Ford, George S. “Updating the Minimum Wage: Setting a Uniform Wage across a Diverse America.” Phoenix Center Perspectives, vol. 21, no. 01, 2021, pp. 1-10.
With the Democratic Party once again becoming the flagship of American politics, the topic of reformation of the minimum wage policy in the states has become relevant. In his paper, Ford, a qualified and experienced economist, attempts “to predict a minimum wage for low-wage states, most of which continue to adhere to the federal minimum” (8). Since this work contains many calculations, charts, and tables and focuses on the monetary aspect of the main topic, one can say that its intended audience is economists, financiers, and political scientists rather than sociologists. The specific worth of Ford’s study lies in its considerable body of knowledge about the economic and financial principles of formation and changing of minimum wages (1, 2). Data on the relationship of these to states’ and national polities and economics are the elements that distinguish this study from others described below.
Kaufman, John A., et al. “Effects of Increased Minimum Wages by Unemployment Rate On Suicide in the USA.” Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, vol. 74, no. 3, 2020, pp. 219-224.
The effect of the minimum wage on society and the influence of its variation on numerous population indicators is an intriguing and challenging topic that Kaufman et al. set out to explore. The group of experienced healthcare professionals decided to study how “social welfare policies such as the minimum wage can affect population health” (Kaufman et al. 219). Unlike previous research, this one is for social scientists and workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists. This scholarly paper contains not only detailed explanatory textual data but also examples of the application of sociological assessment models to minimum wages in the context of the United States (US) (Kaufman et al. 221, 222). Interlinked information on minimum wage and psychological state makes this study stand out from similar ones.
Himmelstein, Kathryn E. W., and Atheendar S. Venkataramani. “Economic Vulnerability among US Female Health Care Workers: Potential Impact of a $15-Per-Hour Minimum Wage.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 109, no. 2, 2019, pp. 198-205.
The minimum wage in the female workforce is a field full of little-studied phenomena and indicators. One of the major research topics of Himmelstein and Venkataramani, two Doctors of Medicine, is the assessment of “the potential impact of a $15-per-hour minimum wage on … female health care workers” in America (198). One can safely argue that this professionally written academic paper would be of particular interest to sociologists and experts in gender studies. It provides a specific intersectional and feminist perspective on the economic and societal factors related to the minimum wage. These two methodologies have only recently begun to be widely applied by experts in this thematic branch of socio-economic research.
Neumark, David. “Employment Effects of Minimum Wages.” IZA World of Labor, 2018, Web.
However, the central and most popular topic related to the study of the impact of minimum wages on the population, at least in the American socio-economic scientific community, is the effect of these on employment rates. Being a high-class economist, Neumark also decided to clarify the main issues in this academic area. He found that the policy of increased minimum wages not only repels employers from hiring low-skilled personnel but also worsens the living conditions of the latter (Neumark). The need for including this short research in this annotated bibliography is because this source contains basic data about the primary topic. It is what differentiates this digital article from other more narrowly focused papers.
Gertner, Alex K., et al. “Association between State Minimum Wages and Suicide Rates In the US.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine, vol. 56, no. 5, 2019, pp. 648-654. Web.
Gertner et al. are another group of scientists who have dedicated their research to minimum wages and suicide in the American population. Their result is that a higher minimum wage slows down the rise in American suicide rates (Gertner et al. 648). This paper complements the work by Kaufman et al. and provides additional facts and descriptive, explanatory data. Their work would also be of greater interest to healthcare and humanitarian professionals.
Works Cited
Ford, George S. “Updating the Minimum Wage: Setting a Uniform Wage across a Diverse America.” Phoenix Center Perspectives, vol. 21, no. 01, 2021, pp. 1-10.
Gertner, Alex K., et al. “Association between State Minimum Wages and Suicide Rates In the US.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine, vol. 56, no. 5, 2019, pp. 648-654. Web.
Himmelstein, Kathryn E. W., and Atheendar S. Venkataramani. “Economic Vulnerability among US Female Health Care Workers: Potential Impact of a $15-Per-Hour Minimum Wage.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 109, no. 2, 2019, pp. 198-205.
Kaufman, John A., et al. “Effects of Increased Minimum Wages by Unemployment Rate On Suicide in the USA.” Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, vol. 74, no. 3, 2020, pp. 219-224.
Neumark, David. “Employment Effects of Minimum Wages.” IZA World of Labor, 2018, Web.
