tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68899570646472321392024-03-05T00:10:20.875-06:00Ceteris Numquam ParibusThis blog is for young economists, who want advice on how to proceed on their chosen path. Every week or so I'll bring you a short interview with an economist, giving suggestions on what to read, what to learn, and how to become an economist.Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-51260581402603029082020-03-16T12:00:00.000-05:002020-03-16T12:00:10.041-05:00Prof. Sriya Iyer<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Prof.
Sriya Iyer (Ph.D., University of Cambridge) is the Janeway Fellow in
Economics at the University of Cambridge. She is the author of <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674979642"><i>The Economics of Religion in India</i></a> (Harvard University Press, 2018) and <i>Demography and Religion in India</i> (Oxford University Press, 2002).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><img src="https://www.caths.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.caths.cam.ac.uk/files/styles/profile_image/public/Sriya%20Iyer%202017.jpg?itok=1tmAMVJ9" /> <br /><br /> <b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You
have written a lot about economics and religion. Were you interested in
religion or in economics first, and what brought these two into
contact?</span></span></b> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
was interested in economics first as it is a great subject that teaches
us a lot about concepts such as incentives, trade-offs, how people make
decisions, and so forth. Coming from India, I was very aware of
inequality around me - not just economic, but also social and
institutional inequality. This got me interested more generally in how
economics could be used to understand social problems. My interest in
religion as a scholarly subject came later when I was doing my doctoral
studies. I was curious to see if methods from economics such as economic
theory and statistics could also be used to understand religion in
different parts of the world, to complement studies which were done in
other disciplines, and if economics as a subject could contribute more
to inter-disciplinary dialogues about religion.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>What are the differences—if any—between how economics is taught in India and in other countries?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />Economics
as a subject is taught very similarly in India as it is in the UK or
the US. The core principles of the subject - microeconomics,
macroeconomics, statistics - are taught similarly, and many students are
fortunate to have great teachers who first introduce them to the
subject. But where you live also has an effect on how you might apply
economics to study the real world. And if you do come from a developing
country, you may be interested to see how these fundamental economic
principles can be used to help real people in the real world with their
problems - be it poverty, inequality, access to basic goods like food,
shelter, education, healthcare and so forth. Sometimes what you observe
growing up around you can motivate your interest in a particular
economics subject many years down the line.</span></span> Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-86548316362158058322020-03-13T12:09:00.000-05:002020-03-13T12:09:19.054-05:00Prof. Alvin Roth<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Alvin
Roth won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2012 and is best known for
his work on kidney exchange markets. He is the Craig and Susan McCaw
Professor of Economics at Stanford University and the Gund Professor of
Economics and Business Administration Emeritus at Harvard University.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img alt="Image result for alvin roth" class="irc_mi" height="267" src="https://www.minneapolisfed.org/~/media/images/pubs/region/15-06/alvin-roth-speaking-1col.jpg?h=267&w=230&la=en" style="margin-top: 43px;" width="230" /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>In <i>The Graduate</i>,
a character says to Dustin Hoffman as he is about to finish school and
head out into the world, “I want to say one word to you, just one word,”
and that one word is “Plastics,” because, he says, “there’s a great
future in plastics.” If you were to say “just one word” to a young
person thinking about being an economist, what would that word be?</b></span></span><br /><br />“Computerized-markets.” <br /><br /> [For Roth’s own work on computerized markets, see <a href="http://cramton.umd.edu/market-design/roth-marketplaces-markets-and-market-design.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="https://marketdesigner.blogspot.com/search?q=computerized+markets" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5qCvMqqwC8" target="_blank">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvG5b2gmk70" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br />For other advice he gives to young economists, here’s a video: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9SLiRpUNsc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9SLiRpUNsc</a> <br /><br />The famous scene from <i>The Graduate </i>can be found here: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dug-G9xVdVs"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dug-G9xVdVs </a>] </span></span>Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-60586420611086712502020-02-10T09:55:00.000-06:002020-02-10T09:55:05.244-06:00Nicholas Gruen<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nicholas Gruen (Ph.D., Australian National University) </span><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="text-align: center;">is a widely published policy economist and public intellectual who has had regular columns in the </span><i style="text-align: center;">Courier Mail</i><span style="text-align: center;">, the A</span><i style="text-align: center;">ustralian Financial Review</i><span style="text-align: center;">, and the </span><i style="text-align: center;">Sydney Morning Herald</i><span style="text-align: center;">. He is the founder of <a href="https://lateraleconomics.com.au/" target="_blank">Lateral Economics</a>.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiziPAWQ2BW0Ydpa6kcDp29OZ8KL70VDw7qRjjzyvhUVlZuNJslhKs7yvB0nWrAqij5PJaYIIuh6akbzspOTV6vQyx9Z4MG1eN2iiceG6uEGJ3Uc8qK0e36fyanEISBmLokVWcLTqVGj7Nm/s1600/Nicholas-Gruen.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiziPAWQ2BW0Ydpa6kcDp29OZ8KL70VDw7qRjjzyvhUVlZuNJslhKs7yvB0nWrAqij5PJaYIIuh6akbzspOTV6vQyx9Z4MG1eN2iiceG6uEGJ3Uc8qK0e36fyanEISBmLokVWcLTqVGj7Nm/s400/Nicholas-Gruen.jpg" /></a><br /><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you could mandate that every student read one book in the field of economics, what would it be?</span></span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">W</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">hile I read plenty of economics books,
almost invariably my ideas are cooked up in my head and talking to people – and
this is a big deal for me. Most people think economics is 75% learning the
discipline and 25% applying the ideas. I’d say it’s the other way round. Most
of the important stuff comes in the way (usually pretty commonplace) ideas are deployed. A lot
of economists are quite unaware of this. Thus for instance, as I try to
document <a href="https://www.themandarin.com.au/97190-competitive-neutrality-is-this-the-five-minute-argument-or-the-full-half-hour/" target="_blank">here</a>, they’ll deploy
arguments like competitive neutrality in one way, blissfully, unware that they
could be applied in other ways. Virtually all my work comes from applying in somewhat new ways the
simple and powerful ideas of our discipline that any economics graduate would
recognise. For instance <a href="http://evonomics.com/success-means-competing-cooperating-adam-smith-youve-never-seen/" target="_blank">here’s</a> how I deploy
the idea of public and private goods in a slightly new way to generate what I
think is a powerful way to see the economy and powerful new policy
possibilities. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">But if you want me to pick a book, I’d
suggest John Kay’s <i>The Truth about Markets</i> (I think it may
have had a different title in the US). It’s not more brilliant than other books
or a stand out classic, but it’s a compelling romp through many of the
important ideas in economics with a lot of moderation and commonsense at the same
time as positive zeal for good, practical ideas and the huge contribution
economics can make to improving millions – indeed billions – of ordinary human
lives.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">If you’d allow me to indulge myself and
stray somewhat outside economics, but at least into political economy I’d also
recommend David Van Reybrouk’s <i>Against Elections</i>, which explains
some of the myriad problems with electoral democracy and proposes
instead
democracy by sortition – as occurs in juries in court cases. I’ve set
out
similar ideas and a model constitution in which power is shared between
elected representatives and those selected by lot (based in a
Westminster or British
parliamentary system rather than a US congressional one) <a href="http://www.themandarin.com.au/75323-nicholas-gruen-detoxing-democracy/" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://www.themandarin.com.au/75485-detoxing-democracy-2-mixed-model-democracy-australia/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
A book I’m reading right now and loving
is Matthew Crawford’s <i>The World beyond your Head</i>, which I
thoroughly recommend. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">What
course that is not normally required for an undergraduate economics
major do you think all students should be required to take, and why</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">?</span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I think the
history of economic thought should be compulsory because it gives students
perspective into other ways of looking at things. I have no problems with
neoclassical economics being taught, but I’m dead against it being taught as
the only way to do economics. Since it is so often taught that way, the history
of economic thought can provoke some curiosity in students to look further afield.
