UCLA Anderson

Can Socialists Lose an Election and Still Get Their Revolution?

Upton Sinclair Failed in His 1934 Bid to Govern California, but His Radical Campaign Left a Lasting Mark on Politics

A self-proclaimed socialist decides to run for high office. And, for practical political reasons, he becomes a Democrat to do so.

Soon he attracts enthusiastic supporters to his cause with his unconventional ideas for transforming the economy. His campaign is portrayed as a revolution, upsetting received wisdom about politics and media. And, despite strong opposition from the party’s establishment, he goes on to win the Democratic nomination.

Is this the future of Bernie Sanders in 2016? No. It’s the past: Upton Sinclair in California’s race for governor in 1934.

The U.S. …

By Daniel J.B. Mitchell |

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Affordable Housing and Foreclosures

Affordable Housing Is Now a Middle-Class Crisis in California

The Golden State Faces a Massive Shortage of Residential Real Estate. So Why Aren’t Builders Building?

By Christopher Thornberg |

California has a housing crisis.

This probably doesn’t sound like news given the recent publicity about disputes over homelessness, rapidly rising rents, and gentrification—and the flurry of policy proposals for …

Why Are Credit Card Bills So Incomprehensible?

Attention Holiday Shoppers: Even a Marketing Professor Has Trouble Figuring Out the Optimal Amount to Pay

By Hal Hershfield |

As we head into the holidays, chances are you’ll be using your credit card a lot more than normal. Americans love their plastic—but not the monthly bills that come with.

The …

How Big Data Replaced Don Draper

New Analytical Tools Are Making Ads More Effective—and Invasive—Than Ever

By Dominique Hanssens |

In the 1970s, I took a careful look at Oreos. Not the cookies themselves, mind you, but the way they were sold; I was an econometrics student at the University …

The Unintended Consequences of Extending Proposition 30

The Initiative That Helped Solve California's Budget Crisis Could Now Create a New One

By Jerry Nickelsburg |

In 2012 voters passed Proposition 30—an initiative to raise taxes and take state government finances out of crisis mode. However, the new taxes, primarily falling on the top income earners …

What Will California Do Without the Export-Import Bank?

It Is Time to Bring Back a Self-Sustaining State Export-Financing Agency

By Kati Suominen |

While the political battle over the future of the Export-Import Bank of the United States reaches fever pitch in the Senate, exporters in California and across the United States keep …


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