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Armchairs, Biases out, which school is the best place to study economics and why?
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well, it seems like ackerlof won! and joe stiglitz! - a good choice.
Re: random nobel
Could you explain what his theory is further? Don't really know him like Stiglitz and Ackerlof - Original Message - From: "Edward Lopez" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2001 2:20 AM Subject: RE: random nobel > I believe that is the Spence of the original cite for signaling behavior in labor markets. > >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 10/10/01 12:00PM >>> > who is spence? > > > > - Original Message - > From: markjohn* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Thursday, October 11, 2001 0:46 am > > > stiglitz, akerlof, spence > > > > > > >
Increased Demand for an Economics Degree
Dear Professors: With the recession going on, suddenly, more high school students would want to take economics as a degree. This hypothesis stemmed from the observation that more people I know would want to take it. Is there any "economic" answer to this? Or this is just a plain observation not conclusive with the sample that I have observed? Thanks. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.295 / Virus Database: 159 - Release Date: 11/1/2001
Re: Photographers
I just got my graduation pics for college. And I am really pissed off with they way these photographers keep the negatives and charge an enormous price for reprints. Anyway, would it be because of Adverse Selection. When you fix yourselves for a photo shoot for graduation, you literally fix yourselves up. And when you see that you like what you look like when you see the proofs, you would order another set; if you look bad, there is a higher probability that you won't. So the photographers, knowing that it would take you another fix to look at least as good as you do in the first shoot, could charge a higher price. The people who would order for extra copies are the ones who think that their shoot that time was good. Is my understanding of the situation right? Or is there a better way to view it? At 08:56 AM 1/23/2002 -0800, you wrote: >Whenever I get a professional photograph I am always infuriated that >the photographers keep the negatives and then charge me every time I >want a print. This wouldn't be so bad but the system is inefficient >since I move around a lot and can lose track of who holds the negatives >to photographs that I had taken 10 years ago. I have tried several >times to arrange an alternative deal - paying more up front in return >for the negatives - but the photographers always react with horror to >this suggestion and refuse. > I have a two part question. First, why do photographers want the >system this way. (Note that obviously the photographers have a monopoly >over the prints once the prints are taken but that this does not really >answer the question - see Landsburgh's discussion of the popcorn problem >in The Armchair Economist.) Second and relatedly why don't entrants >offer an alternative system? > >Alex >-- >Dr. Alexander Tabarrok >Vice President and Director of Research >The Independent Institute >100 Swan Way >Oakland, CA, 94621-1428 >Tel. 510-632-1366, FAX: 510-568-6040 >Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >--- >Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. >Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). >Version: 6.0.295 / Virus Database: 159 - Release Date: 11/1/2001 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.295 / Virus Database: 159 - Release Date: 11/1/2001
Re: Margarine - silly business regulations
Sorry for my ignorance but what's really the fuss over butter and margarine? Is butter made from better milk or something? At 09:47 AM 4/1/2002 -0800, you wrote: >Almost from the time it was invented margarine came under attack from >butter manufacturers and farmers. In the late 1880s there were even >laws requiring margarine to be colored pink - but these were overturned >by the Supreme Court. Bans on yellow margarine, however, were upheld. >There were also Federal and state taxes that varied by the color of the >margarine! This is what accounted for the packets to allow >home-coloring. The Federal government didn't get out of regulating >margine extensively until sometime around 1950. The last state to >repeal restrictions on margin (in 1967) was .. you guessed >it!Wisconsin. > >Alex >-- >Dr. Alexander Tabarrok >Vice President and Director of Research >The Independent Institute >100 Swan Way >Oakland, CA, 94621-1428 >Tel. 510-632-1366, FAX: 510-568-6040 >Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > >--- >Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. >Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). >Version: 6.0.295 / Virus Database: 159 - Release Date: 11/1/2001 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.295 / Virus Database: 159 - Release Date: 11/1/2001
