by Manan Shah | Mar 8, 2023
Investment into advanced nuclear technologies has become central to national and global efforts to achieve near-term decarbonization targets. The rationale is simple. Nuclear power – which currently constitutes 20% of the U.S. energy mix – produces no carbon emissions during operation and is capable of producing electricity around the clock the same way that baseload fossil fuels can. Simply put, clean nuclear power can replace fossil fuel electricity generation to drastically decarbonize grids globally. Recognizing this immense potential, the public and private sectors have recently launched several efforts to invest and support the commercialization of advanced nuclear reactor and fuel technologies to mitigate concerns such as waste disposal, cost and project management, and operational safety. The importance of this effort is not only critical for the decarbonization of developed markets such as the U.S., but perhaps even more so for the potential to deploy clean and abundant power to emerging and industrializing nations that have not historically been able to leverage nuclear power. Despite advanced nuclear reactor concepts attracting billions in private and public sector financing, advanced nuclear fuels that are optimized for use in existing reactors offer the path of least resistance for the near-term deployment of advanced nuclear technologies. Much of this stems from two fundamental requirements to commercialize any U.S.-based advanced nuclear reactor technology. First, any new reactor technology must be licensed to operate by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the requirement under the Atomic Energy Act for the licensing of “production or utilization facilities” can be found at AEA Sections 101, 103, and 104, codified at 42 U.S.C. §§ 2131-34). Despite this, there currently is... read more
by Pedro Chirinos Terrones | Jan 24, 2023
Imagine you are navigating on a specific social media and, suddenly, you see a post from a page you’re following with this attractive headline: “We have all the specifics of the new chapter of this series!”. Turns out that that is one of your favorite series and you want to have a heads-up about this chapter, so you click on the link, which will take you to their website…but turns out there is no information about the new chapter of your series, and only provides you with basic information regarding the series, and finishes with “the new chapter will be aired soon”. This may be just a waste of time for you, but underneath there is more. The phenomenon previously described is called clickbait, which refers to “content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page”. This has an important economic implication and should be addressed as an unfair competition practice. I will cover the basic economics of websites as internet platforms, the notions of bait advertising according to the FTC, and how these particular headlines can be qualified as such. Internet websites have become media platforms that have two types of consumers: on one side, we have the ones who are willing to access the website because of the content it has (the “content consumers”), and on the other side, advertisers that want to address their products or services to the first type of consumers, and are willing to pay the platform for their space. Whenever this characteristic appears, the notion of two-sided markets arises. Two-sided... read more
by Joseph Jazwinski | Jan 24, 2023
In 2015, the University of Michigan excitedly announced MCity, a state-of-the-art test track for “connected and automated” vehicle technology and an exciting development for the prospect of a driverless transportation system. The expansive fake city, unique at the time, received funding from the Department of Transportation (DOT) and private companies alike. Quickly, MCity extended beyond the testing grounds to the streets of Ann Arbor. By 2017, Michigan students could expect “driverless shuttle buses” around the engineering campus, and researchers were monitoring “1,500 [local] cars… to develop connected-car” technology. Ann Arbor recently welcomed A2GO, an “autonomous shuttle service” by May Mobility— a local startup that works closely with MCity. Ann Arbor should not be unique or exceptional in its pursuit of automated vehicle technology. Unfortunately, federal guidance on autonomous (used interchangeably with automated) vehicles is inconsistent and slow. I will first cover DOT’s struggle to keep up with rapid innovation, despite an open mind. Then, I will review progressive state and local government action and its success and even administrative efficiency. Although DOT oversight is perhaps necessary in the long-term rollout of autonomous vehicles, right now manufacturers need support at the local and state level for research and development. As previously mentioned, federal administration lags behind the demands of private innovation driven at increasing motor vehicle safety. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), “the agency responsible for motor vehicle safety” within DOT, “takes about five years to complete a rulemaking on an issue of medium complexity.” Autonomous vehicle implementation is substantially more complicated than “medium complexity” — it requires a complete rethinking on how humans travel on our nation’s... read more
by Jacob Kalphat-Losego | Jan 11, 2023
