Baruch College 56th commencement exercises (2022)

Baruch College 56th commencement exercises (2022)

To Waive or Not to Waive: Vaccine Patent Rights

It has long been clear that the successful distribution of effective vaccines worldwide is our best hope for ending the Covid-19 pandemic. The extremely effective vaccines were mostly developed through the collaboration of for-profit pharmaceutical companies and the governments of several rich nations. By now, most well-off industrialized states have inoculated substantial percentages of their populations, but dozens of poorer countries have woefully inadequate supplies of vaccines and, without…

Building More Ethical Tech by Reducing Ethical Debt

Zoombombing, Cambridge Analytica, AI bias, misinformation, hate speech…when tech companies and researchers come under fire, people wonder: why are they not thinking about potential harms? Unintended consequences of technology are a significant social issue, and when we “move fast and break things” it’s ethical considerations that often get pushed to the side. Like technical debt, the implied cost of future bug fixes when we rush to release technology, ethical debt is…

The Law and Ethics of Legal Sports Gambling in New York

The federal legislation known as The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) outlawed sports betting throughout the United States except in Nevada, Oregon, Delaware and Montana. In 2018, after years of frustration among other states that wanted to legalize sports gambling within their borders, the US Supreme Court overturned PASPA – holding that the PASPA violated the anti-commandeering doctrine of the 10th Amendment. This decision opened the doors for many other…

The Legality, Ethics and Effectiveness of Vaccine Mandates

"Through an astonishingly successful collaboration between private industry and government, for nearly a year we have had several safe and effective vaccines that provide significant protection against severe illness or death from covid-19 for those who receive the jab. Yet because of vaccine hesitancy, the virus continues to spread, hospitalizing and killing thousands and preventing a return to normalcy in communities throughout the country. At this stage, the single most compelling…

Global Minimum Corporate Tax

As of July 1, 2021, 130 countries have agreed to a proposed Global Minimum Corporate Tax (GMCT). Successful implementation of such a standard will close loopholes that have allowed large multinational companies to avoid paying taxes even in countries in which they do substantial business. According to some estimates, a GMCT would help governments recover between 100-240 billion dollars annually in taxes that companies have avoided paying through complicated tax avoidance schemes. While a final…

Trending@Baruch: Donors Pave the Way

Climate Change: Resilience and Opportunity. A New Administration in Washington Inspires Bold Interdisciplinary Engagement

Inaugurating the new series "We Are Climate Action,” the distinguished panel will discuss interdisciplinary climate engagement and the potential impact of the Biden administration's climate agenda.