Hi there,
A quick recap from yesterday’s meeting – 40-minute documentary about the history, current stance and future prospects / threats regarding global resources. How should we manage them in order to achieve a sustainable growth? How can rich countries help the poorer ones? Should they? What are the possible dangers arising from inadequate (ab)use of the world’s resources? These and other questions were gradually being answered during the process of film watching. Afterwards, 20 minutes of discussion in four groups.
Here’s what they had to say,
Group 1
Q. How can poorer countries be influenced into preserving their natural resources?
A. Um, maybe teams of experts to be sent to those countries? Can help at the local, regional and national level – where to allocate what at optimum quantities using efficient technology. Just an idea.
Q. How can we better manage our own resources?
A. ( i ) group of experts set by government
( ii ) authority to impose sanctions and fines on firms/institutions that are maintaining activities which cause too much of environmental damage
Q. Do you consider resource management to be a vicious or virtuous cycle?
A. This is a question of finding the perfect equilibrium between growth (development) and environmental preservation. Depends where you find that point.
Q. Why are some countries less inclined to combat climate change; how does this affect other countries who are trying to make improvements?
A. ( i ) incompetent government
( ii ) corruption
( iii ) financial restrictions -> opt for development -> betterment of society -> no funds for green technology
( i ) disincentive for improvement-seeking countries -> wastage of efforts
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Representatives of remaining groups are more than welcome to present the groups' views. Yup, can post the answers as a comment to this post, for instance.
Cheers,
John A62
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Week One: Introduction to Economics Club
Hi there,
First meeting of school year 09/10 is behind us. The attendance was shockingly high, 30+ people crammed into a tiny 25-30m2 classroom. Oh wells, at least was warm. Dokey, Melina – this year’s chairlady, started off with presenting each section of the Economics Club. Will do the same,
Blog – run by me. I try to put some interesting (normative statement) links, news and videos. Reviews of economics publications to be expected from time to time. Anyone interested in reading any of the books mentioned on the blog, feel free to contact me. Aye, might post some exemplary exam answers for A-levels as well.
Forum bcleconomics.lefora.com – administrated by me and Elena. Loads of revision materials available + some sections to discuss economics related topics. Not really active but hopefully with time will attract more users. Shall see.
Public lectures – Linura is responsible for informing you, me, us when and where there will be a lecture worth attending. Personally, already have an eye on some of them. Important point – it’s for free. Usually held in LSE. Rarely in UCL. For a leaflet with all the lectures in Sept-Dec 2009, click here.
Pub Economics – Aigul’s and Mika’s joint baby. They came up with an idea to have economics conversations while sipping a pint of beer. The topics usually hover around areas not directly related to A-level syllabus, sometimes not all.
Student Investor Challenge studentinvestor.org – one of the competitions I look forward most to. Teams made up of four members compete against 10,000 other teams in UK-wide challenge in which the aim is to invest 100,000 of virtual money and after three months finish with the highest possible profit. Know nothing about shares/stocks/securities/bonds/trusts. Will be fun. Oh, might work as an incentive – a trip to New York + cash is up for grab.
Essay competition – held jointly by Bellerbys Colleges from London and Oxford. Every now and then there will be a set topic for both schools, fixed amount of words, one prize. Winner takes it all.
Book Club – the new thing, run by Tatiana. The concept is simple - you read, you write a review, we publish it, people read your review, people read the book you have read. And so on and on and on. More details here.
That’s it for now. Next week – Introduction to supply and demand. Monday 5PM, we’re moving to 222-223, be there.
Cheers,
John A62
First meeting of school year 09/10 is behind us. The attendance was shockingly high, 30+ people crammed into a tiny 25-30m2 classroom. Oh wells, at least was warm. Dokey, Melina – this year’s chairlady, started off with presenting each section of the Economics Club. Will do the same,
Blog – run by me. I try to put some interesting (normative statement) links, news and videos. Reviews of economics publications to be expected from time to time. Anyone interested in reading any of the books mentioned on the blog, feel free to contact me. Aye, might post some exemplary exam answers for A-levels as well.
Forum bcleconomics.lefora.com – administrated by me and Elena. Loads of revision materials available + some sections to discuss economics related topics. Not really active but hopefully with time will attract more users. Shall see.
Public lectures – Linura is responsible for informing you, me, us when and where there will be a lecture worth attending. Personally, already have an eye on some of them. Important point – it’s for free. Usually held in LSE. Rarely in UCL. For a leaflet with all the lectures in Sept-Dec 2009, click here.
Pub Economics – Aigul’s and Mika’s joint baby. They came up with an idea to have economics conversations while sipping a pint of beer. The topics usually hover around areas not directly related to A-level syllabus, sometimes not all.
Student Investor Challenge studentinvestor.org – one of the competitions I look forward most to. Teams made up of four members compete against 10,000 other teams in UK-wide challenge in which the aim is to invest 100,000 of virtual money and after three months finish with the highest possible profit. Know nothing about shares/stocks/securities/bonds/trusts. Will be fun. Oh, might work as an incentive – a trip to New York + cash is up for grab.
Essay competition – held jointly by Bellerbys Colleges from London and Oxford. Every now and then there will be a set topic for both schools, fixed amount of words, one prize. Winner takes it all.
Book Club – the new thing, run by Tatiana. The concept is simple - you read, you write a review, we publish it, people read your review, people read the book you have read. And so on and on and on. More details here.
That’s it for now. Next week – Introduction to supply and demand. Monday 5PM, we’re moving to 222-223, be there.
