I thought this piece was interesting in light of our discussion on cashing in on a reputation.

In class yesterday I said that cashing in on a reputation was more likely to happen either if the person or organization is "end-gamed," in which case rather than go down with the ship people start to behave opportunistically to salvage what they can, quite possibly at the expense of others who get hurt by this behavior, or even if the end is not in sight then in an industry that is declining, which cuts into the rents that address the moral hazard problems.  When the rents start to shrink cashing in becomes more likely.

Newspapers are one such industry in decline.  (And if you've never read this essay by Clay Shirky called Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable, I encourage you to do so when you have some free time.)  The piece below I read after class yesterday.  The first paragraph in the snippet seemed to tie into our discussion quite nicely.  I thought you'd be interested in that connection, as well as what the author argues in the next paragraph.  

At present, I am not sure that profit maximzing news organizations are compatible with journalism that is arms length, avoids senationalism, and acts as a check on power.   When I was college (think Watergate) that compatibility existed.  But things have change, rather dramatically.  So I, for one, am quite uncertain as to how this will play out.

Facebook Shouldn’t Fact-Check - The New York Times via kwout

What make for successful teams?

I thought this piece was an interesting read for the class on several grounds.  The notion of social capital is quite interesting as is teaching empathy.  And, just to make the world seem quite small, Carol Vallone who ran WebCT is one of my contacts in LinkedIn and our campus was a WebCT client when I had my campus job of Assistant CIO for Educational Technologies.  On campus, that was called Illinois Compass.

The secret ingredient that makes some teams better than others | via kwout

Does the behavior in marriage translate into like behavior at work?

The piece linked below is about how well people do in marriage and the factors that make for success or failure.  So, on the one hand it would seem to be entirely out of scope for our class.  Yet on the other hand, I find the parallels with the gift exchange model we have talked about quite striking.  I wonder if you'd agree.

Masters of Love - The Atlantic via kwout

The Nobel Prize in Economics

This is the announcement of this year's winners, Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom, who have done fundamental work on contractual incompleteness (the inability to specify all contingencies in the contract).

And here is an essay by last year's winner, Angus Deaton, on The Threat of Inequality.  It is an accessible piece meant for a general audience.  (The link should work if you are on the campus network or if you use VPN from off the campus network.)

How Not To Promote Gift Exchange In The Classroom

Adam Grant is a psychologist and a professor at Wharton, the famous business school at the University of Pennsylvania.  He occasionally writes pieces for the NY Times that are about acts of kindness which promote productivity.  You will like find this one quite interesting and relevant to our class.

Why We Should Stop Grading Students on a Curve - The New York Times via kwout

The Economics of the EpiPen

Since we talked about this in class a bit on Thursday, I thought students would find this post interesting.  The article argues there are possible solutions, but nothing really attractive.

My own view on this is that our intellectual property laws are now too skewed in favor of the patent (or copyright) holder.  One way to change things would be to shorten the term for which the intellectual property protection applies.  That solution is not suggested in the piece, but it is something to consider.  Presumably after the device is out of patent, there can be effective competition from generic alternatives.  At that point, it is the responsibility of the generic manufacturers to convince doctors that their product is as good as the original.  Maybe that's a tough sell, but that's what needs to happen.

The Lesson of EpiPens: Why Drug Prices Spike, Again and Again - The New York Times via kwout

Privatizing Public Education By the In-State versus Out-Of-State Tuition

I will be discussing some of these issues on Tuesday, as we continue considering the University as an organization.  What this piece shows is that the issues are being confronted by all of public higher education.

How Cuts to Public Universities Have Driven Students Out of State - The New York Times via kwout

Exchange with Bob Gordon

While you are settling into the semester, I thought you might find the exchange linked below interesting, though truthfully it is unrelated to our class content.  It is more on macroeconomics, productivity and growth.  I'm more like a diehard fan on these matters and read about them in a variety of periodicals than I am a scholar with professional expertise on these matters.  I do not claim such expertise.

Robert J. Gordon is a true expert in this area.  He has a recent book out called The Rise and Fall of American Growth, which has gotten quite a bit of attention.  I had Gordon for the second quarter of macro during my first year in graduate school, 1976-77.  I've seen him a couple of times since I left Northwestern, but nothing recently.  I had written a blog post based on a piece he wrote in the New York Times.  I sent him a copy and he was gracious enough to reply.

If you do read through this, you will see there are still some puzzles out there that even the foremost expert doesn't yet know the answer to.

Exchange with Bob Gordon.pdf - File Shared from Box via kwout

What sort of Econ in the News pieces?

I wonder if I should post more macroeconomics pieces this fall, even though the course is really about microeconomics.  Given the politics of the Presidential race, macroeconomic policy is apt to be in the news quite a bit.