Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Is Paying Kids for Good Grades Wrong?
There have been several experiments by school districts at paying students for attendance, good behavior, and good grades. The most recent attempts in Washington, D.C. and New York City have shown some promising results. Money is a powerful incentive. Click on the link below, read the article and leave your thoughts about "money for grades." Posts should be 50-75 words.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Minimum Wage
As this weeks chapter deals with minimum wage the blog will as well. Go to the following website,
Minimum Wage and explore it. Write down at least two interesting pieces of information that you discovered on the website. Don't copy your classmates. Each post must contain two pieces of information that have not been discussed.
Minimum Wage and explore it. Write down at least two interesting pieces of information that you discovered on the website. Don't copy your classmates. Each post must contain two pieces of information that have not been discussed.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Game Theory
We don't spend much time on Game Theory in class, however the definition is:
"Game theory studies interactive decision-making, where the outcome for each participant or "player" depends on the actions of all. If you are a player in such a game, when choosing your course of action or "strategy" you must take into account the choices of others. But in thinking about their choices, you must recognize that they are thinking about yours, and in turn trying to take into account your thinking about their thinking, and so on."
You may have heard of Nash Equilibrium (A Beautiful Mind) where the two players establish the actions that will be in both of their best interests. This is usually explained using the Prisoners Dilemma (see below)
Say Ben and Alice have both been arrested for the same crime and are being held in separate cells. They are questioned by the police and have the following options; confess or stay silent. What should each do?
If both confess they each get 1 year in prison, if both stay silent they get 3 years apiece. If one confesses and the other stays silent, the confessor gets 5 years and the other one goes free. Game theory explains what strategy each player should select to minimize their time in jail.
Click on the link below, watch the video from the British game show "Golden Balls" and answer the 3 questions in your response.
http://welkerswikinomics.com/blog/2012/04/20/golden-balls-game-theory-the-prisoners-dilemma-and-the-cold-rationality-of-human-behavior/
"Game theory studies interactive decision-making, where the outcome for each participant or "player" depends on the actions of all. If you are a player in such a game, when choosing your course of action or "strategy" you must take into account the choices of others. But in thinking about their choices, you must recognize that they are thinking about yours, and in turn trying to take into account your thinking about their thinking, and so on."
You may have heard of Nash Equilibrium (A Beautiful Mind) where the two players establish the actions that will be in both of their best interests. This is usually explained using the Prisoners Dilemma (see below)
Say Ben and Alice have both been arrested for the same crime and are being held in separate cells. They are questioned by the police and have the following options; confess or stay silent. What should each do?
If both confess they each get 1 year in prison, if both stay silent they get 3 years apiece. If one confesses and the other stays silent, the confessor gets 5 years and the other one goes free. Game theory explains what strategy each player should select to minimize their time in jail.
Click on the link below, watch the video from the British game show "Golden Balls" and answer the 3 questions in your response.
http://welkerswikinomics.com/blog/2012/04/20/golden-balls-game-theory-the-prisoners-dilemma-and-the-cold-rationality-of-human-behavior/
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Worldwide News
Go to Welker's Wikinomics Economics Universe feed by following this link.
Browse through the multitude of articles until you find one dealing with market structures (monopolies, oligopolies, monopolistic competition, perfect competition). Go to the article read it, and fill out the following:
Source:
Article Title:
Date:
Market Structure discussed:
2-3 Sentence Synopsis of article:
You may not copy anyone else's article, so get this one done early.
Browse through the multitude of articles until you find one dealing with market structures (monopolies, oligopolies, monopolistic competition, perfect competition). Go to the article read it, and fill out the following:
Source:
Article Title:
Date:
Market Structure discussed:
2-3 Sentence Synopsis of article:
You may not copy anyone else's article, so get this one done early.
Monday, February 16, 2015
Types of Market Structure
There are 4 basic types of Market Structure:
1. Perfect Competition
2. Monopolistic Competition
3. Oligopoly
4. Monopoly
Select one of the above, give me one fact about the market structure and one example of a modern day business that operates as the structure you select. Don't copy your classmate's ideas.
1. Perfect Competition
2. Monopolistic Competition
3. Oligopoly
4. Monopoly
Select one of the above, give me one fact about the market structure and one example of a modern day business that operates as the structure you select. Don't copy your classmate's ideas.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
100 Best Economics Blogs For Students
100 Best Economics Blogs for Students
Click on link above to be taken to list website
Review two blogs from this list of the 100 best blogs for economics students. Make sure they are from different categories, and don't repeat one that someone else has already done. Yes I realize that this means you will have to check the previous posts to see which ones have already been reviewed. The sooner you do this one the easier it will be. Reviews need to include:
1) Content
2) Appearance
3) Ease of Navigation
4) Apparent bias
Once the first 100 are taken click here for secondary list
**Due Sunday before midnight**
Click on link above to be taken to list website
Review two blogs from this list of the 100 best blogs for economics students. Make sure they are from different categories, and don't repeat one that someone else has already done. Yes I realize that this means you will have to check the previous posts to see which ones have already been reviewed. The sooner you do this one the easier it will be. Reviews need to include:
1) Content
2) Appearance
3) Ease of Navigation
4) Apparent bias
Once the first 100 are taken click here for secondary list
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Is the death penalty an efficient crime deterrent?
Death Penalty: Pro or Con
Here is another policy debate and another chance for you to think about where you stand on another major issue.
The economic argument in favor of the death penalty is rather simple. Economists assume that individuals weigh the expected costs and benefits when deciding to undertake any activity. Thus, rational individuals considering criminal activities would weigh the expected benefits against the expected cost of the criminal endeavor. The expected cost of any given crime is affected by the probability of being detected, the probability of being convicted given detection, and the expected penalty that results from a conviction. Since the death penalty provides a higher cost than alternative punishments, it is expected to generate a larger deterrent effect, ceteris paribus.
Go to the website and use two sources to justify whether you are for or against the death penalty.
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