Sorry I know I have not updated the diary in a long time however, I have been quite busy. The first thing I wanted to update the blog about is an awesome talk I got to hear about. The discussions of how the creation of special economic zones designed to increase the economic output of the area. However, due to the large failures on behalf of the governments in Myanmar and Cambodia, these zones have turned into areas where workers are being exploited. The zones are not controlled by the governments but the companies that create them. The workers are deeply exploited and it was an amazing opportunity because the paper which was written and presented by Dr. Charlie Thame. The head of our political science department was his advisor when he wrote his thesis. The paper was his own research and he had not presented it to anyone else yet. It was an amazing opportunity and unfortunately, the hour flew by and it was just not enough time. I am really grateful for the opportunity and it was the first of the two talks I went to in the past week or so.

The second speech I heard was a visiting professor about the stock market in Madrid. The talk centered around how all markets these days are interconnected. It also gave a brief description of what stocks are, what options are, and how responsible stock investments provide an opportunity to do good. The last thing we talked about was a world without the stock market and how that would function. Both talks were great and they definitely were a very enjoyable time.