Issue 4
Issue 4 of The Confluence has twelve student articles and thirteen interviews, one with a Nobel laureate, and most are about how rules are made and enforced. Topics include AI and entry-level jobs, betting sponsorship bans, emergency powers, rent caps, black markets, and SLAPP lawsuits, and several ask what happens when those rules stop working, while a few cover science and psychology.
Read Science, Not Just About It
A Nobel Prize-winning physicist calls research slow, collective work and describes how his spin-glass mathematics was applied to memory in the brain.
Beyond the Hype
Young workers in AI-exposed jobs are being hired less than their peers in less exposed work, with no widespread job losses, and firms that stop hiring juniors risk losing future staff and customers.
The Data Will Tell You
The Freakonomics economist describes how he caught sumo wrestlers and teachers cheating, and defends his finding on abortion and crime.
The Shirt Off Their Backs
With betting sponsors banned from the front of Premier League shirts, clubs face an £80 million shortfall because sponsors overpaid by around 38 per cent.
Shame, Reconsidered
Shaming works because even Trump and Xi pretend to respect human rights, says a former head of Human Rights Watch, who wants allies held to the same standards.
The Virus and the Voter
Covid emergency powers damaged trust in democracy, but the backlash since, from Sri Lanka to Hungary, has so far done more for democracy than the emergency did against it.
Small Country, Big Neighbours
Bangladesh balances India and China while keeping Japan and the West as partners, and a Dhaka scholar explains why its soldiers refused to fire on protesters in 2024.
Look Sideways
Powerful groups divide people so that they blame one another, and the article gives cases from Ancient Rome to modern policing.
Ethics Are the Scaffolding, Law Is the Building
A Moroccan legal scholar wants binding international AI rules built on ethics, since national laws cannot govern a technology that crosses borders.
The Spanish Real Estate Reality
Most of Spain's housing crisis comes from rent caps and slow planning, and the fix is faster building and a gradual end to the caps.
What Bans Don't Stop
A Toulouse economist explains how bans on drugs and migration can backfire, and how legal cannabis and temporary work visas can undercut dealers and smugglers.
The Hidden Cost of Canada's Housing Crisis
Canada's housing shortage also raises costs for international students in homestays, and the author wants more supply and standard contracts.
Six Months, Six Years, Sixty Years
The chair of the Bank of Mongolia’s Supervisory Board describes the risks of running a central bank in a young democracy and argues that unequal votes need fixing.
The Anatomy of a Rate Hike
Rate hikes are warranted against energy-driven inflation but do little about its cause, so governments also need to cut deficits and reform supply.
The Economics of the Living Dead
Georgia's former economy minister explains why failing Soviet-era firms survived for years, and calls for strict bankruptcy laws.
Is Infinite Economic Growth on a Finite Planet a Myth or a Misunderstood Goal?
Concludes that growth can continue on a finite planet only if it is redefined as flourishing within ecological limits.
The Best Investment of Your Life
Limited access to credit holds back education, and the Israeli conflict costs about 30 per cent of GDP, according to a Hebrew University economist.
The Business of Responsibility
Companies now perform social responsibility for show, and the people their actions affect should help set and enforce their duties.
Cool Idea, Cool Impact, Cool People
A Ljubljana professor says creativity needs constraints, and that pressure backfires and even a few nights of poor sleep reduce it.
Seeing Red, Trusting Blue
Colour affects branding, but how much depends on context and culture, with blue the best-known sign of trust.
"You Can't, Because You Are a Girl"
The media reinforces gender norms and can also change them, says a Rwandan scholar, who uses radio coverage of the abortion law for minors as an example.
The Utilisation of SLAPP Lawsuits in US Politics
X Corp's suit against a non-profit is one example of how SLAPP lawsuits wear down critics with legal costs, and the article calls for a federal law against them.
Little China or Southeast Asian Original?
A former UN economist explains how Vietnam grew and why its banks and universities lag, and says it differs from China.
The Neighbour Nobody Called
Four failures kept Central America, with its low wages and short route to the US, from winning the factories that went to Asia.
Logic Beyond the Canon
A Croatian philosopher argues that logic can test moral and political beliefs but cannot choose our values, and discusses Croatia's philosophical tradition.