Re: Grade Inflation
It's a bad thing but one reason is maybe that Universities would not want to be compared to each other in terms of test scores. Tests are hardcore evidences of which school is good and which school is not. At 09:00 AM 4/9/2002 -0700, you wrote: >It seems to me that an effective remedy to grade inflation would be >standardized exams on the subjects taught, prior to graduation. There would >be, for example, a standard exam for econ majors, similar to what is done in >grad schools. If many universities used the same exams, then that would >serve as a signal of knowledge, and also reveal the grade differential >relative to test results. That, of course, is why such exams are not being >implemented. > >Fred Foldvary > >= >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >__ >Do You Yahoo!? >Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax >http://taxes.yahoo.com/ > > >--- >Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. >Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). >Version: 6.0.295 / Virus Database: 159 - Release Date: 11/1/2001 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.295 / Virus Database: 159 - Release Date: 11/1/2001
Re: Grade Inflation
Nice one Anton. At 07:46 PM 4/11/2002 -0700, you wrote: >Alex Tabarrok wrote: > >Yes, as I tell my children, "Son, don't worry about those grades - > > even a C student can become President one day." > >And if their hearts are set on more serious careers? > >-- >Anton Sherwood, http://www.ogre.nu/ > > > > >--- >Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. >Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). >Version: 6.0.295 / Virus Database: 159 - Release Date: 11/1/2001 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.295 / Virus Database: 159 - Release Date: 11/1/2001
Re: Grade Inflation
Has anyone done a study on this: Which matters more for employers? Someone who's got high grades and studies in a so-so school or above-median (but not so high) and studies in an ivy league? At 07:17 AM 4/10/2002 -0700, you wrote: >--- "Robert A. Book" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Isn't this what the GRE, MCAT, etc., are for? Granted, they don't > > apply to all post-graduate plans, but it's a start. > >How many employers require applicants having a BA/BS to have taken the GRE >etc. before they are considered for hiring? >If few do, then it shows the degree and grades are still a sufficient >criterion. > >Fred Foldvary > >= >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >__ >Do You Yahoo!? >Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax >http://taxes.yahoo.com/ > > >--- >Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. >Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). >Version: 6.0.295 / Virus Database: 159 - Release Date: 11/1/2001 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.295 / Virus Database: 159 - Release Date: 11/1/2001
Re: Grade Inflation
And also, I know maybe only a few (or none) of the people subscribing to this group is a psychologist. But how true are those "personal attributes" test that employers give to perspective employees? Those that you have to check "traits others think about me" and "traits i think i have" or something like that. Because like for example Standard Chartered requires that their management trainees do get a certain set of qualities before they start to hire them. Do anyone of you know in what percentages are the results correct like maybe 90% of those test takers that say they are calm do become good managers, etc...? At 01:13 PM 4/10/2002 -0400, you wrote: > > --- "Robert A. Book" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Isn't this what the GRE, MCAT, etc., are for? Granted, they don't > > > apply to all post-graduate plans, but it's a start. > >Fred Foldvary ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) responded: > > How many employers require applicants having a BA/BS to have taken the GRE > > etc. before they are considered for hiring? > > If few do, then it shows the degree and grades are still a sufficient > > criterion. > > >Good point. I'm sure few if any do, which raises an perhaps even more >interesting question: > >Most graduate schools are part of universities which also have >undergraduate programs, and most graduate schools require some >standardized tests. Does that mean they put less confidence in the >degrees and grades they themselves give, than the employers do? > > >There are two caveats to taking that question the way I'd like to. >First, I suspect employers use personal interviews much more than >graduate schools do; perhaps interviews produce more, or more relevant >information than a standardized test. > >Second, I wonder how the standardized testing "community" would react >to employers wanting to use existing tests for hiring purposes. >Surely there is nothing to stop job applicants from taking the GRE, >but I don't believe there is any existing mechanism for employers to >receive score reports directly from ETS. (Schools seem to want scores >from ETS, not from the applicant, probably to prevent forgery.) The >absense of such a mechanism may mean there is no demand for the >service from employers, or it could mean the suppliers refuse to >supply for some reason. > >--Robert > > > > > >--- >Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. >Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). >Version: 6.0.295 / Virus Database: 159 - Release Date: 11/1/2001 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.295 / Virus Database: 159 - Release Date: 11/1/2001
