Supply, Deman and Valentine's Day

Check out this study out of the University of Minnesota: "The perception that women are scarce leads men to become impulsive, save less, and increase borrowing."

"To test their theory that the sex ratio affects economic decisions, the researchers had participants read news articles that described their local population as having more men or more women. They were then asked to indicate how much money they would save each month from a paycheck, as well as how much they would borrow with credit cards for immediate expenditures. When led to believe women were scarce, the savings rates for men decreased by 42 percent. Men were also willing to borrow 84 percent more money each month."

Sex ratios also affect women's expectations, according to the study. When there's a scarcity of women, they expect men to spend more on dates, valentine's gifts and engagement rings. Apparently, the two-months-of-your-salary rule no longer applies when the sex ratio goes your way!

YouTube Video on Quantitative Easing

A must watch tutorial!

Anthropometric Economics

Check this out.

Strategic Thinking Class

Strategic Thinking
Using
Game Theory



Great leaders understand and use strategic thinking. Most learn it on the job. Some study it and then apply it. The basis of most strategic thinking among successful leaders is an application of game theory.

This Winter Session (J-Term) you have the opportunity to learn how to see the whole at a glance. Several games will be used as the springboard for you to begin the art of thinking strategically.

The course will be taught by Charles Swayne, recognized for his application of game theory. He is a frequent speaker at the World Series of Poker Academy Camps, teaches poker online with Daniel Negreanu, is the creator of the N-SPAT (The Negreanu-Swayne Poker Aptitude Test), is an honorary member of the Global Strategic Poker Thinking Society, and his new book, Swayne’s Advanced Degree in Hold’em, is the most comprehensive book on the market for the serious poker player. He is currently working on a new book, Heads Up Poker, with champion Paul Wasicka. Swayne has combined his education and lessons of mathematics, statistics, total quality management, industrial engineering, operations research, entrepreneurship, finance, economics, investments, marketing, leadership, strategy and ethics, to help you to become a more global thinker.

Where and When: University of Wisconsin – La Crosse
Winter Session (J-Term)
Time and Days: 9am-2:10pm (bring your lunch), Monday-Thursday
11-14 Jan and 19-22 Jan 2010
Credits: 3
Course Details: REC 375; Workshop in Recreation Management
University Information: If you are not a UW-L student, contact UW-L Admissions at 608.785.8939
More Course Information: Contact Charles Swayne at swayne.char@uwlax.edu or 608.397.2783

Comcast Merges with NBC

Check out this article.

Satirical Piece on Gay Marriage

Hello All -
Let me apologize to those of you who were looking for a hearty lecture on Chapter 6 today. We didn't really get anywhere in class, but I think it was an interesting discussion.

Check out this satirical piece by George Saunders on gay marriage that was published in the New Yorker.

For the record, I stand for liberty, regardless of race, color, sex, creed, religion or sexual orientation, regardless of whether or not we disagree on a topic.

I'm just too afraid of the state (or judges, etc.) to not be.

Dr Norman Borlaug: Defeater of Malthus!

Here is an excerpt from Perloff's Micro text (fourth edition) with a link to a Webcast. The topic is Thomas Malthus and his prediction (1978) that unchecked population would grow more rapidly than food production because the quantity of land was fixed. He believed that the fixed amount of land would lead to diminishing marginal product of labor, so output would rise less than in proportion to the increase in farm workers. Malthus concluded (grimly so) that mass starvation would result.*

According to some estimates, Norman Borlaug and his fellow scientists prevented a billion deaths with their green revolution that resulted in a spectacular increase in wheat, rice, and maize production in the developing world.

Starting in Mexico, they developed new seeds and new approaches involving fertilizer, tractors, irrigation, soil treatments, and anything else that would increase production. Anything.

Hear his story in his own words.

In the late 1960s, Dr. Borlaug and his colleagues brought the techniques he developed in Mexico to India and Pakistan because of the risk of mass starvation there. The results were stunning. Pakistan's wheat crop in 1968 soared to 146% of the 1965 pre-green revolution crop. By 1970, it was 183% of the 1965 crop. The comparable outputs for India were 134% and 163%.

In 2002, Dr. Borlaug explained why Malthus was wrong:

"Biotechnology helps farmers produce higher yields on less land. This is a very environmentally favorable benefit. For example, the world's grain output in 1950 was 692 million tons. Forty years or so later, the world's farmers used about the same amount of acreage but they harvested 1.9 billion tons--a 170% increase! We would have needed an additional 1.8 billion hectars of land, instead of the 600 million used, had the global cereal harvest of 1950 prevailed in 1999 using the same conventional farming methods."

However, as Dr. Borlaug noted in his 1970 Nobel Prize speech, superior science is not the complete answer to preventing starvation. A sound economic system is needed too. It is the lack of a sound economic system that has doomed many Africans. Per capita food production has fallen in parts of Africa over the past two decades. Worse, in several recent years, mass starvation has plagued some African countries. Although droughts have contributed, these tragedies appear to be primarily due to political problem such as wars and a breakdown of economic production and distribution systems. If these economic and political problems cannot be solved, Malthus may prove to be right for the wrong reason.


*One paper by Brander and Taylor (1998) argues that such a disaster may have occurred on Easter Island around 500 years ago.