However even here if it is taught as if all previous economists were really
just groping their way towards the way we think today then students can be
largely protected from the good it can do them. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Indeed, for me it was my study
of history proper – not economic history or the history of ideas – that helped
me understand something about ideas that Steven Jobs commented upon:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact:
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were [in
general] no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it… Once
you learn that, you'll never be the same again.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I outlined some of the influence studying
history had on me briefly in the midst of a longish speech <a href="http://clubtroppo.com.au/2017/09/03/my-60th-birthday-let-the-record-show/" target="_blank">here</a> (in Section V)
and also <a href="https://www.themandarin.com.au/83318-nicholas-gruen-evaluation-knowledge-comes-not-numbers-questions/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></span>Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-60697896704456749722020-01-13T10:01:00.002-06:002020-01-13T10:01:47.891-06:00Joseph Sternberg<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Joseph
C. Sternberg is editorial-page editor and Political Economics columnist
for the Wall Street Journal's European edition. His latest book is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Theft-Decade-Boomers-Millennials-Economic/dp/1541742362/" target="_blank"><i>The Theft of a Decade: How the Baby Boomers Stole the Millennials' Economic Future </i></a>(Public Affairs, 2019).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><img height="320" src="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/6e3f85_975f7e5a1e504342a6c417c546782ed4~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_316,h_471,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01/IMG_5955-Edit.webp" width="214" /></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>As a journalist, which aspects of economics are the most difficult to communicate?</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
top thing is how little economists actually know. If you read any
serious academic paper or book, there's a certain humility about the
limits of any one model, and also about the limits of the data they have
to work with. The problem is that when you're a journalist, you're
keenly aware that your audience is busy and only has a few minutes to
spend with you each day. You want to be able to give them a simple,
actionable bottom line -- "If you increase X by 10%, economists say Y
will decrease by 30%" or the like. Economics can't really do that,
though. The paper on which that sentence is based actually says
something like "If you increase X by 10%, an analysis of the particular
data set we used found that 95% of the time Y will decrease by 30%, but
that data set also suffers from A, B and C shortcomings that make it
hard for us to understand precisely what's going on." You can see how
difficult it is to put that into a news article or an opinion column, so
it's a challenge to present readers with suggestive data points while
also finding elegant, non-technical ways to alert readers to the
pitfalls.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">An
explosion in the quantity of data available for analysis over the past
century and the development of new tools with which to analyze it have
been tremendous boons to a lot of policy debates where we no longer need
to fly completely blind. But it all tends to cultivate an unhealthy
impression that economics is a more precise "science" than it truly is.
And I fear some economists are happy to play along with that because it
boosts their perceived authority as public intellectuals.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>What responses to the book have surprised you the most?</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I'd
expected response to the book would split along partisan lines. I came
at the topic from a more free-market perspective than has been applied
to a lot of intergenerational challenges up to now (as you'd expect for a
Wall Street Journal editorial-page writer), and I had thought the main
dividing line between who liked the book and who didn't like it would be
along the left-right axis. Instead, I've been surprised by the extent
to which the split is more along generational lines. Millennial readers
from the political left might not agree with my policy prescriptions,
but my description of the economic problems facing Millennials still
rings true to them. Whereas Boomer conservatives push back hard on the
message even though I'm part of their own political "tribe" on so many
other issues. It's too easy for them to fall back on calling Millennials
"snowflakes" and accusing us of whining, instead of recognizing that
the economic challenges our generation faces are unique.</span></span>Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-47350205226852156152019-12-30T11:29:00.000-06:002019-12-30T11:29:06.230-06:00Prof. Jaqueline Oliveira<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-e7b806aa-322b-5dc2-98f2-9eac8a68269f" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Prof.
Jaqueline Oliveira (Ph.D., Yale University) is Assistant Professor of Economics at Rhodes College. Her
dissertation was entitled “Intergenerational Transfers, Fertility,
and Human Capital.” Before she joined Rhodes College, she was an
Assistant Professor at Clemson University where she taught Introduction to
Econometrics and Family Economics. Her research interests include topics
in Development Economics, Labor Economics, Family Economics, and
Urban Economics.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<img alt="Jaqueline Oliveira" height="300" src="https://www.rhodes.edu/sites/default/files/Olivieraresized.jpg" width="300" /><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A
lot of your research focuses on family economics. On the subject of
“family economics,” based on your experience, would you recommend having
more than one economist in one’s own family? (In my blogging, I have
noticed that economists are often married to other economists.)</span></span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Gary
Becker--the1992 Nobel prize winner--studied how individuals in the
“marriage markets” decide whether and whom to marry, as well as how the
attributes of potential marriage partners affect these choices. One of
the insights from his research, which helps explain the phenomenon you
just described, is that one stands to gain more from forming
partnerships with someone like them (“equals attract”) because some
traits are complements in the production of “marital happiness”, not
substitutes. Having a husband who is also an economist has many perks.
