The Economic Way of Thinking

Lecture Reminder: It's All About Steve Tonight!

Tonight, I'm pleased to host Steve Horwitz, the first in the Boettke-Horwitz-Prychitko troika to visit Mercer this academic year (Pete and Dave will be here in the Spring!) for a talk about Hurricane Katrina, and the difference in private versus governmental responses to the crisis.  The talk begins at 6:45 pm in Stetson 251, and it'll finish up around 8 pm.  Come on out and join us if you're in the 'hood. 

Steve's presentation will be based on a number of outstanding papers he has written for the Mercatus Center on disaster relief post-Katrina.  In prepping for his visit, I thoroughly enjoyed learning from Steve's work that Walmart relies on its own weather forecasting models and Walmart refused to raise prices after Katrina because of the reputational effects it would have on them longer term. 

If folks get to the talk on time, I will share with them a little know fact about my connection with Steve in my introductory remarks.  (Blog readers will have to check back in a day or two!).

2010 Koch Internship Program

Deadlines are approaching.  Take a look at their flyer and website.

Brace For A Wealth Of Smith Stories

Mercer's new Center for Undergraduate Research in Public Policy & Capitalism (the site is still a work in progress!) and Center for the Teaching of America's Western Foundations are pleased to host Jim Otteson tonight for a talk titled "The Promise and Perils of Commercial Society."  The talk begins at 6:30 pm in the Fickling Recital Hall. 

Jim's  books and scholarship have helped him win a number of major awards, including the Atlas Economic Research Award (2005) and the Templeton Enterprise Award (2007).  His book Adam Smith's Marketplace of Life is one of the finest attempts to address and reconcile the "Das Adam Smith Problem."  He also has a blog that's worth following here.   

Local readers might also want to mark their calendars for upcoming talks by Steve Horwitz (Monday, October 26) and Bruce Benson (Wednesday, November 18).  Details are forthcoming.

Sweet!!!

Steve Sweet from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation will be visiting Mercer all day today (Tuesday) to discuss internship and associate opportunities with the foundation.  He also is a great source of more general advice on graduate programs, law schools, and DC employment in general.  If you're a Mercer student reading this, come on by the SSBE today to talk to Steve and/or consider attending his evening presentation. 

Meet the Free Marketeers!

Tonight a new, Mercer sanctioned student group that I'm very proud of, The Free Marketeers, holds its first formal meeting.  We'll be discussing Frederic Bastiat's "The Seen and Unseen," Michael Tanner's "Obamacare to Come," and Paul Krugman's "Why Markets Can't Cure Healthcare" over pizza and beverages. 

I hope to avoid doing much of the talking, but I'm sure I'll somehow find a way to bring this set of slides into the conversation.  Here's a picture of my favorite one:

 

Become a KAP

The application window for the 2010-2011 year-long Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation's Koch Associate Program (KAP) is now open.  Apply for this if you're interested in a life of promoting liberty and bringing more rational decision-making processes to firms and non-profits.  More information can be found here. 

Why Study Econ?

Yesterday I got the opportunity to explain the discipline of economics to our newly entering freshman class at Mercer University and pitch our small but growing major to them.  Here are some of the things I distributed:

(1) Economics is the "hot" major;

(2) American Economic Association information for undergraduates;

(3) Econ majors do well on the LSAT, and the major is valued by law schools;

(4) Econ majors perform well on graduate test scores in general;

(5) Econ majors make a lot of money;

(6) Most importantly, Mick Jagger was an Econ major!

Need I say more?  If so, what else should I include in my regular marketing efforts?

HT: Sean Mulholland

Easy Money?

ATTENTION STUDENTS, POLICY WRITERS, AND YOUNG FACULTY!!!

The Atlas Economic Research Foundation is sponsoring a "Sound Money Essay Contest" (details here).  They ask writers to explore one of three topics:

(1) Can money exist outside of the state?

(2) The ethical implications of monetary manipulation.

(3) Monetary policy and the rule of law in the United States. 

The deadline is November 24, so right fast!

A Day at IHS

Miscellany from the last day and a half at the "Poverty and Prosperity" conference:

(1) Obama's handshake snub;

(2) We watched June Arunga's journey through "The Devil's Footpath", and I highly recommend the video be purchased.

(3) 86.9% said Palin said she could see Russia from her house;

(4) Was Son in Law filmed in Berkeley?  The answer appears to be no;

(5) Ayn Rand as Public Intellectual.

 

A Night at IHS

I'm on the road for an IHS "Poverty and Prosperity"seminar in Berkeley, CA that includes Fred Sautet, Mario Villarreal-Diaz, and a number of other excellent faculty members, staff, and students.  Here are some of the random things mentioned in the first night:

(1) The Road Not Taken;

(2) Malleas Malificarum;

(3) The survey of economists on opportunity cost;

(4) Driving on a Motorway;

(5) The risk of mountain lions attacking runners near Berkeley.

Extra credit to anyone who can guess the economic connection to a couple of these!  More IHS-related posts coming throughout this week...

Thinking About Grad School?

Here's a ranking of the top graduate programs in economics.

HT to Greg Mankiw.

Students for Liberty

I'm sure most of our readers are familiar with the Sons of Liberty, but are you aware of Students for Liberty?  If not, you should be. 

The organization does great work promoting liberty on college campuses and puts on conferences that help students figure out the best ways to advance liberty on their campus. 

Cato University

This summer's topic:  Economic Crisis, War, and the Rise of the State.

Deadline is June 26th.  Scholarships are available.

IHS Summer Seminars: Act Now

Here's your final chance this year to submit an application for what surely is a fine selection of summer seminars in the classical liberal tradition.  The deadline is March 31st.

State Or Ivy?

I have never second-questioned my decision to attend Northern Michigan University as an undergrad.  Being a small state school without a graduate program (and without unseasoned graduate students teaching the courses) I enjoyed small sized classes, economics faculty who were students of Armen Alchian at UCLA, rigorous instruction.  I was well-prepared (with nearly a double major in math) to attend almost any grad school that I was interested in (including University of Chicago, which I turned down).

All this from an inexpensive state school.  But here n=1.  I.e., that's my own experience, so take it for what it's worth.

Robin Hanson points to several studies which suggest that this may be the way to go, at least in terms of comparative streams of future income.

By the way, I've often told students that the best kept secret is to meet with professors during their office hours.  I learned so much more economics in frequent discussions (often two hours long) with my own professors.  Yet very few take advantage of that opportunity.  No cost to me as a professor today. Hardly anybody shows up.  I don't sit here twiddling my thumbs.  It instead allows me to get a great degree of work done, work that I would otherwise have to do in the evening at home.