The Economic Way of Thinking

Does Detroit Have The Potential To Be A Great American City?

According to this piece, yes.

HT:  Tyler Cowen

The Economic Way of Thinking Blog Is One Year Old: Thanks For Your Support

Rounded statistics:

* 51,000 visits

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* 230 average visits per day

* 390 average page views per day

* 690 posts

* 1,000 comments

Who Is John Galt?

One of my former advisees, Ashleigh, brought to my attention the above billboard.  The billboard can be found along I-95 near the Georgia-Florida border.  Here's a story about the person behind the Galt sign.  

I have seen a Mercer student driving around in a car with a "Who is John Galt?" bumper sticker.  After learning that I was teaching Atlas Shrugged last spring, the student e-mailed me and told me he was "the John Galt guy."

Do you, our readers, have any good John Galt sightings or stories to report?  

Miscellany

* NMU Economic Student Assn. blog.

* Politics as exchange, Chicago style.

* I didn't know prostitution was legal in Rhode Island.

* Success breeds success, thanks to dopamine.

Miscellaneous Replies To E-mail

One byproduct of blogging that I generally enjoy is the occasional personal e-mail in response to a post.  People have sent notes to me about posts that stink, posts they enjoyed, posts where mistakes were made, and news stories that I should think about blogging about in the future.  For example, here are some of the things I've received e-mails about lately:

(1) My post about the NABE from a couple weeks ago led a reader to ask me about "Dr. Doom" (a.k.a., Noriel Roubini) and Mark Zandi.  He asked whether or not I thought these guys are better forecasters than the rest.

I don't know.  From what I've seen of him, Zandi is all over the place.  I saw him on ABC News a couple of nights ago saying stimulus "saved" us from a prolonged recession.  Of course, he failed to mention that, to date, just 15-20% of stimulus money has been spent.  CNBC's great bulldog, Rick Santelli, has called Zandi out a number of times. 

Dr. Doom strikes me more as a case of a broken clock getting the time right twice per day. 

(2) Have I seen the story about three people dying in the Detroit Marathon? 

Of course.  It's sad and tragic.  But, it's worth noting that these were the first deaths in the Detroit half/full marathon in 15 years.  That's a lot of runners crossing the finish line in between deaths.

The odds of dying in a marathon remain somewhere between 1 in 60,000 and 1 in 125,000.  The far greater risk to runners is not race day, but, rather training days.  Sad exhibits here and here. 

(3) Human-created "financial terrorism" is supposed to hit markets on Wednesday, November 4th.  Of course, the whack job who sent me that e-mail recommended I call him before taking any action with my portfolio!

Miscellany

* Russ Roberts' congressional testimony on executive compensation limits.

* Don Boudreaux defends insider trading.

* The eyes have it.

* How to handle a drama queen (I've used some of these methods myself, with some success).

Pardon The Interruption

Tomorrow will mark the 80th anniversary of Black Tuesday.  

On this date back in 1919 the Volstead Act (i.e., National Prohibition) was passed by Congress over the veto of Woodrow Wilson.  The Statue of Liberty was also dedicated on this date in 1886.  Julia Roberts (1967) and Bill Gates (1955) were born on this date.  Today is also a big birthday for my wife, Anemone. Happy Birthday, Gorgeous! 

I'm sure we'll raise our glass several times this evening to her being born on this day, and we'll no doubt work in a toast to Gates's wealth creation and the Volstead Act being dead. 

The Single Most Important Class

Most of our EWOT readers probably think a semester of Econ would be the single most important class a student should take in college.  Assuming away Econ classes, what would be the next most important class you'd say a student should have if they could only take one college course?

A colleague of mine made a strong case for Intro to Logic the other day.  Calculus would be up near the top of any list for me.  So, too, would the History of Western Civ--it would have to be a complete history and not just the before/after 1600 stuff most courses are chopped into today.

ADDENDUM: I polled my Intermediate Macro students today, and their answers are below the fold:

Miscellany

* My two favorite podcasts:  Colin Marshall's Marketplace of Ideas and Russ Roberts' EconTalk.

* Grandpa's stimulant.

* I still insist I'm a true "patriot":  The corruption of language has real consequences.

* Yet another reason why the '70s sucked.

Hey! Teachers! Leave Them Kids Alone!

Months ago Dave introduced the uninformed to "Rate My Professors" in this post. 

While looking up some information about my high school the other night, I stumbled upon a comparable site to "Rate My Professors" for teachers called "Rate My Teachers."  Most schools have entries, but volume for the K-12 schools is currently low.

Even though the "Rate My..." sites are probably overloaded with extreme values (i.e., those who love/hate professors and teachers provide a lot of the rating), it's great to see more information about the really bad teachers getting out there and into the hands of parents, students, and (hopefully) Web-savvy administrators. 

Have I Become A Twit?

Anybody interested in following me on Twitter?

Can U Help Me?

Actually, can u help my wife, Anemone? 

In her "First Year Seminar" class this week she's aiming to justify writing by addressing two of the age-old questions in the heads of many college freshmen (expressed in text message form, which is becoming an all too common form of technical writing): (1) Y r we doing this?  (2) When m i ever going 2 use this?

Or, to put the above in the sometimes straightforward language of Economese, she's trying to explain the benefits and costs of writing well.  So, readers, what are the benefits and costs--both monetary and otherwise--of being a better writer?

Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Here.  Your thoughts?

Miscellany

* The climate change controversy:  Ian Plimer looks quite foolish in this review.

* Signaling problems:  Will Wilkinson on cap-and-trade.

* Bills and coins.

The Illusion Of Mutually Beneficial Exchange

Take a look at Michael Shermer's con game.