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Zorina Khan

Professor of Economics, Bowdoin College

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economics

Who was the First U.S. Economics Professor? Samuel Newman, of Bowdoin College

September 17, 2022 By Zorina Khan

 Prof. Samuel P. Newman (appointment in Political Economy, 1824-1839).  Samuel Phillips Newman and Bowdoin Economics In 1824, Bowdoin was the first American College to officially introduce a faculty position dedicated to instruction in Economics (or Political Economy, as it was then known).  The University of Virginia in 1826, and Brown University in 1828, followed Bowdoin, […]

Filed Under: Economics of/for The Common Good, Life on the Margin, Old News: Bowdoin Then and Now Tagged With: Bowdoin College, economics, education

Old School? Apprenticeships in the 21st Century

August 16, 2022 By Zorina Khan

The word apprentice conjures up visions of sorcerers and medieval guilds (and, in my case, my great-grandmother who learned the goldsmith’s trade through a family apprenticeship).  However, “new collar” apprenticeships seem destined to become the most effective means of  human-capital acquisition for the twenty first century, as they have been for millenia.

Filed Under: Economics of/for The Common Good, Life on the Margin Tagged With: diversity, economics, education, technology, women

Is Technology a Race? Patents and National Security

May 23, 2022 By Zorina Khan

Metaphors matter.  Is technology a race, or a war with an associated D-day?  References to “the race to 5G” and “innovation wars” are based on a zero-sum model of technological innovation, where there are glorious outcomes for “winners” and dire consequences for “losers.”  According to this ahistorical perspective, the leader takes all, and for the rest of the field, life promises to be poor, nasty, brutish, and short.  In order to avoid this doomsday scenario, previously unthinkable measures become acceptable in the name of “national security.”

Filed Under: Economics of/for The Common Good, Life on the Margin, Of Patents and Prizes Tagged With: China, constitution, economics, innovation, intellectual property, patents, technology, vaccines, waivers

Banking on Women

March 2, 2022 By Zorina Khan

(Yet another) First Women’s Bank opened in 2021, claiming to be the “nation’s first women-founded, women-owned, and women-led bank dedicated to closing the gender equity gap in access to capital.” But it is easy to demonstrate that the current First Women’s Bank is far from first on each and all of these counts.

Filed Under: Life on the Margin, Women in the Republic of Enterprise Tagged With: diversity, economics, finance, women

Women and Wealth in the New Gilded Age

October 23, 2021 By Zorina Khan

Are we currently living in a new Gilded Age embodied by the multi-billionaires of the Forbes 400, with their excesses of utopian cities and space tourism? Inclusion on The Forbes 400 list for 2021 requires net worth of at least $2.9 billion. However, these data underestimate women’s achievements, and conceal an underlying pattern of increasing entrepreneurial opportunities, socioeconomic mobility, and philanthropy by “robber baronesses.”

Filed Under: Economics of/for The Common Good, Life on the Margin, Women in the Republic of Enterprise Tagged With: China, diversity, economics, finance, women

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Recent Posts

  • Notable Women Inventors in Britain February 21, 2023
  • The Mystery of the Missing Minority Millionairess February 1, 2023
  • A Pioneering Black Woman Patent Attorney February 1, 2023
  • Thomas Edison and the Bowdoin Inventors November 15, 2022
  • A Hallowe’en Debate: Diversity and Exclusion October 13, 2022
  • Who was the First U.S. Economics Professor? Samuel Newman, of Bowdoin College September 17, 2022
  • Old School? Apprenticeships in the 21st Century August 16, 2022
  • In Search of Hetty Green: Self-Made Women Millionaires July 12, 2022
  • Patent Waivers (or “Don’t know much about history…”) June 17, 2022
  • Is Technology a Race? Patents and National Security May 23, 2022
  • Hanami: Cherry Blossom Time, in Perpetuity April 10, 2022
  • Banking on Women March 2, 2022
  • Notable Women Inventors of Maine February 6, 2022
  • Back to School for the “Spring” Semester (1861) January 14, 2022
  • Looking Backward: From 5G to the Telegraph December 1, 2021
  • U.S. Patents: A Play in 10 Million Acts November 21, 2021
  • Crypt-ic Tales October 31, 2021
  • Women and Wealth in the New Gilded Age October 23, 2021
  • Travelling Light October 4, 2021
  • Patent Priority: the First Woman Patent Lawyer September 14, 2021
  • Publish and Perish September 10, 2021
  • Reading on Location August 27, 2021
  • Copyrighting the Cultural Revolution in China and America August 26, 2021
  • The (New) Cultural Revolution in China August 23, 2021
  • Women and Innovation in Developing Countries August 2, 2021
  • Who’s Afraid of Standard Oil? July 31, 2021
  • Are Patents Monopolies? July 28, 2021
  • Between the Covers July 27, 2021
  • An Essay in Idleness July 27, 2021

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Notable Women Inventors in Britain

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