perpetuating incarceration and inequities in the treatment of individuals.

You are free to share any points or items that enhanced or affected your perception of the rationale for crime, the “fairness”of punishment, the social impact/cost of crime, the causality of crime and punishment or another related item that affects the assumptions embedded in economic assessment. I have also provided a few prompts below.

Racial indifference rather than overt racism promotes the vicious cycle of incarceration
Social norms affect incarceration, not necessarily crime
There is a racial bias in crime and punishment
Incarceration has many social costs, which include qualitative impacts that affect individual sense of status in a society
Stereotypes of the incarcerated are not necessarily consistent with the reality
This is a short paper assignment. The length should be between 1000 and 1250 words not including in-paper citations and references. APA style is the adopted writing style for this class.

paper topic = including either a central question you are planning to investigate, or a central thesis you plan to argue and defend. In order to accommodate our present restrictions, the paper topic needs to center on a current economic issue or question. Our present circumstances are rich with possibilities.

Question:
Given environmental degradation concerns, the costs associated with deforestation (from health to income to even education), would chocolate be a good candidate for further GMO study?  Why or why not?  Again, as before, focus on the economic implications.  You now have the ability to answer this question from the standpoint of ANY viewpoint/topic that we covered in the course.  I give you free reign to discuss this question.

*Please feel free to utilize the three uploaded references. They have most of the information to answer this question*

ANSWER QUESTIONS AND DOC.X WORKSHEET

PART 1:

Q1: Congratulations! You have now read two of the most important 20th century economic texts, each of which represents a different pole in economic policy. Now having read both the books, and drawing from your full course of economics study as you like, reflect on the merits of “economic planning” versus “laissez-faire” economic policy, and the strength of Polanyis argument versus Hayeks. Aim for 150-200 words.

WORKSHEET: ECO 405 Worksheet – May 4 and 6, The Road to Serfdom.docx

PART 2:

Q2: In reading Polanyi, Hayek, and Harvey, we see that the stakes of how we define freedom are very high. Assertions about the true meaning of freedom have been central to both neoliberalism’s advance, as well as to opposition to neoliberalism.

For Hayek and other neoliberals, market freedoms underpin political freedoms, and so it is supposedly of utmost importance to free the marketplace from all fetters, as much as possible regulations, taxes, capital controls, etc. Otherwise, Hayek and his allies argue, the slide toward totalitarianism is inevitable.

Polanyi and other social democrats and socialists argue that market freedoms are simply code for the freedom of the rich to dominate society as they see fit. They argue that true freedom requires material freedom from poverty and alienated work, or as Roosevelt put it, freedom from want. Thus, they say that any society claiming to value “freedom” must seek to liberate its people from the bondage of economic desperation.

After hearing both the cases, what is freedom for you? (150-200 words)

WORKSHEET: ECO 405 Worksheet – May 11 and 12 .docx

Is the GDP Still Accurate in the Digital Age?

GDP is the sum of all income earned in a country during a year. Alternatively, it can be thought of as the value of all production in an economy during a year. But do income and production measure happiness?The way we measure GDP can both overstate and understate peoples happiness and well-being. It understates economic activity and well-being when it does not take into account production that is not exchanged in a market (grandma providing free baby-sitting) and leisure time. It overstates well-being when two otherwise identical activities are measured the same even though one produces more pollution.

Reply to these questions to begin your discussion:

Should we continue to measure GDP as we do now? If you dont think it should be changed, explain your reasoning. If you think it should be changed, what changes would you recommend, and why?

Question:
The current administration floated an idea that would “alleviate” homelessness in the US: to transport the homeless out of town. In theory, can this policy work and why/why not? Consider this method as a “reverse” Lewis model

*This was the idea: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-homeless-bus-20180312-story.html

*Please use la times link and uploaded article as references*

Question: Based on the article uploaded and the PBS video link below, what type of policy would be most effective in combatting the HIV/AIDs epidemic in Africa, and now Russia? Consider the concerns pertaining to deadweight loss, current versus future consumption and general productivity.

*Check out PBS’s NewsHour video for a brief introduction to HIV/AIDS in Russia:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/1-million-russians-are-hiv-positive-but-only-a-third-get-treatment

*Please only use the article uploaded and the video link as references*

please read the decription carefully and the guidance!!
F500 company: Ford motors ,general motors or other automotive company if possible

Guidance:

Draw up a 12-page PPT or Keynote presentation with text notes in each slide (or equivalent of 2000 words (+/-10%)) on the company with rich analytical content on each slide and explanatory slide notes, plus an appendix identifying your survey questions and data sources.

1) Identify a company:
2) Assess this companys current readiness to search, select, develop, implement, and scale AI applications appropriately and responsibly, looking at these three pillars:
– Strategy and governance systems
– Access to data, computing power and talent
– Innovation and operational capabilities
3) Develop actionable recommendations for improving the companys state of AI readiness

Description of Assignment: Evaluate readiness for AI

Please select one F500 corporation and rate its readiness for the AI future in a domain or industry sector of your choice. You will need to determine the criteria used for the measurement as you disclose your work.

Also make sure you differentiate where companies may be ready to integrate AI and where they may instead be at nascent stages of Digital Transformation.

While business managers have widely recognized the strategic importance of AI, implementing and integrating AI remains in early infancy. Because of AIs rapid evolution and the accelerating bloom of new and disruptive cognitive applications, companies will need to develop and commit to an ongoing process that achieves and then maintains preparedness for an era of thinking machines.