Spotify’s recent media barrage against Apple for the phone maker’s app store policies reveals a glaring breach in American antitrust enforcement. Spotify, a subscription-based media streaming service, has taken to hurling complaints against Apple for its allegedly anti-competitive practices, arguing that how it handles application review and fees disadvantages competitors. Developers offering applications and services that compete with Apple’s own, such as Spotify, often find that Apple’s policies and practices in the App Store place them at a disadvantage. However, Apple’s stranglehold on the smartphone market leaves little room to negotiate. As of November 2022, Apple’s handheld holds a fifty-five percent share of the US market for smartphones. Its closest competitor in the domestic market, Samsung, commands a little over half of that position at twenty-nine percent, while other names like Motorola, LG, and Google fight over what little is left. Apple for its part hasn’t been shy about leveraging its dominance in the market for hardware against software developers. This effort is partially enabled by the iPhone’s integrated ecosystem. Unlike some other hardware manufacturers, which give a user the freedom to design or install alternative operating systems (OS) and features, Apple designs its phones, tablets, and computers to work with a proprietary OS and raise significant barriers to modification of that software or installation of alternative operating systems. As a result, developers who want to reach consumers are shoved into a binary: design a web-based application reachable through an installed browser (think accessing Facebook through Safari or Google Chrome) or design a native application for the Apple OS (think tapping on the Facebook app). The latter presents significant... read more
by Maddy Zeeman | Dec 20, 2022
What is ChatGPT? If you’ve been on the internet at all in the past few weeks, you’ve probably heard about ChatGPT. ChatGPT, a project by OpenAI, is a conversational, human-sounding artificial intelligence model that responds to questions and commands. ChatGPT is trained with “Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback,” which is essentially a feedback cycle in which a Reddit post is sampled, policy methods are used to sample summaries, and a human judges which is a better summary of the Reddit post. This information is used by the system to create better summaries over time, developing human-like word choice and mechanics. ChatGPT’s responses, which often include thorough and informative answers to all types of questions, can produce high-scoring college essays, lines of Python code, and even rap lyrics matching the distinctive style of Eminem. Importantly, it can do all of these tasks in a matter of seconds. Can ChatGPT Replace Lawyers? Lawyers, and other professionals, have felt threatened by the advent of artificial intelligence even when the technology was rudimentary and limited to tasks like document review. With improved technology of the likes of ChatGPT, these concerns are more realistic and worrisome than ever. Lawyers have already benefited from artificial intelligence in their day-to-day practice, relying on sources like Lex Machina to predict outcomes of cases and Westlaw’s Quick Check to search for additional, relevant legal authority for briefs and memorandums. However, the technological capacity of artificial intelligence in this area has gone even further, with technology that accurately reviews contracts and a chatbot that can successfully negotiate bills and subscriptions. An artificial intelligence chatbot that performs lawyer-like... read more
by Alex Woodin | Oct 29, 2022
A gaping hole in the tax code currently allows for a major tax-loss harvesting opportunity for cryptocurrency investors who are holding onto their crypto positions at a loss by allowing for wash sales (for now). But what does this all mean? What is tax loss harvesting? Tax-loss harvesting consists of strategically selling an investment at a loss, with the intention of using that capital loss to offset the amount of capital gains tax from the sale of other investments that resulted in a profit, in order to improve the after-tax return on taxable investments. Sophisticated investors often utilize this strategy to offset short-term capital gains, which are taxed as ordinary income, which is typically a higher tax rate than the long-term capital gains tax rate (37% for the top individual income tax bracket vs. 20% for the top capital gains tax bracket). https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/taxes/federal-income-tax-brackets;https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/taxes/capital-gains-tax-rates. Tax-loss harvesting can also be used to offset long term capital gains. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/taxgainlossharvesting.asp. Additionally, if an investor’s capital losses exceed your capital gains, the investor can lower their income by their total net loss for the year, up to $3,000. https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc409. If the total net loss exceeds $3,000, the investor can carry forward the remaining net capital loss indefinitely to future years until the amount is exhausted. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/capital-loss-carryover.asp#:~:text=Capital%20losses%20that%20exceed%20capital,until%20the%20amount%20is%20exhausted. What is a wash sale, and what is the wash-sale rule? A wash sale occurs when an investor sells or trades a security at a loss, and within 30 days before or after the sale, the investor either buys the same or a substantially identical stock or security, or acquires an option to do so. https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-basics/glossary/wash-sales. Also, If the... read more
