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Jason Welker

Economics of Disasters « Foundation for Teaching Economics - 4 views

www.fte.org/...disasterslessons

economics natural disaster

shared by Jason Welker on 15 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • This set of lessons looks at a variety of natural disasters – from the Black Death of the Middle Ages to Hurricane Katrina in our too-recent memory, to fears of avian flu pandemics that haunt the future – through the lens of economic analysis. The contexts were chosen to facilitate the teaching of economic reasoning principles not only in economics courses, but also in history and the other social studies disciplines. Each lesson addresses a question that reflects people’s compassionate reaction to news of disaster and develops one or two key tools of economic analysis in answering that question. Case studies of past disasters provide real-world illustrations.
  • disasters
  • This set of lessons looks at a variety of natural disasters – from the Black Death of the Middle Ages to Hurricane Katrina in our too-recent memory, to fears of avian flu pandemics that haunt the future – through the lens of economic analysis. The contexts were chosen to facilitate the teaching of economic reasoning principles not only in economics courses, but also in history and the other social studies disciplines. Each lesson addresses a question that reflects people’s compassionate reaction to news of disaster and develops one or two key tools of economic analysis in answering that question. Case studies of past disasters provide real-world illustrations.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • This set of lessons looks at a variety of natural disasters – from the Black Death of the Middle Ages to Hurricane Katrina in our too-recent memory, to fears of avian flu pandemics that haunt the future – through the lens of economic analysis. The contexts were chosen to facilitate the teaching of economic reasoning principles not only in economics courses, but also in history and the other social studies disciplines. Each lesson addresses a question that reflects people’s compassionate reaction to news of disaster and develops one or two key tools of economic analysis in answering that question. Case studies of past disasters provide real-world illustrations. Program Topics Introduction Addendum to Introduction Lesson 1: Are Disasters Good for the Economy? Lesson 2: When Disaster Strikes, What Can Markets Do? Lesson 3: When Disaster Strikes, What Can Government Do? Lesson 4: When Disaster Strikes, What Can We Do? Lesson 5: Are Disasters “A Disaster” for Lesson Planning? Activities
  • This set of lessons looks at a variety of natural disasters – from the Black Death of the Middle Ages to Hurricane Katrina in our too-recent memory, to fears of avian flu pandemics that haunt the future – through the lens of economic analysis. The contexts were chosen to facilitate the teaching of economic reasoning principles not only in economics courses, but also in history and the other social studies disciplines. Each lesson addresses a question that reflects people’s compassionate reaction to news of disaster and develops one or two key tools of economic analysis in answering that question. Case studies of past disasters provide real-world illustrations.
  • Jason Welker on 15 Mar 11
     
    Lesson plans for the Economics classroom for teaching the effects of natural disasters
Jason Welker

LRB · John Gray · We simply do not know! - 0 views

www.lrb.co.uk/...we-simply-do-not-know

Keynes rational behavior free markets markets macroeconomics animal spirits fiscal policy efficiency

shared by Jason Welker on 14 Nov 09 - Cached
  • The last two years, in which capitalism has suffered one of its periodic shocks, have given John Maynard Keynes a new lease of life. Events have demonstrated the limits of the theory that economies can be relied on to be stable if they are lightly regulated and otherwise left to themselves. There is now much talk of the paradox of thrift, whereby the rational choices of individuals can prove collectively ruinous, and of the need for government to counteract the inherently anarchic tendencies of markets. Keynes has been revived because he understood that markets are very often irrational. Unfortunately, few of those who urge that we go back to him seem to have understood why he believed this.
  • Apart from a brief postscript to one of the chapters and a few remarks in the preface, George Akerlof and Robert Shiller’s Animal Spirits was written before the current crisis. Yet, based on research undertaken over many years, it can be read as prefiguring the current disillusionment with economics. The trouble with prevailing theories, in Akerlof and Shiller’s view, is that they assume human beings are more rational than they actually are. ‘This book, which draws on an emerging field called behavioural economics, describes how the economy really works,’ they claim. ‘It accounts for how it works when people really are human, that is, possessed of all-too-human animal spirits.’
    • Jason Welker
      Jason Welker on 14 Nov 09
       