We can laugh at each other’s nerdy jokes (he knows why it is funny to
have a hat with the Greek letter Beta on it; even funnier if the hat
happens to be BLUE); rant about Trump’s misguided economic policies (tax
on Mexican avocados to pay for a border wall?? really??); share ideas
on how to teach the Intro to Economics class (especially if you happen
to work at the same school).</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You
have taught and studied at big schools and smaller schools, public
schools and private schools, and in the U.S. and in Brazil. What
differences have you seen in these different places when it comes to
studying and teaching economics?</span></span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">College
in Brazil is mostly vocational. Unlike in the U.S., students must
decide for a major before taking the admissions exams (normally at the
age of 17), and spend all of the four years of college focusing on that
major. The upside, in my opinion, is that students graduate with a more
in-depth and technical grasp of their field. The downside is that,
unlike in the U.S., students do not enjoy the freedom to choose classes
and explore interests in other areas of knowledge. Another striking
difference is the transition to graduate school. In Brazil, it is common
for students to spend two years pursuing a Master’s degree before a
Doctorate degree. In the U.S., the norm if for students to start their
Ph.D. studies after finishing college. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As
for private versus public school, my impression is that there is not a
marked difference between those types in the U.S., particularly when it
comes to graduate school. In Brazil, the best economics graduate schools
are private. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 17pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Finally, I pers</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">onally
did not feel a big difference between teaching economics at Clemson and
Rhodes College. While I do enjoy the smaller class sizes at Rhodes, I
think the challenges and rewards that come with teaching are basically
the same.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Do you have any advice for an aspiring economist like me?</span></span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My
advice for anyone thinking about pursuing a career in economics is to
consider a Ph.D. degree. I do not think I really understood the power of
economics as a framework with which to think about the world, and the
vast array of interesting and relevant issues it could address, until I
became a Ph.D. student. And with that in mind, I would recommend taking
(and excelling at) as many mathematics and statistics classes as one can
while in college. Admission into Ph.D. programs has become increasingly
competitive over the years. It is important to figure out what it takes
to build a strong application and take the necessary steps early on to
enhance the chances of being accepted into a good program. </span></span></span></div>
Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-49618272535286975112019-10-09T12:00:00.000-05:002019-11-04T12:27:57.208-06:00Prof. Jerry Ellig<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dr. Jerry Ellig is a research professor at George Washington
University's Regulatory Studies Center. He previously served as the chief economist at the Federal Communications Commission and as a senior economist for the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="Jerry Ellig" height="189" src="https://regulatorystudies.columbian.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs1866/f/image/jellig.jpg" width="153" /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">When you testify before Congress or advice policy makers, what economic ideas are the hardest to communicate?</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The idea that good intentions do not guarantee good results. Time and time again I see people in the policy world assume that if they have good intentions, then the policies they favor will produce the results they say they want -- even if they have no empirical evidence that the policy actually does produce those results. If an economist questions whether a policy will in reality produce the hoped-for results, he or she is assumed to be attacking the proponent's good intentions. If policymakers were more willing to make decisions based on actual evidence, I'll bet that fewer policy debates would degenerate into the nasty name-calling wars we see on TV and social media every day.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What is the best (or worst) advice you received when you were studying to become an economist?</span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Best advice: Go to George Mason. Worst advice: Don't go to George Mason. George Mason was the lowest-ranked school that offered me money, but I went there anyway for my Ph.D because it was the most intellectually stimulating. I don't regret it. Education should be about learning something you're passionate about learning, not just pursuit of credentials.</span></span> Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-56670099284092075932019-08-22T12:00:00.000-05:002019-10-02T08:35:52.218-05:00Prof. Ian Fillmore<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ian Fillmore (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is Assistant Professor of Economics at Washington University in St. Louis. His research focuses on the economics of education and education markets, the effects of technological change on workers, and optimal taxation.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF917Ix1mUxrS5FSIap5GRY1efIY1YytQdsIs3wUHg_CILM3HnRLrN4Y4Hjroum_y2JDQvJtO61g8TLcux-CIHk0jJZpmifJuTXDtEx4uQPfscgAQtVADnu4sEM7UygWwtEmtu6Ie_MBd3/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF917Ix1mUxrS5FSIap5GRY1efIY1YytQdsIs3wUHg_CILM3HnRLrN4Y4Hjroum_y2JDQvJtO61g8TLcux-CIHk0jJZpmifJuTXDtEx4uQPfscgAQtVADnu4sEM7UygWwtEmtu6Ie_MBd3/s400/download.jpg" /></a><img alt="" src="https://economics.wustl.edu/files/economics/styles/person_node/public/people/images/ianfillmore_photo.jpg?itok=05aqbVSG" /><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Is being really interested in economics a good enough reason to major in economics?</span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I remember during my Freshman year of college having the sudden realization that just because I found a subject interesting, that didn't mean I had to do it for a living. So, just because you find economics interesting, that doesn't mean you should necessarily become a professional economist. But economics can still be a terrific major even if you don't become an economist. Learning to "think like an economist" will open your eyes to important concepts like tradeoffs, opportunity cost, and thinking about seen and unseen forces and consequences. Economics is also a great way to train yourself to weigh empirical evidence and distinguish between correlation and causation. Finally, the economics major provides skills that are applicable in a wide variety of careers, so you have a lot of flexibility with what you want to do after you graduate. </span></span>Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-49759383041814699062019-08-14T21:24:00.000-05:002019-08-14T21:24:30.697-05:00Prof. James DeNicco<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">James DeNicco (Ph.D., Drexel University) is director of the Principles of Economics program and also coordinator of the Dead Economists Society at Rice University, where he has been awarded the Malcolm Gillis Award for Distincion in Undergraduate Teaching.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUVQDQ21gXlfq-d6d7CWpsiKC4oUoNwEhcAqZTG3uh4387vxUw95SmBnEOEqmW5lIOW9TAJOb9qLHOvvGm8iTkgq4jhzqqnmk-IUH_nX7r7-Anh3qOWvWSZpXB8WViQbG8voZ74DIFCVv3/s1600/james-p.-denicco.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUVQDQ21gXlfq-d6d7CWpsiKC4oUoNwEhcAqZTG3uh4387vxUw95SmBnEOEqmW5lIOW9TAJOb9qLHOvvGm8iTkgq4jhzqqnmk-IUH_nX7r7-Anh3qOWvWSZpXB8WViQbG8voZ74DIFCVv3/s320/james-p.-denicco.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>A recent study suggested that graduate students experience depression at six times the rate of the general population, and that "anxiety symptoms among economics Ph.D. students is comparable to the prevalence found in incarcerated populations.” Does that ring true to you. Does it have anything to do with how the subject is taught?</b></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Well, I have often described the first year or two of getting a PhD in economics as intellectual hazing. I guess it somewhat depends on the person, but it is a difficult time for most people and there is a lot of pressure and sacrifice. In my case I had to travel over an hour each way to get to Drexel. I was 29 and married when I started the program and already had my first child and a mortgage. That certainly made it tougher for me.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I think it may be how it is taught. Most places take the fire hose approach to teaching the material. You have a lot of information flowing your direction and at times it seems impossible to take it all in. I found I would really understand the material a semester or two after I first learned it and started using it. I understand why it is that way though. 5 years is long enough in grad school. I wouldn’t want it to take 7 and that might be required to have a more comfortable pace and incremental curriculum.