BERKELEY ECONOMIC REVIEW | Content Professor Interviews Professor Clair Brown .......................................................8 Interviewed by Jeffrey Suzuki Professor Stephen Pratten .................................................14 Interviewed by Grace Jang Researcher Wei Guo ..........................................................20 Interviewed by Vanessa Thompson PhD Candidate Mathieu Pedemonte................................26 Interviewed by Yash Rajwanshi PhD Candidate Zachary Bleemer......................................32 Interviewed by Konnor von Emster Research Papers The Impact of Knowledge Economy Factors on Total Factor Productivity: Evidence from the Asian Leaders ....40 Laure Fleury The Impact of the Introduction of the UK National Living Wage on the Employment Probabilities of Low Wage Workers .............................................................................82 Brian O'Connor First-degree Price Discrimination and Quality Customisation Under Data Protection Regulations........130 Tao Chen Assessing Whether People's Locations Predict Attitudes Towards a US Federal Minimum Wage Increase.............166 Saleel Huprikar 2 Volume VIII | Peer Review Board (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) Charlie McMurry Jules Baudet Christian Philip Hoeck Patrick Tagari Danielle Chen Renuka Garg Emaan Siddique Taylor Wang Elzette Janse van Rensburg Xilin Ying Hayden Davila SUBMISSIONS POLICY • Format: Please format your submission as a Microsoft word document or Latex file. 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For permission to reproduce, modify, or copy materials printed in this journal for anything other than personal use, kindly contact the respective authors. 3 BERKELEY ECONOMIC REVIEW STAFF Editors in Chief Vatsal Bajaj* Vinay Maruri* Peer Review Charlie McMurry Christian Philip Hoeck Danielle Chen Emaan Siddique Elzette Janse van Rensburg Hayden Davila Jules Baudet Patrick Tagari* Renuka Garg Taylor Wang Xilin Ying Research and Editorial Qualitative Staff Writers Abhishek Roy Konnor von Emster Olivia Gingold Matt Arena Nanditha Nair Pak Hei So Raina Zhao Yash Rajwanshi Yizhuo Shen 4 Volume VIII STAFF Quantitative Staff Writers Andreas Maass Grace Jang Jeffrey Suzuki Vanessa Thompson Editors Amanda Yao Alex Cheng Andrew Babson David Lyu Gillian Sero Del Mundo Lucia Dardis Howard yan Odysseus Pyrinis Parmita Das* Shawn Shin* Layout and Design Anne Fogarty* Jaide Lin Natalia Ramirez Sasha Hassan Shengning Zhang Web Design Gurmehar Somal* Prakash Srivastava Richard Gong 5 BERKELEY ECONOMIC REVIEW STAFF External Affairs Selena Zhang* Outreach Ally Mintzer Camila Reimpell* Douglas Koehler Hugo Letouze Niolas Dussaux Pearleen Wang Sahil Dang Marketing Britney Nicolas Evelina Bergstrom* Heesung Park Professional Development Jiangdong Fang* Lizbeth Flores Sophia Li Additional Staff Finance Rishi Modi* Social Chair Mae Zhang* Historian Shunsuke Kinoshita * Officers 6 Volume VIII | From The Editors' Desk Dear BER Reader, On behalf of the 65 members in our Research and Editorial, Peer Review, Layout & Design, External Affairs, Web Development, and Executive Teams, we are proud to present the eighth edition of the Berkeley Economic Review. As the voice of economics undergraduates around the world, the Berkeley Economic Review presents five professor interviews and four distinguished undergraduate research papers which tackle economic dilemmas facing the modern world. First, we present Saleel Huprikar’s investigation on whether a person’s geographical location impacts their perspectives on the federal minimum wage. Second, Brian O’Connor discerns the impact of the UK’s National Living Wage on employment probabilities of low wage workers. Huprikar and Connor’s research advances knowledge about one of the most hotly debated topics in labor economics, minimum wage and its impact on the distribution of income. Third, Laure Fleury analyzes the impact of the knowledge economy factors on total factor productivity. As economies around the world stagnate, Fleury’s research investigates the reasons behind residual economic growth. Finally, Tao Chen examines the impact of first degree price discrimination and quality customization under data protection regulations. In a world with growing privacy concerns due to artificial intelligence, big data, and mass surveillance, Chen investigates the aims and effectiveness of data protection regulations. We hope that you will immerse yourself in the Berkeley Economic Review and gain new perspectives on economic solutions to global issues. In this academic spirit, we present to you the eighth edition of Berkeley Economic Review. Best, Vatsal Bajaj and Vinay Maruri Editors-In-Chief, Berkeley Economic Review 7 BERKELEY ECONOMIC REVIEW Professor Clair Brown Interviewed by Jeffrey Suzuki 8 Volume VIII Interviewer: Hi professor! If you don’t mind, please introduce yourself to our readers. Why did you choose economics? Prof. Brown: I saw economics as a field where people could re- ally make a difference. The Women’s movement and the Civil Rights movement were both in full swing then. It was a field where people could change the world. For my dissertation, I studied how discrimination functioned in labor markets. Eco- nomics is an area where people could measure injustices in liv- ing standards and inequality. And this was all before we knew that there was a climate problem! And now we have econo- mists studying this issue as well. Right now, I have a team of researchers studying sustainable policies across the world! Interviewer: You are known for being an outspoken proponent of what you call “Buddhist Economics.” What exactly is “Bud- dhist Economics?” Prof. Brown: Buddhist economics is built upon three ideas; the first two are ecological assumptions. First, humans have interdependence with others and the planet—a buddhist idea—but also one that scientists have supported. It could be understood as the 4th Law of Ecology. Secondly, Buddhist Economics argues impermanence: the idea that nothing lasts forever. This is also a view espoused by scientists. Lastly, peo- ple actually care for each other in an altruistic way. This is not exactly a tenet of Buddhism as much as it has been shown by neuroscientists. All in all, Buddhist economics says that there is more to life than maximizing productivity or consumption. Because we are all interdependence and naturally care for each other, we should seek to improve the lives of others and act in accordance to our altruistic nature. Interviewer: What would you say to a wealthy businessman who claims that he earned his way to the top, and questions why his taxes should go toward some poor kid’s education? What if truly believes that he and his competitors’ greed is the grease that keeps our economy’s wheels spinning? Prof. Brown: I would give two responses: 9 BERKELEY ECONOMIC REVIEW First, I would argue that he was able to do what he did because of his own education, which is a social program. His success is dependent on society’s ability to educate people like himself. Additionally, our infrastructure benefits him. Society ensures through health programs that his workers are able to provide labor. Society ensures that his workers are provided an educa- tion so that they can be more effective. The government en- sures that he is able to safely work in a global economy and use its technology. His productivity—his success—is dependent on the system. And all of these programs are only possible through the taxes he and everyone else pays. The idea that he did it by himself is incorrect. Secondly, economists argue for incentives. Every time some- one has done a study for the returns to effort, it’s actually very little. As it turns out, people still work very hard when their taxes increase. Even if the returns to their labor decrease from taxes, they still make an effort to work hard. There are other factors that make people happy besides income, such as the general experience of working the job. Economists still argue whether we should increase progressive taxes to 72% or 76%. However, all of that aside, we had taxes like that in our history and there didn’t seem to be a substantial impact. We might not want to raise taxes to 98%—we want to make sure we have the revenues to make our social programs work. To put it simply, the businessman in your example would probably still work