      I took my students to hear George Akerlof speak in Zurich recently. His presentation of "Animal Spirits" was excellent and shed considerable light on the Macroeconomics we teach in AP and IB Economics classes.
  • ‘Just as Adam Smith’s invisible hand is the keynote of classical economics,’ they write, ‘Keynes’s animal spirits are the keynote to a different view of the economy – a view that explains the underlying instabilities of capitalism.’ Here they are endorsing the caricature of Smith propagated by neoliberal ideologues anxious to confer a distinguished patrimony on an illegitimate intellectual offspring.
    • Jason Welker
      Jason Welker on 14 Nov 09
       
      Modern day free market advocates have hijacked Adam Smith's "invisible hand"...
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Shackle took Keynes’s argument a step further, and showed that no economic policy can ensure economic stability indefinitely. ‘Keynesian’ policies are no exception to this rule. Deficit financing and monetary expansion may have worked well in the conditions that existed after the Second World War. It is not clear that they will be so effective today, when globalisation has brought a freedom of capital movements that did not exist then.
    • Jason Welker
      Jason Welker on 14 Nov 09
       
      Is old fashioned Keynesian fiscal stimulus enough to solve today's economic challenges?
  • Economics and politics are not separate branches of human activity, and economic life cannot be studied independently of social divisions and political conflicts among populations, along with their cultures and religions.
  • Jason Welker on 14 Nov 09
     
    AP Macro and IB teachers should read this review of George Akerlof and Robert Schiller's book "Animal Spirits". There are some great points in this piece that can be brought into the AP or IB classroom with regards to the assumption of rational behavior and more importantly the Keynesian/Classical debate on Macroeconomic policy issues.
Walter Antoniotti

Economics Internet Library - 34 views

I have added a two three-parts test reviews for macro and micro. http://www.businessbookmall.com/Economics%20Test%20Review%20Notes.htm Some may also be interested in the Economics section of the ...

economics learning students teachers history current events

started by Walter Antoniotti on 08 Apr 11 1 follow-up, last by Walter Antoniotti on 31 Aug 11
Seth Roberts

Paul Krugman: The Economic Failure Of The Euro : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...e-economic-failure-of-the-euro

krugman Euro Econ Macro Economics international

shared by Seth Roberts on 25 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Krugman explains that having a transnational currency does have obvious benefits — it makes doing business a lot easier in Europe. But, he says, there's also a downside: By giving up its own currency, a country also gives up economic flexibility and the benefit of having its own federal government back it up in times of economic trouble.
  • Krugman points to the economies of Ireland and the state of Nevada as examples. Both depend on exporting as a major source of revenue (Ireland to other countries, Nevada to other states)
  • Seth Roberts on 25 Jan 11
     
    This story is a great explanation of the Euro zone and it's strengths and weaknesses
Kristen McDaniel

GMU professor helps create viral rap videos - about economics - The State of NoVa - The... - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...AFruUquG_blog.html

web2.0 Economics resources youtube

shared by Kristen McDaniel on 12 May 11 - No Cached
  • Kristen McDaniel on 12 May 11
     
    The video from a couple of years ago with Hayek and Keynes rapping about economics now has a sequel.
Jason Welker

Economic View - A Dose of Skepticism on Government Spending - NYTimes.com - 5 views

