Paul Milgrom (one of the authors of our textbook) shared the prized with Robert Wilson. You can read the announcement here.
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Interesting Piece About High School Education in The Week In Review.
The piece is here and if you read it I wonder how many of you found college to be similar to how they described high school.
I've had a rugged year health-wise. If for no other reason than to send some good cheer, drop me a note and let me know what you're up to now.
I've had a rugged year health-wise. If for no other reason than to send some good cheer, drop me a note and let me know what you're up to now.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
My Econ 490 WILL NOT be offered next fall.
I learned from the Econ department today that they couldn't get approval for the course from LAS (meaning LAS wouldn't pay for it) so the course was cancelled as an offering. Going through the ICES for our class last fall, while most students had no prior opinion, a handful of students had a prior positive opinion of the course and/or of me. I'm guessing the same thing might be true for next fall. So...
If there are some students who would want to take it as an independent study, that might be possible. If you know somebody like that you should have that person contact me to explore further. Note that independent studies are 199, 299, or 399, but not 499. So it won't fill the upper level course in the major requirement. It would just be an independent study.
If there are some students who would want to take it as an independent study, that might be possible. If you know somebody like that you should have that person contact me to explore further. Note that independent studies are 199, 299, or 399, but not 499. So it won't fill the upper level course in the major requirement. It would just be an independent study.
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Cows in Greece/ICES Reviewed/An Interesting Piece from HBR
Q: What do cows in Greece say?
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Because of the stress fracture in my foot (which has healed pretty much now) I didn't go to the Econ Department this semester till today. So I finally had a chance to look at what you wrote on your ICES forms. Here are a few reactions to that.
Nobody wrote explicitly about Akerlof's Gift Exchange Model, which is one of my favorite parts of the course, but one student put it into practice by using the comments section to tell a joke. This was reciprocation for the "Quizzes" we did to start class sessions near the end of the semester. Reciprocation is part and parcel of gift exchange, so I liked that very much, even if the joke otherwise didn't speak to the subject matter of the course.
Among others who commented, some had positive things to say but even for them the course was not a "home run." One might ask why (I will speculate on that below). Others were more critical.
I think there is a fundamental disagreement between many of the students and me about what a good course should be like, whether it is my course or some other. I am much more interested in developing general thinking and life skills than I am in communicating specific content that you need to master. On the other hand, I believe that most of you need to engage far more with the subject matter than you did to use the course as a way to practice developing those thinking and life skills. I encourage you to look at the next section and ask yourself whether your courses are preparing you to be effective in a problem solving team, which might be one way to reflect on the education you have been getting.
I know that not everyone was there the first day of the semester, but for those of you who were there, you may recall we asked about the purpose of our class, which was to produce human capital. We then asked who owns the human capital. Each student owns their own human capital. The question then, is whether you were showing good ownership skills in the way you went about the course or if there is a fundamental moral hazard, students focus on grades to the detriment of better developing their own human capital. It's a question that each student should try to answer.
One student made, I thought, an interesting observation about liking the discussion based approach, but that my leading questions often didn't get answered well. I would agree with that observation, but I'm not sure why. The article I will mention in the next section says that effective groups have members who feel safe in that environment, so are willing to participate vigorously. I wonder if many of you didn't feel safe in Econ 490, as far as responding to those leading questions, so opted out instead. If so and if you have some further thoughts on what might be done to make the class feel safer, I'd appreciate getting those ideas. I have been thinking about starting the semester with those joke quizzes and not saving them for near the end, but I wonder if students would just think of them as daffy rather than as ice breakers.
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This is the piece from HBR on good problem solving teams. It's a pretty quick read but you might get the bulk of the message in the piece just from the bi-matrix in different shades of blue, found around the middle of the article, and then focus on the upper right cell, Generative Teams.
I thought this piece a good complement to Bolman and Deal Chapter 8, particularly the part about Argyris and Schon Models 1 and 2. That chapter focuses on the style of the leader. The HBR piece focuses on the culture of the group. But they seem to me to be mirror images of one another. A generative team needs a model 2 leader.
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The bulk of the respondents to the ICES were seniors. I know some of you have graduated already. Many others will be graduating soon. This is probably my last post on the site (unless something dramatic happens to Yankees between now and the end of the semester). So let me close by wishing you good luck in your future endeavors.
-------
Because of the stress fracture in my foot (which has healed pretty much now) I didn't go to the Econ Department this semester till today. So I finally had a chance to look at what you wrote on your ICES forms. Here are a few reactions to that.
Nobody wrote explicitly about Akerlof's Gift Exchange Model, which is one of my favorite parts of the course, but one student put it into practice by using the comments section to tell a joke. This was reciprocation for the "Quizzes" we did to start class sessions near the end of the semester. Reciprocation is part and parcel of gift exchange, so I liked that very much, even if the joke otherwise didn't speak to the subject matter of the course.
Among others who commented, some had positive things to say but even for them the course was not a "home run." One might ask why (I will speculate on that below). Others were more critical.
I think there is a fundamental disagreement between many of the students and me about what a good course should be like, whether it is my course or some other. I am much more interested in developing general thinking and life skills than I am in communicating specific content that you need to master. On the other hand, I believe that most of you need to engage far more with the subject matter than you did to use the course as a way to practice developing those thinking and life skills. I encourage you to look at the next section and ask yourself whether your courses are preparing you to be effective in a problem solving team, which might be one way to reflect on the education you have been getting.