<br /><br /><br />Now, after the first two years for me things changed completely. The first two years were mostly classroom work and qualifying exams. After that it was research and teaching, which I throughly enjoyed. I had a great mentor and dissertation committee, which means a lot of course. <br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>I have heard that you have "Supply" and "Demand" tattooed on your biceps. Have you come across many other economics-themed tattoos?</b> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Lol, up until now I am the only one I know crazy enough to get an Econ themed tattoo. Demand is on the right bicep and supply is on the left so when I do pull downs at the gym, demand is downward sloping and supply is upward sloping!</span></span>Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-68420095953302716722019-06-28T12:00:00.000-05:002019-06-28T12:00:17.447-05:00Prof. Maria Bach<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Maria Bach (Ph.D., King's College London) is Assistant Professor of Economics at the American University of Paris. Her research focuses on the history of economics, especially 19th-century India. She podcasts at <a href="http://ceterisneverparibus.net/">ceterisneverparibus.net</a>. </span></span> <br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img alt="" height="200" src="https://www.aup.edu/sites/default/files/profile/picture/bach.jpg" width="300" /><br /><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As an economic historian, do you feel like you have more in common with economists or with historians?</span></span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I see myself more as an historian of economics – that is to say, I analyse the history of ideas, intellectual thought (whatever you want to call it) rather than events, facts and economic trends. I do however contextulise the texts and discourse I analyse, so I use economic history research in my research. So do I feel more like an historian than economist? My gut instinct would say the latter. I am a trained economist, I did economics and mathematics for my undergraduate and development economics for my masters of science – which is not always the case for historians of economics. I had to learn historical techniques and approaches in my PhD, but my research leans towards understanding how interlocutors observe and perceive the economy from the perspective of an economist. Of course, I contribute to historical research by documenting and analysing texts that were written in the past, but I analyse more from an economics perspective than historical.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You've studied and taught in France and the U.K. and elsewhere. Are there any noteworthy differences between the way economics is taught in those countries and elsewhere?</span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The main difference I have seen in France and UK in economics teaching is the inclusion of history of economics in France (and not in the UK). Otherwise, it’s pretty similar. Perhaps there is a bit more socialist slant in France than in the UK, but this will depend on the university and professor. </span></span>Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-60958384247516022552019-06-26T12:31:00.000-05:002019-06-26T13:50:49.501-05:00Prof. William Collins<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Prof. William Collins (Ph.D., Harvard University) is the Terence E. Adderley Jr. Professor of E</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">conomics at Vanderbilt University. He is the author of <i> Enterprising America: Businesses, Banks, and Credit Markets in Historical Perspective</i> (University of Chicago Press, 2015).<br /></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<img class="img-rounded" src="https://as.vanderbilt.edu/econ/images/people/image.php/william-collins2.jpg?width=175&image=https://as.vanderbilt.edu/econ/images/people/william-collins2.jpg" /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Which teacher or professor had the biggest impact on your career path
(whether it was an economist or someone who taught another subject), and
what made that person a good teacher?</span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is a long line of educators from my elementary school days through
graduate school and beyond who have had profound influences on my
career path. I would start with those who encouraged a love for
reading, writing, and independent investigation.
Being an academic economist entails asking good questions and crafting
clearly written answers; that is at the core of what we do. The single
most important professor in my career has been Jeff Williamson. Jeff
was both my undergraduate thesis advisor and
my dissertation advisor. His expertise, genuine enthusiasm for
research and teaching, generosity of time, and confidence in his
students (including me) made a world of difference.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Economics is a much more quantitative field than it was a long time ago. What are the trade-offs when it comes to this change?</span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">There have been real gains from the quantitative turn in economics. In
theory, it requires more precise statements of the model one has in mind
and descriptions of how it works. In empirical work, it requires
better data and more careful interpretation
of patterns detected in those data. I suppose one tradeoff is that it
is easy to loose sight of the forest when one is deep in the technical
trees. Many of the problems we work on require intense attention to
technical details, but communicating the importance
of any project requires a broader vision. A second potential tradeoff
is that some important and complex questions may not be well suited to
formal modeling and econometric analysis, but it might still be useful
for economists to weigh in on those questions
to the extent that we can. </span></span>Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-83213388265208239252019-06-13T18:00:00.000-05:002019-06-13T20:47:07.379-05:00Prof. Raymond Sauer<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Prof. Raymond Sauer (Ph.D., University of Washington) is Professor of Economics at the University of Clemson. He is</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> the founder of <a href="https://thesportseconomist.com/" target="_blank">The Sports Economist</a>, a popular multi-author weblog which
focuses on economic aspects of sport, and is former President of the
North American Association of Sports Economists. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<img height="200" src="https://www.clemson.edu/business/about/profiles/getPicture.php?id=SAUERR" width="149" /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>You have written a lot on the economic aspects of sports. Is the “sports and economics” niche full, or is there room for more people to work in this area?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">First, I believe there is plenty of work left to do in the field of sports economics. I've been around a while and have seen the field blossom. At its best sports economics uses the sports as a way illustrate economic forces at work, while simultaneously informing us about sports in ways we might not have otherwise understood. There are plenty of young people just getting started and I'm sure they will do fantastic work for years to come.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Everyone is familiar with <i>Moneyball</i>. In your opinion, what is the best book about sports and economics that is less well known and what makes it great?</span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As for great books about sports and economics, <i>Moneyball </i>is a standout, as you mention. A lesser known but excellent book is <i>The Baseball Economist, </i>by John Charles Bradbury. JC is a sharp economist, huge baseball fan, and is superb at rendering complicated statistical findings into readable prose. Although the book is a bit dated), the economic thinking in it sets it apart from other sabremetric books and it is full of interesting nuggets. The chapter on "The Mazzone Effect" in particular is worth savoring. Also, as an Astros fan I must mention <i>Astroball</i>, by Ben Reiter. The 2017 Astros were a championship squad built on sharp analytical thinking, smart economic management, and great character. Reiter's book chronicles this moment, a dozen years or so after Michael Lewis' classic.</span></span> Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-32273056716134343362019-04-09T09:46:00.000-05:002019-04-09T09:46:01.921-05:00Prof. Timothy N. Bond<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Prof. Timothy N. Bond (Ph.D., Boston University) is the Director of Undergraduate Programs for the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University. His research focuses on labor economics and the economics of education.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgejmnFmbzCAc3w-kjKwR0TxOidg6xCUFnOu2nfEXonMkvBD8-uQBj7ZoFP6B2Ig0hUJ_jmt7OaDPf9L_etnQZmMWX1zsKa-I9QwmN0UyHrUnSCTla3pNTiq1eTInSSdxagJEJx46aIL3pt/s1600/me%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgejmnFmbzCAc3w-kjKwR0TxOidg6xCUFnOu2nfEXonMkvBD8-uQBj7ZoFP6B2Ig0hUJ_jmt7OaDPf9L_etnQZmMWX1zsKa-I9QwmN0UyHrUnSCTla3pNTiq1eTInSSdxagJEJx46aIL3pt/s320/me%255B1%255D.jpg" width="180" /></a><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>"When
I starting my studies to become an economist, I wish someone had told me
_____." How would you fill in that blank?</b></span><br />
<br />
<div class="m4650300208102642785gmail-m-2798786901401785788msolistparagraph">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Take
more math and stats! Actually, people told me that I just didn’t believe them.