www.nytimes.com/...11view.html

shared by Jason Welker on 21 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • the centerpiece is likely to be a huge increase in government spending
  • John Maynard Keynes
  • A main focus was how to avoid, or at least mitigate, the recurring slumps in economic activity.
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • Economic downturns, Mr. Keynes and Mr. Samuelson taught us, occur when the aggregate demand for goods and services is insufficient.
  • Higher consumer spending expands aggregate demand further, raising the G.D.P. yet again. And so on. This positive feedback loop is called the multiplier effect.
  • these Keynesian prescriptions make avoiding depressions seem too easy.
  • each dollar of government spending can increase the nation’s gross domestic product by more than a dollar
  • The solution, they said, was for the government to provide demand when the private sector would not.
  • less than a third of the increase takes the form of private consumption and investment.
  • Professor Ramey estimates that each dollar of government spending increases the G.D.P. by only 1.4 dollars.
  • In practice, however, the multiplier for government spending is not very large
  • If you hire your neighbor for $100 to dig a hole in your backyard and then fill it up, and he hires you to do the same in his yard, the government statisticians report that things are improving.
  • it is unlikely that, having wasted all that time digging and filling, either of you is better off.
  • inefficient spending
  • bridges to nowhere,
  • increase in economic well-being.
  • a rigorous cost-benefit analysis of each government project.
  • To this day, we have yet to come to grips with how to pay for all that the government created during that era
  • a temporary crisis as a pretense for engineering a permanent increase in the size and scope of the government. Believers in limited government have reason to be wary.
  • tax cuts will be a larger piece of the Obama recovery plan than was previously expected.
Jason Welker

A Micro problem for the advanced Econ student | Welker's Wikinomics Blog - 5 views

welkerswikinomics.com/...-for-the-advanced-econ-student

microeconomics monopoly Mankiw

shared by Jason Welker on 09 Nov 09 - Cached
  • Jason Welker on 09 Nov 09
     
    I love that Harvard Economics professor Gregory Mankiw blogs, but I hate that has de-activated the comments on his blog. Yesterday he posted a question from his own Harvard introductory economics class.  Since he doesn't allow comments though, I cannot tell if I'm solving it correctly. So I will re-publish it here and ask my readers to solve the problem in the comment section. IB and AP students who have studied microeconomic should be able to put some of their basic algebra skills to work to solve this one.
  • ...2 more comments...
  • Molly Saso on 10 Nov 09
     
    I may be wrong, but initially profit maximizing P and Q are $7 and 3 at MC = MR with profit of $10.5. Subsequently at a world price of $6, domestic demand is 4 units, but the monopolist's profit maximizing Q becomes 5 units (at MC =P). Therefore he exports one unit and his profit becomes $9.5. Thus the answer is a bit unexpected. I am not sure, but if the world price is $7 then does he produce 6 units of which he exports 3 units, since domestic demand falls? That conclusion presumes that he acts as a perfect competitor in the world market, but probably he will find a way of gaining global monopoly power! Molly
  • gene hayward on 10 Nov 09
     
    I think I solved most of it...I look forward to the answer...:)
  • Jason Welker on 10 Nov 09
     
    Molly, could you explain how you determined that at a world price of $6, the firm's profit maximizing Q would become 5 units? Why did we equalize P=MC to find the firm's output at a price of 6? I see why the firm becomes an exporter at a world price of $6 if they produce 5 units (since domestic Qs exceeds domestic Qd) but just not why we determine the firm's output by P=MC. Thanks!
  • Molly Saso on 17 Nov 09
     
    I guess I am assuming that once there is free trade the monopolist has to act like a perfect competitor and at least in the world market is a price taker. It's a bit like the monopsonist who has to become a wage taker once there is an effective minimum wage. Consequently he employs more workers since his MFC equals the wage.
Walter Antoniotti

Economics Class Notes - 20 views

I add materials and current data weekly http://www.textbooksfree.org/Economics%20Notes.htm suggestions welcome

economics current events data history

started by Walter Antoniotti on 14 May 13 no follow-up yet
Kristen McDaniel

Understanding Fiscal Responsibility - 0 views

understandingfiscalresponsibility.org

Economics resources

shared by Kristen McDaniel on 13 May 11 - No Cached
  • Kristen McDaniel on 13 May 11
     
    Website for Dr. Anand Marri's economics lessons written through a $2.4 million grant. Free downloads.
Kristen McDaniel

Checks and Imbalances - 0 views

www.tc.columbia.edu/...article.htm

Economics resources

shared by Kristen McDaniel on 13 May 11 - No Cached
  • Kristen McDaniel on 13 May 11
     
    Dr. Anand Marri from Columbia Teacher's College has a project funded by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, and has worked with doctoral students to write 25 lessons on economics, with 25 more on the way. Website link is included in the article.
Seth Roberts

