A few things I've written or made outside of economics research.
A side project applying some basic economic principles—the classic characteristics of good money and the gains from specialization of labor—to a debate that had broken out across Minecraft YouTube over which in-game item makes the best server currency.
Written after UVA deployed state police in riot gear to dismantle a pro-Palestine encampment on Grounds. I argue the University's rule enforcement is selective and contextual—tolerated for things like open drinking and streaking, but aggressively applied here—and that the administration's real objection was to the protest's message, not any genuine safety concern.
A petition speech arguing that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act should be amended to strip its liability protections from algorithmically recommended content. I argue the law was built for a pre-algorithmic internet of small, unprofitable forums, that platforms become publishers the moment they choose what their algorithms promote, and that platforms have used that protection to build outrage-optimized information ecosystems that are corroding American politics. Removing 230 protections from algorithmic recommendation would push platforms back toward the chronological, non-personalized feeds that made the early internet a genuine public square.