Would a wealth tax in America work? Yes, argues Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman.

According to recent papers by Zucman, and his colleague Emmanuel Saez, one should be implemented.

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  • French economist, Gabriel Zucman, argues that a wealth tax needs to be implemented to level the economic playing field.
  • Zucman helped both Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren draft their wealth tax proposals.
  • Zucman was also part of the discovered American billionaires now pay a lower tax rate than the middle class.
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Outer space capitalism: The legal and technical challenges facing the private space industry

The private sector may need the Outer Space Treaty to be updated before it can make any claims to celestial bodies or their resources.

  • The Outer Space Treaty, which was signed in 1967, is the basis of international space law. Its regulations set out what nations can and cannot do, in terms of colonization and enterprise in space.
  • One major stipulation of the treaty is that no nation can individually claim or colonize any part of the universe—when the US planted a flag on the Moon in 1969, it took great pains to ensure the world it was symbolic, not an act of claiming territory.
  • Essentially to do anything in space, as a private enterprise, you have to be able to make money. When it comes to asteroid mining, for instance, it would be "astronomically" expensive to set up such an industry. The only way to get around this would be if the resources being extracted were so rare you could sell them for a fortune on Earth.
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Singapore overtakes U.S. as world's most competitive economy

But the U.S. remains an "innovation powerhouse," according to the annual report from the World Economic Forum.

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  • Singapore topped the World Economic Forum's annual list due, in part, to its strong infrastructure, labor markets and health markers.
  • The U.S. ranked in second place, but was named the world's most competitive large economy.
  • The report also found that some Asian nations seem to be benefitting from the U.S.-China trade war.
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Can we create an empathic alternative to the capitalist system?

Is capitalism naturally unempathetic?

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Any attempt to propose a detailed alternative to the capitalist economic system in a short article could be seen as somewhat presumptuous.

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2019 Nobel Prizes: What you can learn from this year's winners

From literature to physics, the annual Nobel Prizes aim to highlight the most groundbreaking achievements in every field.

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  • Each year, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards six Nobel Prizes.
  • The categories are: literature, physics, chemistry, peace, economics, and physiology & medicine.
  • The Nobel prizes will be announced each business-day until October 14.
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