I know that not everyone was there the first day of the semester, but for those of you who were there, you may recall we asked about the purpose of our class, which was to produce human capital. We then asked who owns the human capital. Each student owns their own human capital. The question then, is whether you were showing good ownership skills in the way you went about the course or if there is a fundamental moral hazard, students focus on grades to the detriment of better developing their own human capital. It's a question that each student should try to answer.
One student made, I thought, an interesting observation about liking the discussion based approach, but that my leading questions often didn't get answered well. I would agree with that observation, but I'm not sure why. The article I will mention in the next section says that effective groups have members who feel safe in that environment, so are willing to participate vigorously. I wonder if many of you didn't feel safe in Econ 490, as far as responding to those leading questions, so opted out instead. If so and if you have some further thoughts on what might be done to make the class feel safer, I'd appreciate getting those ideas. I have been thinking about starting the semester with those joke quizzes and not saving them for near the end, but I wonder if students would just think of them as daffy rather than as ice breakers.
--------
This is the piece from HBR on good problem solving teams. It's a pretty quick read but you might get the bulk of the message in the piece just from the bi-matrix in different shades of blue, found around the middle of the article, and then focus on the upper right cell, Generative Teams.
I thought this piece a good complement to Bolman and Deal Chapter 8, particularly the part about Argyris and Schon Models 1 and 2. That chapter focuses on the style of the leader. The HBR piece focuses on the culture of the group. But they seem to me to be mirror images of one another. A generative team needs a model 2 leader.
---------
The bulk of the respondents to the ICES were seniors. I know some of you have graduated already. Many others will be graduating soon. This is probably my last post on the site (unless something dramatic happens to Yankees between now and the end of the semester). So let me close by wishing you good luck in your future endeavors.
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Some Interesting Reading For Over Your Holiday
With spring break coming up, I thought you might find the message below interesting. It was sent to a student who took Econ of Organizations in 2016 and is having me mentor him now. We met yesterday and discussed a short story, Flowers for Algernon, that makes for an interesting read. It subsequently was made into a movie, Charly, and a book length version of the story was also produced.
* * * * *
Here are a few pieces to look at that come out of our discussion today. BTW, Flowers for Algernon came out in 1959, according to the ever reliable Wikipedia.
This one is from 2005. It is about child precocity and whether that predicts adult genius. It includes the work of Terman, whom I mentioned in our discussion. The Prodigy Puzzle
This one is from a few years ago, and is about ordinary people and their attitudes toward creativity. It argues that everyone likes creativity in retrospect, but most people don't like it in prospect, because it is incurring risk. Most people want to reduce risk and therefore block creative efforts. Inside the Box
And this last one is the blog post I wrote, which gets at the emotional side of worrying about our impact on others and how it should guide our behavior. Retards
Professor Arvan
* * * * *
On a different but related note, as part of my volunteer work, I recently purchased a pro account for Zoom, an online video conferencing product. It seems to work better than the video conferencing in Skype or Facebook, and the paid account has some features about recording a meeting that the free account doesn't have.
I mention this because I will be a bachelor during much of spring break, just Ginger (our dog) and me. The rest of the family is visiting my younger son out west. So I would be up for trying a call with some students then, or even just one on one, if that possibly sounds like fun for you rather than drudgery. If this interests you, send me an email and we'll try to set something up.
Finally, I was totally flummoxed that the Big Ten Men's basketball tournament ended on Sunday, but the rest of college basketball is finishing up this week. Eve if the Illini won't make the NCAA tournament, I do root for the Big Ten. Thais has got to hurt their chances.
* * * * *
Here are a few pieces to look at that come out of our discussion today. BTW, Flowers for Algernon came out in 1959, according to the ever reliable Wikipedia.
This one is from 2005. It is about child precocity and whether that predicts adult genius. It includes the work of Terman, whom I mentioned in our discussion. The Prodigy Puzzle
This one is from a few years ago, and is about ordinary people and their attitudes toward creativity. It argues that everyone likes creativity in retrospect, but most people don't like it in prospect, because it is incurring risk. Most people want to reduce risk and therefore block creative efforts. Inside the Box
And this last one is the blog post I wrote, which gets at the emotional side of worrying about our impact on others and how it should guide our behavior. Retards
Professor Arvan
* * * * *
On a different but related note, as part of my volunteer work, I recently purchased a pro account for Zoom, an online video conferencing product. It seems to work better than the video conferencing in Skype or Facebook, and the paid account has some features about recording a meeting that the free account doesn't have.
I mention this because I will be a bachelor during much of spring break, just Ginger (our dog) and me. The rest of the family is visiting my younger son out west. So I would be up for trying a call with some students then, or even just one on one, if that possibly sounds like fun for you rather than drudgery. If this interests you, send me an email and we'll try to set something up.
Finally, I was totally flummoxed that the Big Ten Men's basketball tournament ended on Sunday, but the rest of college basketball is finishing up this week. Eve if the Illini won't make the NCAA tournament, I do root for the Big Ten. Thais has got to hurt their chances.
Monday, February 26, 2018
Relativity - In Pricing
You may have learned this line somewhere along the way in English class.
It turns out, it doesn't hold in retail sales. Shoppers seem to prefer dishonesty in the pricing approach! They want to get good deals, even when it really is no deal at all. The linked piece explains this and makes for a good read.
O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!
Sir Walter Scott
It turns out, it doesn't hold in retail sales. Shoppers seem to prefer dishonesty in the pricing approach! They want to get good deals, even when it really is no deal at all. The linked piece explains this and makes for a good read.
Thursday, February 22, 2018
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