Small Class Large Class & Outliers

I have noticed a strange thing. I am teaching a class with 21 students another 4 classes with 50 or so students, and a class with 110 students.
The classes with 50 students are going well, I get the "I want to sleep but I got to fake interest" faces, as well as truly interested students. I started teaching classes of 45-50 so I find having a few sleepy heads normal.
My class with 110 students is in a large auditorium and I feel that I am doing great in this class. I get lots of laughter and actually one or two students in the back try to get my attention to ask questions. This could be an illusion, since I can not see their faces and I only think they love my lecture.
The small class of 21 students has one tired student and the rest are actually interested. They just maybe good actors.
This made me wonder how much of this difference is due to the students?
How much is due to change in my behavior toward classes of differing sizes?
How much is just statistic? The probability of having a sleepy head in a class of 50 is higher than in a class of 21 students. Or in a class of 110 there is a higher probability of having interested students that have read compared to a class of 50 students. This was my favorite explanation till I noticed that both proportional and in absolute numbers I have more well prepared interested students in my class of 21!
Is this an Outlier?

UHaul Pricing

Interesting post on Marginal Revolution

hypothetical bias

Interesting site.
Like the setup of the blog.

Libertarian & Academic Freedom

I have noticed that some of my students are swinging to the left, so I have been reading a little bit of Free market, laissez fair, libertarian material to challenge their idealism.
However it got me thinking could free markets protect Academic Freedom?
Lets look at the public school. Government funding means government oversite. Government oversite means politics. Government monopoly leads to textbook committees. And next what you can and can not teach committees?
I do not buy this argument but should I?
Would letting markets dictate what is to be taught lead to an overly commercialized educational system?
I am just thinking outloud!

Salt and wealth

George Bush is reading the book Salt: a world history by Mark Kurlansky and the author is quoted as saying: "he reads books?"
I was surprised to learn that you can write a whole book about salt. I was further surprised by Kurlansky arguments. According to this book, Salt was as valuable as gold mainly for its preservative qualities. Therefore, International trade could not take place without salt before refrigeration.
It got me thinking could this be used to illustrate shift in Supply and Demand?
Why is salt not valuable in the 20th century?
According to this book Salt in the 2oth century became abundant because of drilling technology. (Change or shift in supply)
Also refrigeration seems to have reduced the need for salt. (Change or shift in Demand)
As Salt becomes abundant Diminishing Marginal utility sets in? Similar to the Diamond water paradox? ( I have not worked this out completely)

Obsession with Pricing for Necessities

What would make someone drive across town to save 20 cents a gallon on gasoline. This is only a saving of 2 dollars on a 10 gallon tank or 4 dollars on a twenty gallon tank. The same person would not drive across town to save 2 dollars or 4 dollars on a computer or some other item.
Is this illustrating the percent change in price idea or is there something else in the psyche of the consumer? I am thinking when we believe something is a necessity we get more obsessive about the price of it.

Guilt of Blogging

I was feeling guilty for not keeping up with my goal of blogging everyday. And when I did keep up I felt it was horrible writing.
I was listening to an interview with Charles Murray and the interviewer asked why Charles Murray does not blog?
He replied blogers are good at writing first drafts, whereas he is more of a rewriter.
Could this be my excuse? Come to think of it I started this blog because I was too cheap to buy a notebook.

Got Googled And found an Agent in Beverly Hills

I got googled by a student. She was a student of mine and needed a letter of recommendation. I agreed to help her out. This got me to google myself. I could not believe how many different places I have been mentioned.
I got a big head for a second but after a few minutes, I realized this is due to information storage being cheap! Nothing special about me!
Also I found a real estate agent with my name in Beverly Hills.

Draft of my teaching philosophy

My teaching philosophy can be broken down into a few unified uncomplicated points.
1. Teachers can only motivate the students and it is the student who learns.
2. Success in learning or any enterprise demands hard work and persistence.
3. An interested student will work harder than a student who is forced to be there
My belief in these three points drives me to make economics interesting and create a sense of passion for the material in the students psyche. An interested student will learn more than I or any other instructor could teach them.

Competition Discussion Starter????

Globalization faces more of a challenge in the developed world from the middle class. Globalization would face less of a challenge in the developing world.
Why?
Competition eliminates economic profits.
Monopoly has economic profits.
Econ profits come at the expense of someone else.
Sure the pie grows but the winners have to give up (in short run) more than they recieve, and even if they can make it again is doubtful. Bird in the hand worth two in the bush.