Is My Personal Data Being Commercially Exploited By Twitter?
Introduction
Twitter is a system that allows users to send text notes up to 280 characters using a web interface, SMS, instant messaging, or third-party client programs. Messages created on a social network are called tweets. Twitter was initially conceived as a platform for exchanging short messages of up to 140 characters between Odeo software developers. According to Dorsey’s idea, such messages should be immediately displayed on the pages of users who are subscribed to the account of the message’s author (Haffner, 2020). This social network has been actively developing since 2006, and at the moment, there is a problem that Twitter uses personal data for commercial purposes.
Case
The company itself admitted to such activities just a couple of years ago. As a result of unintentional actions, personal information was used for marketing purposes and for displaying contextual advertising to users (Rashid & Zaaba, 2020). Although the company has hidden the total number of victims, Twitter has highlighted the source of the problem: manual targeting by brands has failed (Koksal, 2018). Marketing lists were compiled based on phone numbers and email addresses that users used for double authentication. Twitter has previously violated privacy by improperly storing passwords in clear text (Koksal, 2018). Although Twitter consistently admits to its own mistakes, its frequency does not justify this fact.
Problem
The main problem lies in the RealTime Bidding technology. This technology is opaque while at the same time dealing with a vast amount of personal data. RTB is the target of complaints throughout Europe and America, because of which it has repeatedly proved its unreliability (Privacy International, 2019). The secrecy of targeted ads and the constant failure of leaks make their use illegal in many ways.
Privacy concerns and Behavior in Germany, Great Britain, and the United States
Solution
It is needed to make technologies and their explanation more open. Firstly, now the button “why do you see this ad” is not apparent hidden. Secondly, users must choose the degree of dissemination of information about themselves, including gender, age, and much more. Twitter is primarily a social network, not an advertising platform where users want to chat and read news rather than search for promotional items based on their preferences.
References
Privacy International. (2019). Twitter may have used your personal data for ads without your permission. Time to fix AdTech! Web.
Koksal, I. (2018). ‘Twitter Admits To Exploiting Users’ Personal Data’ , Forbes. Web.
Haffner, M. (2020). Twitter. In Warf, B. (eds.) Geographies of the Internet. New York: Routledge, pp. 277-291.
Rashid, A. F. A., & Zaaba, Z. F. (2020) ‘Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: The Privacy Challenges’ , 2020 International Conference on Promising Electronic Technologies (ICPET), Paris, France, Web.
Peculiarities Of Macroeconomics
In the current epidemiological situation, macroeconomics is in a state of crisis. The current market system is now complicated to represent an integral mechanism that could unite all continents. Countries such as the United States and China have long restored the pre-crisis economy and therefore continue to wage trade wars again, ignoring Europe. The main task of this work is to identify in which direction the economy should move, and how to avoid risks and protect its domestic market.
It is becoming evident that the main export and import item, along with essential goods, will be vaccines. The economy whose variety of vaccines is more significant and whose quality is higher will have more profit (Ludovic, 2021). There are already the first results of such a policy; the US and Chinese economies are returning to pre-crisis indicators, mainly due to the export of vaccines.
The situation is much worse in Europe because there is economic heterogeneity on the continent itself and the weak implementation of vaccines. Many states of Southern Europe are dependent on such an area as tourism, from which they receive the most significant profit. Countries such as Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, etc., have suffered dramatically due to the pandemic because they practically do not have production facilities (Ludovic, 2021). A high level of imports characterizes such states, but an absolute low share of exports.
The US and Chinese economies are already making plans for further economic development, measured in trillions, while Europe is trying to return to pre-crisis indicators. The European Union relies on cooperation between the continent’s countries, but the existing heterogeneity complicates this process (Ludovic, 2021). In such circumstances, it is necessary to expand cooperation with the entire world market, which includes the United States, and China.
In the context of a pandemic, it is difficult for macroeconomics to exist as a single system, so it is essential to develop a comprehensive plan for global cooperation. The policy of protectionism should take a back seat since it will not promote both exports and imports of goods. The governments of all countries should understand all the risks of such events, but this is the only thing that can painlessly level the economic system. Anyone who follows the economy and understands its principles can and should agree with this statement. It is the very moment when it is worth sacrificing the private for the sake of maintaining a common economic space.
Reference
Ludovic, S. (2021). Uncertainties in macroeconomics of Europe due to COVID-19 [Video]. TED. Web.