Maybe Next Semester

 I just order the book Spousonomics after hearing an interview with the authors on Marketplace. If this book is any good, next year I will use it for Econ 106.
Topics covered match the course outline for the class. According to the table of contents on Amazon and on their website,  topics  in the book are 1) Division of Labor 2) Incentives 3)Supply and Demand  and 4) Moral Hazard.  I would need another book to cover the macro topics listed in the course outline.

Second Week Of Class

I have started listening and creating lectures based on lectures given by various famous economists at top schools. I find these lectures on i-tunes U and spend the weekends listening taking notes.
Next I think about how I can simplify the material for my introductory class and create power points.  Today I tested one of these PowerPoint in class and it was a success.
The students wanted to know more and I gave them the link to the episode on i-tunes U.  Actually one girl with an i-pod touch asked me if she had downloaded the correct course or not?
This lecture was a simplified version of one given by Robert Shiller given to his Financial Market class at Yale.

Mike has recommended that you check out Financial Markets - Video

		Mike has recommended that you check out Financial Markets - Video:
		Financial Markets - Video Robert Shiller Finance 30 Ratings

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Econ haiku

The following haikus are from freakomomics website:
No. 1, posted by Tim:

Demand curve slopes down
Because the more cake I eat,
The less cake I want.
No. 2, posted by Calum:

A friend and I, jailed;
We agreed to stay silent
(But I still confessed).
No. 3, posted by LiaStarLight:

No matter how hard
I shake my money maker,
It is not enough.
No. 4, posted by Nate C.:

Sales of ice cream seem
To correlate with crime rate?
Simply summer heat.
No. 5, posted by Sean:

Can we work it out
If there aren’t transaction costs?
But of Coase we can.
No. 6, posted by Sophie:

Haiku writers know
The opportunity cost
Of a syllable.

Vocabulary Econ 106

Need to cut down the number of vocabulary words from the novel? Should I stick to the Econ words? Or keep al the words?
I worry that I will lose the better students but at the same time I worry about students who are not readers. I am leaning toward letting English teachers worry about the reading skills of the students and stick to the economics.

Econ 106 novel

Taking a chance on using a novel for Econ 106. I have created a list of vocabulary words from the reading of the first chapter . The concept is to use vocabulary quizzes and comprehension questions. The next step is to create the comprehension questions needed.

Restarting this Blog

After a long time, 3 to 4 years, I have decided to get this blog rolling again. I hope to put down my observations and attempts at making Economics fun and understandable for my students. Also I will post my failures to communicate basic economic concepts. This is not an economics blog but a blog about teaching the Dismal Science better known as Economics.

Check out this podcast episode!

Javanomics


My Boring Lectures


The Howl





Enjoy! -- Mike

Krugman on the US housing bubble

This is why you should not buy Real Estate.

Paul Krugman on the rich getting richer

Economic Literacy Site

Link to the Minneapolis Federal Reserve site.

Econ a Foriegn Language?

I was looking through various pages the fed has and found an old speech from June 1999 on Economic Literacy. I saw the following quote by Alice Rivlin and it made me wonder if this is how my students see my lectures. Those who have read do not have this problem but those that have not may!?

"Economic literacy is akin to having a working knowledge of a foreign language. If you are with a group of foreigners and don't speak their language at all, especially if its sounds and intonations are strange and unfamiliar to your ears, you tune out. You feel excluded, perhaps uneasy. If you have a rudimentary working knowledge of the language, you can at least follow the drift of the conversation, ask a few questions and feel that, even if you are not getting the fine points, you are not totally left out and you have a basis for acquiring more knowledge. That, it seems to me, is what economic literacy means—a rudimentary working knowledge of the concepts and language of economic activity and economic policy."

How much of rudimentary working knowledge do they have? Can I congratulate myself on discussing terminology and boring the heck out of my students before moving on to exciting debates?

Greenspan's Retirement

The legacy of Greenspan Housing Bubble

Professor on Credentialism

The Chinese Are Coming & Self Interest

Two stories on NPR Marketplace caught my attention: The first story was about the Chinese investing in the U.S. which reminds me of the Japanese in the 1980's buying Real Estate in U.S.
The Second story (commentary) is by Adam Hanft. He pointed out:

"People are positively jubilant about spending time and effort to create
videos or discover them, and then post them for free.But why? There's no
economic benefit to them. And that defies classic economic theory that says we
are all rational beings and act only in our own self-interest."

This will make an interesting discussion with the students.