Market Power

Katrina and its Aftermath Links

Here is a huge list of links to the situation regarding Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath.

I lived in Missouri during the flood of 1993 and my wife and I helped with sandbagging efforts in the little town of Hartsburg, Mo. (25 miles south of Columbia and just north of Jefferson City).  I was impressed by the 6+ foot tall wall of sandbags we helped build in the middle of town that held back the Missouri River.  I also recall levee breaks that occurred on the Muddy Mo.  But sitting up here in relatively safe South Central Minnesota, I can't imagine the devastation down in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Oil Prices

During the first day of classes, we had a discussion in each of my three Principles of Micro section regarding why the price of oil is so high right now.  Lynne Kiesling over at Knowledge Problem (and an Economics lecturer at Northwestern University) lists many of the same reasons the students came up with. 

Line of Economies

Consider a line that represents the mixture of economies between central planning and private markets.  On the extreme left are the economies that are 100% centrally planned.  On the extreme right are the economies that are 100% private market-based.

It's difficult to say exactly what constitutes a 50% centrally planned economy or a 75% private market economy.  Given that, in what order would you put the following countries in terms of their public/private mixture within their economy? 

North Korea, Cuba, China, India, Germany, Canada, France, US, Sweden, Great Britain

If you want extra fun, roughly, where would you place them?

Update 1:  Bill Polley sends along a link which contains some hints.

Grading

Bryan Caplan, an economics professor at George Mason, spells out my philosophy on grading:

More students than I care to remember have argued with me about their grades. But there is one argument that I always dismiss out of hand: "You should raise my grade because I NEED a higher grade!" I don't do pity grading.

The reasons I've heard for pity grading run the gamut:  "I'll lose my scholarship."  "I won't get this job."  "My parents will kick me out of the house."  Etc. etc. etc.  When I hear these stories, I feel bad, but I will not do pity grading.

Welcome Students

Welcome, students.  Today is the first day of classes at Minnesota State, Mankato, and I meet all four of my classes today.  I use this blog, in part, as a supplement to my classes where I post current examples and other items that I find interesting.  I hope you find it interesting as well.

I also blog over at The Sports Economist and my Sports Economics students should frequently check that blog.  On the right hand side of my blog, you'll see links to dozens of sites, including dozens of blogs written by professional economists.  I encourage you to browse those links at your leisure.

Welcome aboard, students.  I hope you have a good semester and I hope you find my classes to be interesting.

Update:  Students in all my Principles of Micro sections should read the short essay entitled "I, Pencil."  You can access it by clicking here.

Hurricane Economics

As powerful Hurricane Katrina takes aim on the northern Gulf Coast, it's important to keep two things in mind:

1.  Hurricanes are not good for the affected economies.  Hurricanes kill.  Hurricanes destroy businesses and homes.  In short, hurricanes destroy wealth and they destroy sources of income.  While it is true that some individuals will find some increased income opportunities, the costs certainly outweigh the benefits.

2.  Hurricanes do catastrophic damage to property, damage that occurs all at once and that people want repaired as soon as possible.  Because this causes demand for construction services and construction materials to increase dramatically, the prices of these things increases, sending a signal to others that these things are needed.  There will be, no doubt, calls for action against so-called price gougers.  Some localities even have laws against price gouging.  But these laws put restrictions on price increases and have the unintended effect of limiting reconstruction activities.  Why is that a good thing?

Brad Smith: Tiger Economist

Brad Smith is the quarterback for the University of Missouri football program.  If there is any young man you'd use as a model for the "student athlete", Brad would have to be in the top 10, maybe of all time.  But there's even more of a reason to respect this young man:

A lot has happened since that first glimpse. He’s grown up, earned a degree, begun work on a master’s in economics. ....

So while Brad is quarterbacking the Tigers, he'll also likely be taking cupcake courses like Microeconomic Theory, Macroeconomic Theory, or Econometrics - all graduate-level stuff.  As Mel Allen would say, "How about that?!!"

A Great Time to Be a Tiger

Joe Walljasper of the Columbia (Mo) Daily Tribune has the best line of the day in speaking about the quality of football from ol' Mizzou:

Yet, the Tigers lose with the regularity of a Canada goose on a high-fiber diet.

Well, ya can't win if ya don't spend the money, even in the so-called non-profit collegiate game.

More NCAA Rules

I ran across another of the myriad of NCAA rules designed to restrict player movement between programs.  This one has led a University of Colorado running back to be declared ineligible for competition although he is in academic good standing:

Colorado running back Mell Holliday, who burst onto the scene as a walk-on and has been one of the most impressive players in preseason camp, may have seen the end of his playing days before they even began.

According to Holliday on Thursday night, the NCAA has declared him ineligible this season, citing the one-year-in- residency rule. That rule states if a player transfers from a four-year college to an NCAA school, he must complete one academic year before playing or receiving traveling expenses from the new school.

Beginning in 2002, Holliday played two seasons at Wayne (Neb.) State, a Division II school. In the spring of 2004, he transferred to the University of Nebraska, where he tried out but did not make the football team that fall. After finishing spring 2005 classes in Lincoln, Holliday transferred to Colorado, he says, "with the understanding that I'd be able to play."

After tearing through the first half of preseason practices, Holliday was offered a scholarship this week by coach Gary Barnett. In finalizing the paperwork, the NCAA once more looked at Holliday's eligibility, and apparently denied it.

"All the times before my scholarship got offered, my eligibility was fine," Holliday said. "Now, all of a sudden, my eligibility is no good. I've sat out a year and a half. Now, they are talking about I'm going to have to sit out another year. I'm not understanding that."

Holliday works hard in practice, completes his courses, and keeps his grades up, but he might not be able to play because he hasn't spent a year at CU.  So much for the concept of the student athlete.  Note that Holliday did not make the Nebraska team, but he still needed a release from the NU athletic deparetment. So it seems that when someone decides to simply try out for an NCAA team, even if he's not on scholarship, his skills become the property of that team.  Besides restricting player choices between institutions, what possibly could be the intent of this rule?

Utterly Classless

On July 12th, 2005, Aaron O'Neal, a redshirt freshman linebacker for the Missouri Tigers collapsed after a voluntary workout and died a short while later.  Recently, the Boone County Medical Examiner Valerie Rao announced that Aaron died of viral meningitis.  Viral meningitis is much less deadly than it's bacterial cousin, so there is some question regarding the diagnosis.

Another point of contention is that the Mizzou training staff on that day did not take Aaron directly to the hospital and some have said that this delay caused his death and O'Neal's family has filed a lawsuit.  I'm not so sure about this given that it's been 6 weeks since Aaron's tragic death and there is still much contention surrounding this diagnosis.  How often do otherwise healthy football players drop dead from viral meningitis?  In any case, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has been having a field day with this, pointing fingers and searching for blame.  For instance, see this column by Brian Burwell.  Guilty and proven innocent, baby.

But then the PD has this utterly classless and tastelss cartoon posted on it website.

This cartoon simply borders on the obscene.