Also graduate school is very different from undergraduate – it’s a full time
job (or more). Understanding that, and developing the work ethic necessary to
be successful in such a position was the biggest challenge I faced early on in
graduate school.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>I
volunteer at a charter school in a poor neighborhood in Memphis. What are
some interesting research questions one might pursue if data/statistics were available? Some
questions are obvious ones, like improvement on test scores, but maybe there
are ones that are not so obvious?</b></span><br />
<br />
<div class="m4650300208102642785gmail-m-2798786901401785788msolistparagraph">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Having
access to a school that would let you run interventions would be a real asset.
Things like studying the impact of different instructional methods, tracking
(allowing for honors classes or not), or maybe even attendance policies. I have
been critical of methods that evaluate school policies using only test scores,
so some way to link the students to long-run outcomes would lead to a wealth of
exciting questions you could answer (but an enormous undertaking, of course).
Maybe college placements would be feasible? </span>Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-89021432374793713252019-03-03T12:21:00.002-06:002019-03-03T12:21:35.520-06:00Inika Mishra<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Like me, Inika Mishra is a high school student who has a blog aimed at students who want to learn more about economics. She lives in India and blogs at <a href="https://talkeconomicstoday.wordpress.com/">talkeconomicstoday.wordpress.com</a>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How did you first become interested in economics?</span></span></b><br /> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">When I first attended an Economics lesson back in my freshman year of high school, I found the subject very intriguing. This was because It was slightly similar to the subject Business Studies which I had been studying for a month & which had become my favourite subject in such a short span of time. Soon, as I got to learn more & attend more Economics lessons, I realised that it is, in fact, different yet as interesting as Business Studies. I understood Economics well & had an aptitude for it. This made me love studying it even more. </span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are there particular books about economics that you've especially enjoyed or learned a lot from?</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I’ve learnt everything about Economics from Economics articles, newspapers, blogs but mainly from my textbooks. The first Economics textbook that I read was ‘Cambridge IGCSE Complete Economics’ by Brian Titley. I learnt the basics of Economics from it. Later, In 11th grade, I was introduced to ‘Cambridge International AS & A level Economics Coursebook’ by Susan Grant.<br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is there any specific area of economics that you find most intriguing?</span></span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Honestly, everything about Economics is intriguing. However, I do enjoy the topics in Macroeconomics (Trade, Balance Of Payments, Inflation, Government intervention etc.) since they can be a little challenging at times.</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prof. Sriya Iyer, who teaches at Cambridge, has recently gained attention for her book on religion and economics in India. Who are some of the best known economists in India?</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Amartya Sen is one of the best known economists who has won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Manmohan Singh is another great economist who is also India’s former Prime Minister </span></span>Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-78973305486900950672019-01-08T13:01:00.002-06:002019-01-08T13:01:49.298-06:00Prof. Sarah Smith<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Prof. <a href="https://sarahsmitheconomics.weebly.com/about.html" target="_blank">Sarah Smith</a> (Ph.D., University College, London) is head of the Department of Economics at the University of Bristol. Her research focuses on consumer behavior and public economics. She is the co-author of <i>The Economics of Social Problems</i> (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz7tCO2y3pJlW9f8kxuSfj7hXDAPpEtLSR-4r4XkI5lnl0fWzgC0xyFGplWCPyONIWE7Sz6YMiRf_d0WcC2R-G2fIxLwL7Qf-BhSMLZ_gqErfAVxCcC290PaaGkyIenTWWeRtKXXmUScYj/s1600/medium-142013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz7tCO2y3pJlW9f8kxuSfj7hXDAPpEtLSR-4r4XkI5lnl0fWzgC0xyFGplWCPyONIWE7Sz6YMiRf_d0WcC2R-G2fIxLwL7Qf-BhSMLZ_gqErfAVxCcC290PaaGkyIenTWWeRtKXXmUScYj/s320/medium-142013.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">If you were queen for a day and could require all students to read one book in the field of economics, what would it be and why?</b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Queen Elizabeth II has retained her position for so long by keeping her views to herself. But, in this hypothetical world, I would tell students to read <i>Economics for the Common Good</i>, by Jean Tirole. In contrast to <i>Freakonomics</i>, which popularizes economics by picking on "quirky" applications, Tirole tries to make the breadth of academic economics meaningful to people. It talks about the economics that I believe in--as a way of looking at the world to make it a better place. And it is very eloquently and elegantly written. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span><b><span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">What’s the biggest difference between the way economics is taught in the U.K. and in other countries?</span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Unlike the US, UK school students not only have to apply to a particular college/ university, they also have to say in advance what they want to study. This means that they choose to study economics—or something else—when they are 16 or 17. At this stage most don't really know what economics is about/ think it's about money and finance (because I haven't been made queen to tell them to read <span class="m_-7588501123441276955SpellE">Tirole's</span> book). Many UK universities are embracing the core-econ (<span class="m_-7588501123441276955SpellE"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.core-econ.org/&source=gmail&ust=1547059773275000&usg=AFQjCNFyz1m33zUY4F-mJiubj70oZacijw" href="http://www.core-econ.org/" target="_blank">www.core-econ.org</a></span><span class="m_-7588501123441276955MsoHyperlink" style="text-decoration-line: underline;">/</span>) curriculum which introduces economics as a way of understanding the big issues of our time. But unless we reach out to school students, most of them won't really be aware of the breadth of economics. In the UK, economics is mainly studied by men—and also disproportionately attracts students from private schools. We are just beginning to wake up to the need to engage more with local schools. </span></div>
Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-54835014922812298622018-12-30T11:15:00.000-06:002018-12-30T11:15:47.779-06:00Prof. Mike Munger<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Prof. Mike Munger (Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis) is the director of the interdisciplinary Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Program at Duke University. He has authored seven books, in addition to 200 articles and papers. His newest book, <i>Tomorrow 3.0</i> (Cambridge University Press, 2018), addresses the sharing economy. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>What's the biggest or most interesting mistake you have ever made as an economist, and was there a way to fix it?</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I did an interview with a major newspaper about the costs of trade barriers. My work was a little out of date, and I said so (6 years out of date). But the newspaper person asked me what CURRENT costs were. So I just updated for inflation. I said I had only updated for inflation, but the reporter didn't really get it. This was in the early 1980s, when inflation was high. So the newspaper headline was "Costs of trade barriers has risen 22% in just six years!" But of course I had no evidence of that, that was all just the adjustment for constant dollars. The only way to fix that is to have better economic education.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>In your opinion, what is the most important economic idea that most people have never heard of?</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="https://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2006/Mungeropportunitycost.html" target="_blank">Opportunity cost</a>. People don't understand it, even if they have heard of it.