What is justice? It’s a lofty question, up there in the pantheon of “What is the meaning of life?” and “Who let the dogs out?”. There is no great answer for that, but, essentially justice is about doing the right thing. What is right? That’s a good question.

There are three taste buds to justice: merit, need, and equality. When people make an argument for something being right they will draw on one or more of these taste buds. These criteria become especially important when groups decide to allocate goods through non-market institutions.

Here is a favorite example from Peyton Young’s book Equity: In Theory and Practice. At the end of World War II, the United States was demobilizing soldiers in Europe. Some had to be retained to fight Japan while others could come home. Which soldiers should come home first?

After debate, the U.S. Army decided to survey thousands of soldiers in the United States to identify relevant factors. There were four important factors: length of time in the Army, age, amount of overseas service, and number of dependents. Then troops completed a pairwise-comparison of each criteria like in the picture below.

You can see among the transitive rankings (90 percent of those surveyed satisfied transitivity) the two most important features to those surveyed in the United States was overseas service and number of dependents.

But, it turns out there was an important write-in candidate among the soldiers: exposure to combat. A large swath of soldiers mentioned that this should be an important criteria but the Army hadn’t considered it in their survey.

The Army devised another survey that attempted to develop how much different criteria should be weighted. You can see a sample question below and the resulting points system (from a series of questions like the sample question).

What matters most to the troops: exposure to combat and number of dependents. Put another way, what matters most is merit and need. The right thing to do regarding who comes home first involves consideration of whether you merit coming home (exposure to combat elevates you over others) and need (a child needs their parent).

So I do not have a precise definition of justice. But, I have noticed that when people talk about doing the right thing they often rely one one or more of merit, need, and equality.

Eli believes that it is likely (not guaranteed) we will know who won the US Presidential election tonight.

There is a YUGE election happening tomorrow. I don’t know if there will be an apparent winner before bedtime tomorrow night. In 2016, I stayed up watching the news until (to everyone’s great surprise) Trump gave an acceptance speech at 3am.

I don’t play video games. Whether you do or not, you’ll want to keep an eye on this important cultural and financial trend. Regardless of who wins the 2020 US election, people around the world will be playing a lot of video games. The following report is the work of Samford undergraduate student Erica Eades.  

Esports is a competitive level of gaming that involves players winning money. Professional esports players are typically sponsored by companies affiliated with video games. Students are becoming more and more involved in esports. League of Legends World Championship was 2019’s biggest tournament by live viewership hours on Twitch and YouTube, with 105.5 million hours.

When the pandemic reached the U.S. the sports industry shifted their focus. Many leagues were able to quickly restart their competitions in a different format as esports, which quickly transitioned its in-person events to online-only games. For many months following the pandemic esports was the only option if you wanted to watch a live competitive event.

I had an interview with Noah Hankinson, a professional eSports gamer and consultant that has conducted extensive work with the NCAA, Learfield Sports, and multiple eSports properties. Noah shared perspectives on the state of eSports and demographics.

According to Noah, the most popular game is constantly changing. Although a game may be incredibly popular one week, it could be obsolete the next. To learn what game is most popular during a given time frame, simply observe the games famous Twitch players are using. Many Twitch streamers focus on only one game, but others will focus on what is most popular at the time so that they can maximize revenue from viewership. Noah informed me that the ‘traditional’ games such as Call of Duty, League of Legends, or Rocket League are growing. These games are the most popular and have the widest reach across all eSports demographics.

Depending on the game being played, there are different rules and formats each team (or individual) must adhere to. Popular games include football and soccer, where player roles or team game plans are more well known. Many eSports are based on individual talent, much like wrestling or track-and-field. Over the years, as eSports has become more of an emerging community, college organizations have started to help push the next generation of eSports competitors.

From a social standpoint, esports are more inclusive than other sports. Men and women are able to play on the same teams and teams are made up of individuals from various demographics and ages. Esports is not just a young demographic, eSports gamers ages in America range from 12 to 60 with the average age being 33 years old.  

Many predictions have been made about the growth of the industry. As teams of eSports members populate across the country, the unprecedented growth of the competitive gaming industry continues to rise. Newzoo is the leading provider of market intelligence covering the global games, esports, and mobile markets. The data from newzoo allows them to project the esports industry esports revenue stream worldwide based on sponsorship. In 2018, the global market esports revenue was $776.4 million. The global esports revenue will probably hit $973.9 million in 2020, and $1.194 billion in 2021. 

This projected growth has made it important to maintain positive relationships with current and future partners in the industry. With increased interest in esports there is a momentum for new partners to enter the industry and increase revenue. Using the data that projected the revenue and growth can be beneficial for many esports executives and the industry as whole. It will be interesting to follow and see how the industry continues once live sports are able to resume normally. After the “at home” year that brought so much to esports, observers agree that the industry’s upward trajectory is continuing.