MIT OpenCourseWare | Economics | 14.02 Principles of Macroeconomics, Fall 2009 | Exams - 0 views

ocw.mit.edu/...exams

econ micro economics MIT

shared by Seth Roberts on 14 Jun 11 - No Cached
  • onsumption with borrowing constraints Technological chang
Walter Antoniotti

Quick Notes Economics - 10 views

www.businessbookmall.com/Economics%20Notes.htm

economics macro micro business cycle free books

shared by Walter Antoniotti on 05 Nov 09 - Cached
  • Walter Antoniotti on 05 Nov 09
     
    Original taken from McConnell and Breu, I update them with data and stories from the Internet.
Jason Welker

CARPE DIEM: U.S. Share of World GDP Remarkably Constant - 5 views

mjperry.blogspot.com/...e-of-world-gdp-remarkably.html

shared by Jason Welker on 25 Nov 09 - Cached
gene hayward liked it
  • The chart above shows the annual shares of real world GDP for four geographical regions (European Union 15, Asia/Oceania, Latin America and the combined share of Africa and the Middle East) compared to the U.S. share of world GDP between 1969 and 2009 (data here). What might be surprising is that the U.S. share of world GDP has been relatively constant for the last 40 years, and is actually slightly higher in 2009 (26.7%) that it was in 1975 (26.3%). It's also interesting that the EU15's share of world GDP has declined from about 36% of world output in 1969 to only 27% in 2009. Further, despite having a large share of the world's oil reserves, the Middle East's share of global output has increased from only 2.23% in 1969 to 3.16% in 2009 (graph shows Middle East combined with Africa).
  • Bottom Line: World GDP (real) doubled between 1969 and 1990, and has increased by another 60% since then, so that world output in 2009 is more than three times greater than in 1969. We might mistakenly assume that the significant economic growth over the last 40 years in China, India and Brazil has somehow come "at the expense of economic growth in the U.S." (based on the "fixed pie fallacy") but the data suggest otherwise. Because of advances in technology, innovation, and significant improvements in U.S. productivity, America's share of total world output has remained remarkably constant at a little more than 25%, despite the significant increases in output around the world, especially in Asia.
    • Jason Welker
      Jason Welker on 25 Nov 09
       
      A good conversation starter for an AP Macro class!
  • Somewhat surprisingly, the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has some great international historical macroeconomic datasets. According to its website:
  • gene hayward on 25 Nov 09
     
    I find it amazing (and troubling) that Latin America and Africa have made no appreciable gains in 40 years. They are rich in human capital and other productive resources....as a side note, I noticed in one of the comments on the blog you found this graphic there was some conversation about the CPI and that it was reconfigured in the 1990's(?) and that with the new method inflation is underestimated, therefore RGDP must be overstated...I have to admit ignorance on this issue...Are you familiar with it? Any commments as to the validity of the underestimation of inflation? Thanks!!
  • Jason Welker on 26 Nov 09
     
    Gene, I'm not sure we should be so troubled by the flat trend lines for Latin America and Africa. Keep in mind, this is not GDP, this is share of world's GDP. Unlike total output, which is NOT a zero sum concept, share of total output IS a zero-sum concept. A gain made by one part of the world is only possible by a loss made in another part of the world. The decline of the EU 15's share of world GDP does not mean that the EU 15 experienced a decline in output. In fact, the EU 15 have grown steadily over the last 40 years. Their downward sloping curve indicates that they have grown more slowly than the rest of the world, that's all. So the flat lines for Africa and Latin America in fact indicate that those two regions have grown more rapidly than Europe. Although it doesn't look like it on this graph, the "poor south" is actually catching up with the "rich north" as average growth in Europe lags behind that in the south. It's a bit misleading to interpret the graph in this way, but the gains in Asia have in a way come at the expense of gains in Europe, but only in that they now have a larger share of a MUCH larger pie! All regions have grown, and Latin America and Africa have grown AS quickly as the US, and MORE quickly than Europe. Good news!
  • gene hayward on 26 Nov 09
     
    Thanks for the reply and the analysis...I did not occur to me to think of it in those terms...I am better off for asking the question!!! :)
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