Business Writing Award

I am proud to announce that I won the University of Colorado Business Writing Award for 2011. To see my submission, an ethical analysis of economists in the finance industry, please visit the "My Works" section of my site. Thank you to my professor who was vital in developing my business writing skills and all those involved in the selection process.

My Favorite Economics Department

Greg Mankiw often talks about his favorite economics textbook: his own. I have a similar preference in economics departments. The University of Colorado Economics Department furnished their website's front page with some pictures from the Spring 2011 Commencement Ceremony. I just happen to be on one of them, enjoy:

I am honored to be featured on my favorite economics department's website.

The Onion hits Home

National Dating Standards Lowered

What can we learn from this video? My thought is that we shouldn't lower our expectations just because we've hit hard times. Just because the dating market is a little slow doesn't mean that we should all start settling because we'll pay for it in the long run. This might also apply to regulations. But that's just the secret liberal in me talking.

Loveless Lawyers

As I slowly get ready for law school, this blog will begin to take on more legal issues. Of course this doesn't mean that I will ignore economics, but rather that I will combine law and economics. As a fun first step, I found this article from the ABA.

In a nutshell, some D.C. lawyer is making good money but setting up lawyers with potential partners. First of all, this is an amazing business venture. Second, this is really sad. The unfortunate truth is that law school and the law profession take up a lot of time so there is a market opportunity for anyone willing to set lawyers up on dates if they know what lawyers want. This attorney apparently makes good money but acting as a professional match maker.

But why the need? Here are some numbers from The American Lawyer:

Associates Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz worked on average 71.1 (and billed 62.5) hours per week [in 2005].

The Avery Index does some math to show that makes up more than 60% of a waking-week.

Some of the prices the D.C. attorney charges seem a little high, even for a lawyer. Fortunately you can find some helpful information on how to date a lawyer. Might I add that you should read his blog.

Turns out my International Trade Professor was Right

Time Magazine has a great article about the miracle of international trade. In the US, we are used to everything being "made in China." Who would think that one of the most Chinese things (at least from an American perspective), chop sticks, are actually imported to China from a small town in Georgia?

The idea is comparative advantage: the US is better at making chop sticks because we have great wood (not a reference to Rep. Weiner). The unfortunate thing is that chop sticks don't necessarily rake in the money. While we may be good at crafting tiny wood sticks, the Chinese are getting better at making solar panels and submarines. I don't mean to be critical, but our firms are too focused on developing "iClouds"and not enough at creating responsible and necessary technologies for the future. This has all been foretold. Read up on world-systems theory.  Do it!

Book Review: Animal Spirits

I must say that this was one of the best books on economics I have read in a long time. Unfortunately, the title lent itself poorly to my college/hippie town because I was often asked to tell people what their animal spirits were when they saw me reading.

The book itself is broken down into questions that the authors, Robert Shiller and George Akerlof, attempt to answer based on their theory of irrationality and exuberance. They claim that often the reasons for economic malfunction are due to behavior that is far from rational. I loved this book because it captures extremely well my general belief in economics. Unfortunately, not everyone is an economist. Most people don't quite pick up on rational behavior because they aren't well-informed, dumb, or even just too busy to care. Classical economics reasons that people should behavior rationally and to maximize their utility. Honestly, it doesn't seem like corporations, let alone individuals, have enough know how to behave the way much of economics expects them to.

In a sense, this transforms economics from a logical science to one that deals more with psychology.

I highly recommend this book if you haven't read it yet.

Bumper Sticker

I want this for my birthday. Great description of me from an old rival put in bumper sticker form:

Though this is not a reference to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, it may as well be.