Friday afternoon has come and gone, we’re now into the evening, and I am just now writing a product review. I nearly cast dispersions on our blog name, “Economists Writing Everyday”! It won’t be a lengthy product review and my wit-producing engine is bereft of gas. It’s been that kind of week. I am torn between reviews of booze and theology …

There is something wonderful about the charm of making classic cocktails and also putting a twist on them. My favorite drink is an Old Fashioned and I like the weight of a quality glass, the large ice cube (I’ll have to check out Jeremy’s recommendation!), the quality of these cherries, and I enjoy experimenting with different bitters that put a twist on the classic cocktail. For example, my recent favorite combination involves black walnut bitters and chocolate bitters. Your mileage may vary.

One wonderful treasure that I discovered this summer was the series of books, “The Ancient Christian Commentaries on Scripture“. The 29 volume set is a whopping $1,499 on Amazon. But, you can start small and buy the different books piecemeal. These books provide a wealth of insights from the Church Fathers. The commentary on the book of Acts added a new dimension to my summer Bible study (maybe the subject of a future blog post).

Do not let the brevity and unremarkable quality of this product review undermine the wonderful products I’ve linked to. They are great and if you have someone in your life that loves theology and an Old Fashioned perhaps they might like some of these products too.

According to a recent CDC Report on the mental health effects of COVID-19 lockdowns, 1 in 4 young adults (ages 18-24) have had suicidal ideation. Even before COVID-19, many of you may also know about the so-called “deaths of despair” that refers to the rise in mortality among middle-aged white men starting in the late 1990s from suicide, overdose, chronic liver disease or cirrhosis.

With so much existential anguish, my book review is on a slim little book called The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel. The book is packed with zeal for a day Heschel calls, “a palace in time”,

“The seventh day is a mine where spirit’s precious metal can be found with which to construct a palace in time, a dimension in which the human is at home with the divine; a dimension in which man aspires to approach the likeness of the divine. For where shall the likeness of God be found? There is no quality that space has in common with the essence of God. There is not enough freedom at the top of the mountain; there is not enough glory in the silence of the sea. Yet the likeness of God can be found in time, which is eternity in disguise.”

Heschel divides the world into two categories: space and time. Both are means to understand God. The toil that we experience happens in space and allows us to better understand God as Creator. But, Heschel spends more pages writing about time.

In thinking about time, there is a tension because Genesis 2:2 reads, “On the seventh day God finished his work,” Exodus 20:11 reads, “In six days the Lord made the heaven and earth.” How is it possible to finish making heaven and earth in six days but not to be finished until the 7th day? The rabbi’s resolved this tension by stating that menuha was created on the Sabbath. Menuha is not an object that we create that can be grasped in our hands. Heschel states menuha means something akin to “tranquility, serenity, peace, and repose”. God created an architecture in time and menuha is the special attribute of the seventh day.

The fact that God blessed the seventh day, and not the other days, should hint that the seventh day is special. What this means is that time is not homogeneous —some time is different than other time. So it seems there is time for creating and time for remembering that we were created. On the seventh day we remember our relationship with God, that remembrance is a refuge from a fury of sound and distraction. What is more, this remembrance carries us through the rest of the week.

This was a great joy for me to think about The Sabbath today. It was also a reminder. If you are like me and still trying to find your groove amidst Coronavirus, consider setting apart one day from the others. Create a palace in time, a time that is different from all the other time. Remember, time is not homogenous. Your palace will look different depending on your position in life but it should be restorative and help you to remember and be grateful.

At one point, Heschel asks, “. . . is there any institution which holds out greater hope for man’s progress than the Sabbath?” I do not know. But, genuine rest — not diversion — seems necessary in the tensions of our present moment.

Another one of my undergraduate students has written a review of The Complacent Class. His name is Vinny Russo and he’s going on to great things. Here’s a link to the first review published earlier by a different student.

For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them

Proverbs 1:32

When I read the Bible, I see God disrupting the lives of his people and moving them. People get moved as punishment, as well as for a reward or rescuing, including Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the garden and the Jew’s exodus from Egypt. Good things come from the movement of Israel and its people. The United States needs movement, too. Although I wouldn’t wish for a modern-day abusive Pharaoh to force us into some kind of exodus, I do think that Americans can learn from Tyler Cowen and his manifesto for mobility and taking risks. The future of America depends on it.

“Economists see migration as a kind of investment. You give up something in the short run, namely the home, job, friends, and conveniences, in the hope of achieving something different and better somewhere else. In the beginning, the move is not supposed to be easy, but it’s a sign of hope, faith in the future, and a belief that a new start can lead to something grander and more glorious.” – (Cowen, Page 24). After joining the military right out of high school, joining a Christian Missions agency, as well as coming to Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama for Undergraduate studies (I am from New York City), I can very much relate to this quote. Every move was difficult in its own way, but the growth in and from the process is invaluable. Should everyone enlist in the military, become a missionary or go to Samford? No. Can most Americans, after completing High school, go to school or find a job in a city other than the one they grew up in? Yes. If more 18-year-olds did this, they would be richer and their actions would boost production in the United States. If you have not done so already, take a leap of faith and pursue your God-given dream, or read Tyler Cowen’s The Complacent Class. Both can change your life. Thanks for reading!