Seminar: Craig Depken

Our first seminar of the semester will be next week on Friday, March 9th at 3:30 pm in room 122 Wimberly. Professor Craig Depken (UNC Charlotte) will present "The introduction of the reserve clause in Major League Baseball: evidence of its impact on select player salaries during the 1880s." A copy of the paper is here. Majors are encouraged to attend.

Pro-Social and Fair Monkeys

Below is an excellent video on pro-social behavior and fairness among monkeys. The good stuff is at 12:00min and 14:40. Monkeys demonstrate interdependent utility functions.

Prabhat Patnaik

Prabhat Patnaik speaks on “Alternative Perspectives on the Global Economic Crisis” at The University of Wisconsin - La Crosse.

[Video Link] 

Description: Patnaik, born in Jatni, Orissa, India, in 1945, is an Indian Marxist economist and political commentator who has achieved international acclaim for his analysis of economics and politics. He is in the Biographical Dictionary of 100 Dissenting Economists Past and Present.

For a less rosy perspective you might read this report from the Hindu Business Line

Supply, Demand and Valentine's Day

Check out this study out of the University of Minnesota: "The perception that women are scarce leads men to become impulsive, save less, and increase borrowing."

"To test their theory that the sex ratio affects economic decisions, the researchers had participants read news articles that described their local population as having more men or more women. They were then asked to indicate how much money they would save each month from a paycheck, as well as how much they would borrow with credit cards for immediate expenditures. When led to believe women were scarce, the savings rates for men decreased by 42 percent. Men were also willing to borrow 84 percent more money each month."

Sex ratios also affect women's expectations, according to the study. When there's a scarcity of women, they expect men to spend more on dates, valentine's gifts and engagement rings. Apparently, the two-months-of-your-salary rule no longer applies when the sex ratio goes your way!

Spring 2012 Seminars

The Department seminar series is beginning to take shape. We have the following confirmed speakers:

March 9 Craig Depken (UNC Charlotte) sports economics
March 23 Dan Giedeman (Grand Valley State) Steam Engines of Credit: The Role of Banks in Switzerland's Economic Development, 1850-1913
April 13 Mary Hamman (UW-La Crosse/Michigan State) Worker Responses to Monetary Incentives for Partial Retirement: Evidence from a German Policy Experiment

Presentations will be in room 122 at 3:30pm. Papers and further updates to follow.

Example of Needed Cost/Benefit Analysis.

Here is a nice NPR article about the need for a long-run cost-benefit analysis for putting powerlines underground versus above ground:

http://www.npr.org/2012/02/01/146158822/if-power-lines-fall-why-dont-they-go-underground