Seminar: Matt Holt

Matt Holt (Univ Alabama) will present "The Role of Mechanical Refrigeration in Spatial and Temporal Price Dynamics for Regional U.S. Egg Markets," on Friday, April 5 at 3:30 in room 141 Wimberly.

Seminar: Dave Surdam

The Department of Economics seminar series kicks off the spring semester on Monday, February 25th. Professor Dave Surdam (Univ of Northern Iowa), will present "Antitrust Issues in the 20th Century Leisure Industry." The seminar will be held at 4:00 in room 141 Wimberly. We cordially invite you and your students to all of our seminars.

Seminar: Mark Owens

Mark Owens, will be here on Nov. 2nd to present his most recent paper: "Provision and Price of Child Care Services: For-Profits and Nonprofits." The seminar will be held in Wimberly 230 from 3:30 until 4:30 pm.

Should We Encourage Competition (in kids)?

I know that not all readers on this blog are parents, but anyone interested in economics is, by definition, interested in competition. I don't know how many times I've let my son beat me in some game or another. He's getting better at hockey, so the games we play in our shoes in the garage are getting more competitive (I just hope that he'll remember all of these times when he's a squirt and skating circles around me). Check out this article about the role of competition in raising kids in the New York Times this weekend. Aside from the fact that I know the dude in the picture, it is a great article about teaching competition, cooperation and a mix of both. So, he still didn't answer my question -- is it okay to be like Phil Dunphy in Modern Family when he slammed Luke in trampoline basketball?

What message do you get from the below graphic published in today's New York Times?

Of course, a graph isn't a definitive study establishing cause and effect (or lack there of) but its interesting, isn't it? Check out the column by David Leonhardt that went with it. Thoughts from the macroeconomists out there?

Podcasts for Econ

You can find podcasts for econ here: http://audioecon.com/. I found this NPR episode on welfare for millionaire farmers interesting.

Simple Rules

Some simple rules to follow for data visualizations.