</span></span>Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-82392429777772503112018-12-12T08:00:00.000-06:002018-12-12T12:15:09.250-06:00Prof. Abigail Hall Blanco<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.abigailrhall.com/" target="_blank">Abigail Hall Blanco</a> (Ph.D., George Mason University) is Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Tampa. She is the author, with C. Coyne, of<i> Tyranny Comes Home: The Domestic Fate of U. S. Militarism</i> (Stanford University Press, 2018).</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSNhR4zA9B6oWJ9DQ4u5o7IbSiZ_sLX-TiR46tC6UQbZSXyTgjeeThSkVbPg9jWutnxy1Xigu_ZnnFE-sIOQLG0kB3xCXjX71JvghIm32O-20ugWaSetSyfuClISLwwMOc92S-syf_4QMK/s1600/hall_abigail_1500x2180.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSNhR4zA9B6oWJ9DQ4u5o7IbSiZ_sLX-TiR46tC6UQbZSXyTgjeeThSkVbPg9jWutnxy1Xigu_ZnnFE-sIOQLG0kB3xCXjX71JvghIm32O-20ugWaSetSyfuClISLwwMOc92S-syf_4QMK/s320/hall_abigail_1500x2180.jpg" width="220" /></a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>What’s the best (or worst) advice you ever received when it comes to being an economist?</b></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />The best advice I ever received as a graduate student was to write liberally and often, and to focus on the topics I found the most interesting. Had I not been given this advice, I would have never found my current research program--and I couldn't imagine doing anything else! The worst advice I ever received was to just do "standard" economics (by this they meant standard econometrics). This would have ended poorly!</span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>What economic concept do you students have the most difficulty understanding?</b></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />Students are often really tripped up by the concept of cost as opportunity cost. We spend so much time thinking of cost as the equivalent of price. I spend a lot of time in micro principles trying to divorce these two ideas.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>What is the most unexpected lesson you learned from you previous career as a dancer?</b></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: #444444;">Comparative advantage! Some dancers are really superb at turn sequences, others at leaps, others . . . well . . . they have a comparative advantage in things other than dancing. When doing choreography--who you use for what relates directly to their comparative advantage.</span></span></span></div>
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Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-29185170080633790352018-12-11T17:00:00.000-06:002018-12-12T07:58:04.684-06:00Prof. James Heckman<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: #464646; color: #cdcdcd; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://heckmanequation.org/about-professor-heckman/" target="_blank">James Heckman</a> (Ph.D., Princeton University) is the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2000.</span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs2sLTPWXnoK1tMldmAP7LCOi3kcuPV_5QmsAfV-ZzwVgD59Of4SNyEWD9L2XJ5YwYCTlGAhKwRDZ2U2jRk7aylgu5O5iiAe5K8E_PvufS4wiET2dXM2kUN-MF90tHNZgUJlYPjdtrgAdq/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs2sLTPWXnoK1tMldmAP7LCOi3kcuPV_5QmsAfV-ZzwVgD59Of4SNyEWD9L2XJ5YwYCTlGAhKwRDZ2U2jRk7aylgu5O5iiAe5K8E_PvufS4wiET2dXM2kUN-MF90tHNZgUJlYPjdtrgAdq/s400/images.jpg" /></a></span><b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></h3>
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<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You majored in math as a college student. Did math lead to economics because you were interested in applying math, or were you interested in economics and saw that math was the way to understand economics better?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;">I was a math major who discovered economics. Actually, I was a physics major who took a lot of math. Hated physics labs and majored in math. Then I discovered economics. The math was useful. The economics was fascinating.</span></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What's the most common mistake you see students and even fellow economists make?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Ignoring the budget constraint. Fellow behavioral economists especially. They fail to see fundamental irrationality of the modeled agents with budget constraints. Economics is all about it. They ignore it.</span></span></div>
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Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-77514576344587594872018-12-11T08:30:00.000-06:002018-12-11T09:51:01.967-06:00Prof. Steve Horwitz<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.sghorwitz.com/#home" target="_blank">Prof. Steve Horwitz</a> (Ph.D., George Mason University) is Distinguished Professor of Free Enterprise at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He is the author of <i>Hayek's Modern Family: Classical Liberalism and the Evolution of Social Institutions </i>(Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>What textbook did you use when you first studied economics, and would you still use it today as a professor?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />To be honest, I cannot for the life of me remember what book I was assigned when I first took intro! My guess is that whatever it was, I wouldn't use it today because there are so many new approaches, and developments of old ones, over the last 37 years that hte book would be out of date.</span></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">For long-term happiness, how important (or unimportant) is it that one has the same perspecive on economic matters as one's spouse?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: #444444; font-size: large;">I don’t think one has to have the same political views as one’s spouse to be happy. I think it can help, but I know plenty of happy couples who either disagree or where one spouse just isn’t especially political. I do think that mutual respect is important, of course. And I do think that if you’re going to be the spouse of an economist, you should at least understand the economic way of thinking because it’s likely to be invoked in a lot of household decision making.</span></span><br />
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Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-16829662898856406812018-12-08T09:00:00.000-06:002018-12-08T12:31:39.468-06:00Lotta Moberg<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.lottamoberg.com/" target="_blank">Lotta Moberg</a> (<span style="background-color: #444444;">Ph.D., George Mason University) is </span><span style="background-color: #444444;">a macroeconomic analyst at William Blair & Co. in Chicago and the author of </span></span><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones: Concentrating Economic Development</i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> (Routledge, 2017). Previously she served in the Swedish D</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">efense Forces and with the Swedish Foreign Ministry.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi34kpsEFB-zCaCTZO8uuG-2iPsBLco_bO2VXztT2RVuYDhOikwqzgP63wAX2K1Ahgu1j4w-5ok8EMi6AJ7tqAAn-qXM0HabYXyTr97Q3gSz5Q0yrPM9ge3KLtyXK8Px0wuGfJ7qn2bDP1z/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi34kpsEFB-zCaCTZO8uuG-2iPsBLco_bO2VXztT2RVuYDhOikwqzgP63wAX2K1Ahgu1j4w-5ok8EMi6AJ7tqAAn-qXM0HabYXyTr97Q3gSz5Q0yrPM9ge3KLtyXK8Px0wuGfJ7qn2bDP1z/s400/download.jpg" /></a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you could mandate that every student read one book in the field of economics, what would it be?</span></span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I had to think about whether it would be good for everyone to
read one book. On net, I think it is, if it is short and simple enough to
explain some of the most destructive fallacies people hold. </span><span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Henry Hazlitt's </span><i style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Economics
in One Lesson</i><span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> may be the best. Alternatively, and much shorter, James Gwartney's
little book on economic principles, </span><i style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Common Sense Economics</span></i><span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. It is probably the
best. I would make people read it to become less destructive citizens, not to
educate those who already know some economics.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span class="im" style="background-color: #444444;"></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>What is the best (or worst) advice you ever got on becoming an economist?</b></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Probably not the best but memorable: When taking a class, be
