Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Unemployment Rate Calculations

Unemployment Rate and Labor Force Calculations on Prezi

Monday, September 27, 2010

Seminar: Alan Seals

Richard Alan Seals, Auburn University, will be our next speaker in the department seminar series. He will present "The Effect of Cognitive Ability on Street Gang Participation: Evidence from the NLSY and Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods," at 4:00 Friday, October 1st in room 230 Wimberly Hall. A copy of his paper is available from the above link.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Recession and the Housing Drag

An interesting op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal by the editor of U.S. News & World Report. An economy is more efficient and grows faster when workers can migrate easily to better jobs. But until housing prices hit a trough migration will not be easy.

The more the government tries to prevent prices from finding an equilibrium, the longer it will take for the economy to begin growing again.

By MORTIMER ZUCKERMAN Opinion Wall Street Journal SEPTEMBER 21, 2010

A decent house has long been a symbol of middle-class American family life. Practically, it has been a secure shelter for the children and provided access to a good public education. And financially, it has been regarded as a safe store of value, a shield against the vagaries of the economy and a long-term retirement asset.

All that seems a distant memory for the millions of American families who must confront the decline in the value of their homes. The pressure to meet mortgage payments on properties that have lost value has been especially shocking for those who have lost their jobs in the Great Recession. Their houses have become a ball and chain, restricting their ability to seek employment elsewhere. They cannot afford to abandon the remaining equity they have in their houses—and they can't sell in this miserable market.

See the rest at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703989304575503752698078816.html?mod=ITP_opinion_0

Monday, September 20, 2010

Debt

Here is a good opportunity to learn a little about the debt.

Series of forums on national debt begin Sept. 28

Find out about national debt at a series of three forums beginning Tuesday, Sept. 28.

Forum I will be held from 6-9 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 28, in 102 Wing Technology Center.

Recession Ended?

Recession Ended in June 2009

The U.S. recession that began in December 2007 ended in June 2009, according to NBER, the unofficial arbiter of the start and end dates of a recession.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Tutor Schedule

The tutor schedule has been posted here.

Why We're in for a Long, Hard Economic Slog

From the Wall Street Journal Opinion page,

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

Evidence from 14 U.S. recessions shows that the economy doesn't recover until housing recovers.

By STEVEN GJERSTAD AND VERNON L. SMITH

Our study of all the postwar recessions and the Great Depression leads to the following empirical proposition: If there is no recovery in housing expenditures, confirmed by a recovery in consumer durable goods expenditures, then there is no economic recovery.

See their paper at www.chapman.edu/ESI/wp/Recessions_1929_2007.pdf

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Seminar: David Surdam

Our first seminar presentation of the semester will be Friday, Sept 17th at 3:30 in room 230. David Surdam, University of Northern Iowa, will present "Gate Sharing in the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League: the Rules that Never Were." A copy of the paper is here. Students in upper division classes are encouraged to attend.

How often should you study?

How frequently should you study? Study after study in the educational and congitive psychologists find that spacing out your studying much more effectively leads to long term memory. That is, instead of cramming for say 8 hours before an exam, spread that 8 hours evenly over the period before the exam.

But how much should you space out your studying? Economics is all making optimal decisions. Just like you want to get the most bang for your buck, as college students you don't want to waste time studying, you want to get the best grades for each hour of effort spent studying. So.. should you be studying every one of your classes every day? Once per week? Once every other week? What's optimal?!

A new study answers this question with a nice formula: the magic answer is 5% - 10% (this is an estimate of course) of the amount of time between the second class (for my ECO 120 class this is Fri, Sept 10 for us) and the final exam (for me, this is Sat, Dec 18 for us). This comes to 99 days. What this means for my ECO 120 students is, if they want their studying to count the most, instead of cramming at the last minute, spread that studying out to every 5 to 10 days throughout the semester.

I hope that means I'll be seeing students fairly regularly in office hours. :)

The source is a somewhat technical paper I wouldn't recommend the casual reader to dig into, but I can provide it upon request.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Losses Loom Larger. Even For Monkeys.