high school economics
Hey Peeps. Got a question to the teachers in this group. High school economics is the first foray in to the field of economics for almost all students in the Philippines (and some other countries) and the last for some. What would you recommend, a course that shows economics concisely (and thus covering more topic) or showing it light (with just the core economic concepts like supply, demand, cost, utility... etc; less topic but more fun into it)? Similarly, what could be the topics that would be taught in a year's course? Thanks. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.295 / Virus Database: 159 - Release Date: 11/1/2001
Re: double vs. single entry
After journalizing transactions, and later posting it to its ledger accounts, a worksheet is made to detect errors in computation. Such is the case when the bookkeeper forgets to maintain a double entry in all journalizing or posting, the total amount of the accounts would not be equal to zero. At 04:10 PM 6/27/2002 -0400, you wrote: >Double entry accounting recognizes that every transaction must affect at >least two different accounts. It is a mathematical consequence of the more >primal accounting identity assets=liabilities+owners' equity, or >equivalently investment=claims against investments. One of its more >attractive qualities (at least to accountants) is that it is easy to audit >and track errors. I have never heard of single entry accounting, so I don't >completely know how to answer the question as it is posed. > >As an aside, I have read that the use of debits and credits in the double >entry system was a response to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church in >medieval times that negative numbers were instruments of the devil. With >debits and credits, a negative number is never used in double entry >accounting. (the double entry system was invented by a 14th century Italien >monk and mathematician). > >At 01:13 PM 6/27/2002 -0400, you wrote: > >What exactly is the advantage of double-entry accounting over > >single-entry accounting? > >-- > >Prof. Bryan Caplan > > Department of Economics George Mason University > >http://www.bcaplan.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > "He wrote a letter, but did not post it because he felt that no one > > would have understood what he wanted to say, and besides it was not > > necessary that anyone but himself should understand it." > > Leo Tolstoy, *The Cossacks* > > > > >Kevin D. Sachs, Ph.D. >Assistant Professor phone: 513.556.7198 >University of Cincinnatifax: 513.556.4891 >Department of Accounting/IS email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >302 Lindner Hall, P.O.Box 210211 >Cincinnati, OH 45221-0211 > > > > >--- >Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. >Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). >Version: 6.0.295 / Virus Database: 159 - Release Date: 11/1/2001 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.295 / Virus Database: 159 - Release Date: 11/1/2001
Re: high school economics
> >Judging from the market for texts, I am probably alone in believing that >most micro texts have it wrong. At the principles level we do not need to >be producing students who have a tenuous understanding of what Ph.D. >economics students learn. Instead, we should be teaching students how to >think like economists. Opportunity cost, gains from trade, how markets >work, substitution possiblities in consumption and increasing opportunity >cost in production, efficiency, market power and lack thereof, market >failure etc. (The intermediate level is a whole different story.) It would be hard to teach high school students to think like economists since there is a time constraint. A year's course in economics can give you the basics but it not transform them to homo economicus-es. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.295 / Virus Database: 159 - Release Date: 11/1/2001
Re: Quantity/Bulk discounts
