The Looking Glass

PRANEETH UDATHU (U6) Rational economics has failed to explain a lot about what is happening around us, from the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to consumers buying mountains of toilet rolls during the COVID-19 pandemic. Traditional classical economics does not take into account the irrationality of human decisions as well as how humans are social creatures. This mix of psychology, biology and many other subjects have led economists to believe we are not fully rational.  This rationality can be seen in many areas, but one that firms may be particularly interested in is how humans have a massive differentiation between Social Norms and Market Norms. Social Norms refer to a standard behaviour shared by members of a social group. Often, these are not rigid rules enforced by law but rather societal expectations that are commonplace. Meanwhile, the Market Norms refer to actions that imply comparable benefits and include a payment. These include wages, contracts, prices and interes...

HARSHAL SADWELKAR (U6) Introduction   From a purely humanitarian perspective, it is impossible to claim that richer nations, better known as High Income Countries (HICs) owe nothing to poorer countries, referred to as Low Income Countries (LICs). Specifically demonstrated through the distribution of international aid in the light of national disasters that tend to frequent regions of the globe that typically are home to LICs, considering the mass loss of life that would occur without any foreign intervention.  Furthermore, regarding the Climate Crisis in which all nations are expected to play a part to amend, yet the key issue of pollution as a result of production processes is significantly larger in LICs that lack the efficient, lower polluting infrastructure but also the ability to level up to cleaner, greener process.  Moreover, all nations and in turn their governments, by virtue of their sovereignty are endowed with certain rights that afford them the ability to gro...

  BENEDICT YANG (U6) Catalysed by the never ending construct of time, and the societal expectations we are meant to live up to, I constantly find myself comparing my life to those of which are more successful than I am. As a student and as a human being, growing up and dealing with oncoming adulthood and the responsibility that comes with it, seems more and more daunting each day. Our daily lives, encapsulated by the stresses of impending university, interpersonal relationships and general mental health, commonly spiral into a dwarfed perception of reality.   Countless research has helped to back the claim that “thoughts help define the moods we experience”, that our “thoughts and beliefs influence how we behave and what we choose to do and not to do”. That being said, it helps to explain why when we have negative thoughts, it induces negative emotions. Consider the situation that two students, Smith and Clark, have an upcoming test. Smith thinks to himself, “I’m so nervo...

  PRASHON PENDYALA (L6) Introduction The Oxford dictionary definition of the lexeme "good" is an object "to be desired of or approved of". This argument hinges on the adjective so it is important to clarify and understand the vast, ambiguous definition it has. While something may be "good" for one party, it may hold negative consequences for another party. This give-and-take basis structures the very foundations of colonialist ideology, and also for possibly the greatest display of this form of hegemony is the British Empire. To discuss the consequences of Imperial Britain and label them as objectively "good" or "bad" would be irrelevant. While a repercussion may appear as "bad" for a group, it may have resulted in advanced progressions for another set of people of a different denomination. This causes a disparity which would make it extremely arduous to determine if they are impartially "good" or "bad". Ho...