selfish. Look for how you can use things from the class for your research and
spend minimal time on the rest.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The worst was probably to stay away from a place
like George Manson University because people will find you weird and so it will be
hard to get a job.</span></span></span>Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-69514158427297626612018-12-05T12:00:00.000-06:002018-12-05T12:00:01.791-06:00Prof. Vincent Geloso<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Vincent Geloso (Ph.D., London School of Economics) is Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics at the Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. His research interests include North American ecnomic history, public economics, and population economics. His most recent book is <i><a href="https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783319499499" target="_blank">Rethinking Canadian Economic Growth and Development since 1900</a></i> (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017). </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfZYrJqDtcILBIx_Cg6BaRIX0ixb0vonXeEHx_3vS4MKgP3HAjC5u2_hgdAlja0l-wl0smkV69i93eqB4PC7UKENF78h36rbJdCNiPYb2beH8cCOyQI0L9WJ4bpEW0HhxnOfHl0RuWYs9X/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfZYrJqDtcILBIx_Cg6BaRIX0ixb0vonXeEHx_3vS4MKgP3HAjC5u2_hgdAlja0l-wl0smkV69i93eqB4PC7UKENF78h36rbJdCNiPYb2beH8cCOyQI0L9WJ4bpEW0HhxnOfHl0RuWYs9X/s400/download.jpg" /></a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Everything involves trade-offs. Economics is much more data-driven than it was a few decades ago. What are the most important or least discussed trade-offs in the increased emphasis on math in the study and teaching of economics?</b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I would state that there are two trade-offs that we need to be aware. First, mathematics allow us to make axiomatic statements. A demand function merely expresses mathematically the axiom that, all else being equal, we demand less of something if the price increases. All axioms are inherently true. The problem is that while true, an axiom can be irrelevant in a particular context or setting. Relevance is asserted only through the use of data and econometrics. A good economist is one who does both as they are complements to the production of valuable research and teaching. It is for this reason that I specialize in economic history as I am forced to dive in theory and use applied methods to assess the relevance of economic theories to explain the past (i.e. our database of observations). Second, economists forget that data matters. I have very often seen economists simply "chuck" the data in Stata and not ask any questions about their construction. Are they suited for the question being asked? How were they built? What is the most modest but valid case I can make with this data? I think that the work of Morten Jerven on African economies is a good example here. He used different databases of GDP <i>per capita </i>for African countries and found that, for the same year, they had dramatic differences in the ranking of these economies. Why such differences? How much does it affect the results just to use another source? These are <i>basic </i>questions which economists tend to ignore. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find an explanation that convinces me as to why economists sometime act in such a careless way with regards to data (especially given the technocratic tendency taken by the profession in the last forty years). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span class="im" style="background-color: #444444;"></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Is being really interested in economics a good enough reason to major in economics?</b></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Hell yes! For the last ten years of my life, I have been going and leaving bed thinking about economics (and social sciences more broadly). During my undergraduate days, I spent all my days reading about economics. When unsatisfied with my learned tools, I would simply go online and seek every resource possible to help me learn more. This was only heightened when I discovered that economic history was a subfield of economics. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> Passion about a field and dedication to its study is necessary and sufficient even if you are not a stellar student. I often point out that I was an ordinary student at the University of Montreal where I did my undergraduate degree. However, when I became a graduate student, the passion allowed me to surge ahead, write and read every day. If you are able to muddle through the classes while being passionate and hard-working, you can be a great economist! Obviously, being smart just makes the whole thing easier (but I will caution against the arrogance that sometimes comes with that). </span>Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-3139466433125041632018-11-28T12:00:00.000-06:002018-11-28T12:00:06.789-06:00Prof. Will Luther<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">William J. Luther (Ph.D., George Mason University) is assistant professor of economics at Florida Atlantic University, and director of the American Institute for Economic Research’s Sound Money Project. He has written extensively on Bitcoin.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img alt="Stacks Image 51118" class="imageStyle" src="http://www.wluther.com/files/stacks-image-60da74c-1200x1200.jpg" height="320" width="320" /><br /><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What single book should every economics major be required to read, and why?</span></span></b><br /><br />I think the history of ideas is important, so I hope that every economics major would read Larry White’s <i>The Clash of Economic Ideas</i> (Cambridge University Press, 2012).<br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In your opinion, who is the most important economist that most people have never heard of?</span></span></b><br /><br />I think more people should be familiar with George Selgin’s work. His monograph, <i>Less than Zero</i> (Institute of Economic Affairs, 1997) was recently republished and contains an excellent defense of nominal income targeting. His newest book, <i>Floored!</i> (Cato, 2018) is the single best book on the Fed’s new operating regime. Highly recommend. </span></span>Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-28680008928902236832018-11-25T12:00:00.000-06:002018-11-25T12:00:13.652-06:00Prof. Marie Mora<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span>Marie T. Mora (Ph.D., Texas <span class="m7361671134773735995spelle">A&M</span>) is Professor of Economics at
the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Her books include<i> Population,
Migration, and Socioeconomic Outcomes of Island and Mainland Puerto Ricans</i>
(Lexington, 2017), co-authored with A. <span class="m7361671134773735995spelle">Dávila</span>
and H. Rodríguez, and the award-winning <i>Hispanic Entrepreneurs in the <span class="m7361671134773735995spelle">2000s</span></i> (Stanford University Press,
2013), co-authored with A. <span class="m7361671134773735995spelle">Dávila</span>.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span><img alt="Marie T. Mora" height="225" src="https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=415" style="float: left;" width="172" /></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span>What’s
the best (or worst) advice you ever received when it comes to being an
economist?</span></b></span></span><span> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span>
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Some of the best advice was given to me when I was in my Ph.D. Program at Texas
A&M University. My major professor, Dr. Finis Welch, encouraged me to take
more graduate-level statistics courses, not only more econometrics but also
statistics courses taught by faculty in the Department of Statistics. (Note
that Professor Welch, one of the founders of Stata, is known for saying he has
probably run more regressions than anyone else who’s ever lived.) He also
encouraged me to take other classes and read studies that were technically in
fields outside of economics if I thought they would be interesting and helpful
for my own research. In fact, I took some Ph.D. courses in Sociology, including
an excellent Sociology of Education class that resulted in my first scholarly
publication—a book chapter in an edited volume by Gail Thomas (the professor
who taught the class). <br />
<br />
Another piece of excellent advice was also given to me when I was in my Ph.D.