how about by that of church and ware? any comments? At 09:37 PM 08-07-02 +0100, you wrote: > > The industrial organization textbook by Carlton and Perloff is good on > > issues of price discrimination, quantity discounts etc. > > > > Alex > > >Sadly, I find Advanced Industrial Economics, by Stephen Martin (Blackwell >1993) a much better book in many ways. Although Carlton is a hugely >talented economist (also hugely successful consultant; he recently endowed a >chair at MIT), Carlton and Perloff is a talk-talk book. Too much "it can be >shown that" with a citation, rather than actually showing, plus lots of >summaries. Useful, but not a very good text. Martin is much better at >showing how the models actually work. Lest I find myself in the middle of >an antitrust dispute, I will happily stipulate for the libertarians on the >list that Martin's antitrust views seem to assume that the government is >different from everyone else by being benevolent and all-wise. His text is >still better than Carlton and Perloff. > >The literature on bundling is huge. One place to start is by looking at >John Lott and Russell Roberts, "A Guide to the Pitfalls of Identifying Price >Discrimination" Economic Inquiry (January 1991) 29, 14-23, an important >critique of empirical work on price discrimination. They point to the >difficulties of separating cost explanations from price discrimination >explanations. Since then, empirical papers have to confront the >Lott-Roberts critique, so a citation search on Lott and Roberts is a good >way to begin. > >Because the literature is so large, it is worth asking what sort of >applications you are looking for. For example, Carl Shapiro and Hal >Varian's Information Rules (the book's website is www.inforules.com) has a >lot of interesting non-technical material on bundling in information goods. >The references (mostly in the website, not the book) go back to the >technical material. > >Bill Sjostrom > > >+ >William Sjostrom >Senior Lecturer >Department of Economics >National University of Ireland, Cork >Cork, Ireland > >+353-21-490-2091 (work) >+353-21-427-3920 (fax) >+353-21-463-4056 (home) >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >www.ucc.ie/~sjostrom/
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Armchairs: Could you please describe in layman's how does fiat money work? It is money based on regulation right? But is there a regulation that determines its value? Thanks
Re: rewards from higher Education
try studies by levin. i just forgot his first name, in economics of education. At 11:56 AM 10-07-02 +0200, you wrote: >i remember reading something recently in the Economist on the rewards >from public investment in higher education not being so high after all >(one of Bryans old points as I remember). > >Now i have been trying to find the article - unsuccesfully! > >can anyone remember which issue? - and/or does anybody know of any >other studies on the subject > >- jacob braestrup
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hi i'm currently a student of international economics. may i ask what is the best reason why comparative advantage is the best gauge for international trade. i've read salvatore's, krugman and obstfeld's, and appleyard and field's books but i can't seem to find the perfect answer.
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i would like to ask to all the economists out there if the railroad system of the country really matters in its development, even with the other good transport facilities like better paved roads and freight.
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do you know where i could data about the air pollution indices of certain cities in Asia?
Re: Keynes in China
but being in china for 2 summers. as i can see that as time goes on, they're becoming a bit more liberal on things At 06:20 PM 2/4/01 -0800, you wrote: >On Sun, 4 Feb 2001, fabio guillermo rojas wrote: > > > > > A new graduate student in my department told me that at Beijing > > University, econ undergraduates are not taught Keynesian economics - > > they get a good dose of Marxism and then they get hooked up with > > monetarism!! > > > > Can anybody else verify this? Is China liberalized enough so that > > students are allowed to openly be taught free market economics? > > > >I have some Chinese grad student friends and I get the impression that >what you say is correct. > >But at the beginning of every one of these free-market economics books, >my friends tell me that the government prints a short "caveat emptor". >This basically states that the free-market ideas in the book are all >wrong, and that the students are being taught about these ideas so they >can see (i) how wrong these ideas really are, and (ii) how great Marx >is in comparison. > >Alex Robson >UC Irvine
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is fixing exchange rates a good policy during currency crises?
Re: Currency crises
do you know his email? =) At 01:54 PM 2/14/01 -0800, you wrote: >Maybe you should ask George Soros! ;) > >Alex Robson >UC Irvine > >On Wed, 14 Feb 2001, [iso-8859-1] markjohn® wrote: > > > is fixing exchange rates a good policy during currency crises? > >