Program by Dr. Alberto Dávila. While some of the classes were technical and
uninspiring, I was reminded that once I finished my coursework and passed all
the prelims (comprehensive exams), I would be able to delve into the most
interesting part of the Program – doing research on topics of my own choice.
That was an incentive that helped me get through that part of my program. I
think almost everyone goes through a period of doubt in a Ph.D. Program; it was
very much worthwhile for me to hang in there. <br />
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</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span>What’s
the biggest misconception your students have about economics and economists?</span></b></span></span></span></span><br />
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</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span><br />
I would say it has to do with not having a basic understanding of what
economics is before they take college-level Econ classes. (I certainly didn’t
when I started as an undergraduate.) Some think it is only about business, and
others think it is only about math…but it is so much broader. I tell my
students that economics is a very broad umbrella, and there is something in it
for everyone. <br />
<br />
On a related point, many people (not just students) are unaware that economics
is considered to be part of STEM. It is a social science (which the “S”
includes). In fact, the National Science Foundation has an Econ Directorate and
funds research in economics. </span></span></span><br />
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-75953737243199618552018-11-22T12:00:00.000-06:002018-11-22T12:00:03.572-06:00Prof. Stephen Wright<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Stephen H. Wright teaches in the Department of Economics at Birkbeck College, University of London. Previously he has taught at Cambridge and has served as staff economist for the Bank of England. He is the author, with Andrew Smithers, of <i>Valuing Wall Street</i> (McGraw-Hill, 2000).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<img class="image-inline" src="http://www.bbk.ac.uk/ems/faculty/wright/resolveuid/3b9df8fa1d2f38faa73288b2a8de5b9f" /><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you were king for a day and could require all students to read one book in the field of economics, what would it be and why?</span></span></b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">If
I were King? What a strange hypothetical, especially for a US citizen!
I’ll interpret your question as being “If I were a benign dictator”
(the
correlation between Kingship and Benign Dictatorship is I think pretty
close to zero empirically). </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">But my answer is straightforward, if highly biased: obviously students should read </span><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">T</span>he Economy</i>, the e-book produced by, and available from, <a href="http://www.core-econ.org/">www.core-econ.org</a>. It is brand new and takes a very different approach to introducing economics. This recommendation is highly biased because I was involved in producing it; but I still think it is about the best thing you can read these days to get you started in economics.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What textbook did you use when you first studied economics, and would you still use it today as a professor?</span></span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I think I started with Samuelson, supplemented by Lipsey. I’ve never looked at Samuelson since but I suspect it is still pretty good – he was one of the greatest minds ever in economics.</span></span>Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-20673524871768041112018-11-20T20:37:00.001-06:002018-11-20T20:43:17.267-06:00Arnold Kling<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Arnold Kling (Ph.D., M.I.T.) blogs at </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://arnoldkling.com/blog" target="_blank">askblog</a>. He previously blogged at EconLog, worked as an economist for the Federal Reserve System, and was a senior economist for Freddie Mac. He is the author of many books, including <i>Crisis of Abundance: Rethinking How We Pay for Health Care</i> (Cato Institute, 2006)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img alt="" src="https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/styles/resp__img__bio__default-2x/s3/authors/akling.jpg?itok=QMcvxeLa&timestamp=1354971079" title="" /><br /> <b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">What's the biggest or most interesting mistake you have ever made as an economist (that you'd care to share), and was there a way to fix it?</span></span></b><br /><br /> I have changed my mind on some important issues. Whether I was mistaken before or now, or both, is to be determined. In graduate school, I believed sticky-price Keynesian economics. Now, I do not believe that any aggregate view of the economy is right. Industries expand and contract all the time, and every once in a while not enough industries are expanding to make up for the contracting ones. The probability that instead I was right before to be a Keynesian is certainly greater than zero. <br /> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I also once doubted that real trade took place among ancient people. I speculated instead that goods changed location because of marauding. But most archaeologists believe that there really was trade, so I was probably wrong on that.<br /> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In your opinion, who is the most important economist that most people have never heard of?</span></span></b> <br /><br /> My first thought is Fischer Black. You absolutely must read Perry Mehrling's biography of him. If nothing else, you get a sense of what the 1970s felt like, both in the culture at large and in the economics profession. I have learned a surprising amount from biographies of economists. Skidelsky's three-volume biography of Keynes (not the abridged version) helped me to see Keynes as rebelling against Victorianism. That explains why Keynes came to see saving as pathological. David Warsh's <i>Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations</i> (Norton, 2006) is insightful on Romer and Krugman. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Most people have not heard of James Buchanan, even though he won a Nobel. And even most economists think of him as a one-trick pony, namely Public Choice theory. But his book <i>Cost and Choice</i> (University of Chicago Press, 1969) demonstrates that he thought very deeply about economics. That is a tough book, to put on your list to read someday, but probably not soon.<br /><br />Charles Kindleberger is important, in my opinion. In <i>Manias, Panics, and Crashes</i> (Basic Books, 1978) he does two important things. One is he explains Minsky, who was too confused to explain himself. Second, he extends Minsky in an important way, by emphasizing "displacement" as a trigger for movements in the Minsky cycle.<br /><br />Have enough people heard of Hal Varian? He explained more about the economics of the Internet, from its communications architecture (lots of switches, economizing on lines) to the nature of information goods, than anyone else.<br /><br /> </span></span>Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889957064647232139.post-49556423170509232162018-08-19T21:24:00.000-05:002018-11-22T12:13:28.000-06:00Prof. Josh Angrist<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Prof. Joshua Angrist (Ph.D., Princeton University) is the Ford Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a director of MIT's <a href="http://seii.mit.edu/">School Effectiveness and Inequality Initiative</a>, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He taught at Harvard and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem before coming to MIT in 1996. He is the author (with Steve Pischke) of <i>Mostly Harmless Economics: An Empiricist's Companion</i> (Princeton University Press, 2009) and <i>Mastering 'Metrics: The Path from Cause to Effect</i> (Princeton University Press, 2015).</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><img height="240" src="https://economics.mit.edu/timages/2" width="240" /><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Your CV contains a number of publications on the role of data in policy debates. Do you tend to be hopeful or despairing when it comes to policy makers paying attention to empirical/statistical studies produced by economists?</b></span></span></span></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Hope springs eternal in my empirical breast.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Do your students have more trouble with the mathematical side of generating data or with the process of writing up their results and communicating them clearly and effectively?</span></span></b></span></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">My graduate students know a lot of math, probably so much that it inhibits thought. But yes indeed they struggle to write a coherent paragraph. Too bad, since scholars like those they aspire to be write for a living. </span></span>Joseph Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03242250239939684933noreply@blogger.com0