Cheers,
John A62
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
'Freakonomics' by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
Hi there,
Much has been said about this book. Despite that, still decided to share some of my thoughts. At first there were only some random opinions heard here and there, nothing truly shocking though. Generally – ‘a book for dumbies’, ‘quasi-economics’, ‘not much economics in economics’ and so on. And have to partly agree with such views. I would put ‘Freakonomics’, written by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, on the same shelf as Tim Hardford’s ‘Undercover Economist’ or Steven Landsburg’s ‘The Armchair Economist (even though I haven’t had a chance to read the latter one yet).
A simple piece of reading for wider publicity, a relaxing lecture after a tiring day. Yes, it may dazzle you at times, however that will likely be caused by its undoubted charm and funniness than a massive amount of economics theory. Authors opted to take a rather different approach in presenting the context. What they did, was to form a list of several questions, unusual in its nature, such as ‘what do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common’? Common sense tells us nothing, but as you can surely guess, Levitt and Dubner obviously came up with something. Readers will definitely be astonished by the process of linking thoughts one to another, carefully led by the pair of economists. Have to admit that there is quite a lot of data and statistics in use, but in the end, that’s the only touch of economics. No models, no graphs, no extraordinary concepts – everything is kept as simple as possible. And maybe that’s why ‘Freakonomics’ proved to be so successful? Very likely to be so.
Rating: 6.5/10
Cheers,
John A62
PS Thanks to Chik for gifting me the book.
Much has been said about this book. Despite that, still decided to share some of my thoughts. At first there were only some random opinions heard here and there, nothing truly shocking though. Generally – ‘a book for dumbies’, ‘quasi-economics’, ‘not much economics in economics’ and so on. And have to partly agree with such views. I would put ‘Freakonomics’, written by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, on the same shelf as Tim Hardford’s ‘Undercover Economist’ or Steven Landsburg’s ‘The Armchair Economist (even though I haven’t had a chance to read the latter one yet).
A simple piece of reading for wider publicity, a relaxing lecture after a tiring day. Yes, it may dazzle you at times, however that will likely be caused by its undoubted charm and funniness than a massive amount of economics theory. Authors opted to take a rather different approach in presenting the context. What they did, was to form a list of several questions, unusual in its nature, such as ‘what do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common’? Common sense tells us nothing, but as you can surely guess, Levitt and Dubner obviously came up with something. Readers will definitely be astonished by the process of linking thoughts one to another, carefully led by the pair of economists. Have to admit that there is quite a lot of data and statistics in use, but in the end, that’s the only touch of economics. No models, no graphs, no extraordinary concepts – everything is kept as simple as possible. And maybe that’s why ‘Freakonomics’ proved to be so successful? Very likely to be so.
Rating: 6.5/10
Cheers,
John A62
PS Thanks to Chik for gifting me the book.
Sunday, 16 August 2009
'Nudge' by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
Hi there,
For the first time I actually did read the book I was awarded. Quite remarkable I have to say, as I am generally used to receiving either heavy readings about Polish history (boring) or not-in-depth encyclopedias for children aged 6-10. This time around Bellerbys funded for their Student Ambassador a book that he is extremely pleased to be given.
‘Nudge’ written by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein is a 250-page lecture focusing around a subject of behavioral economics. Everyone seems to think that economics is only about maths, models and equations. Well, that is very much true, but after all, it is ought to be social science. Social, that is, um, correct me if I am wrong – for society, isn’t it? The authors are trying to convince us that little, almost unnoticeable actions can lead to more than significant changes. They refer to those minor actions as ‘nudges’. How many times have you found yourself denying your own opinion and opting to follow the herd? Ready to order chicken, but everyone seems to order cod, well, don’t want to be odd one out, do you? And how many times have you found yourself in a state of complete inertia? Too lazy to bother yourself about choosing on your own, let’s just pick a default option. Default rarely does mean the best. No worries though, as a human you are destined to make poor choices, at times. It’s only up to you how often that will occur. Thaler in cooperation with Sunstein explain how you can change your life with very little fuss and effort. Change for the better, obviously. Sounds like a good deal to me. Hope this little piece of review worked as a nudge for you. If not, then well, at least I did try, right …?
Rating: 7.0/10
Cheers,
John A62
For the first time I actually did read the book I was awarded. Quite remarkable I have to say, as I am generally used to receiving either heavy readings about Polish history (boring) or not-in-depth encyclopedias for children aged 6-10. This time around Bellerbys funded for their Student Ambassador a book that he is extremely pleased to be given.
‘Nudge’ written by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein is a 250-page lecture focusing around a subject of behavioral economics. Everyone seems to think that economics is only about maths, models and equations. Well, that is very much true, but after all, it is ought to be social science. Social, that is, um, correct me if I am wrong – for society, isn’t it? The authors are trying to convince us that little, almost unnoticeable actions can lead to more than significant changes. They refer to those minor actions as ‘nudges’. How many times have you found yourself denying your own opinion and opting to follow the herd? Ready to order chicken, but everyone seems to order cod, well, don’t want to be odd one out, do you? And how many times have you found yourself in a state of complete inertia? Too lazy to bother yourself about choosing on your own, let’s just pick a default option. Default rarely does mean the best. No worries though, as a human you are destined to make poor choices, at times. It’s only up to you how often that will occur. Thaler in cooperation with Sunstein explain how you can change your life with very little fuss and effort. Change for the better, obviously. Sounds like a good deal to me. Hope this little piece of review worked as a nudge for you. If not, then well, at least I did try, right …?
Rating: 7.0/10
Cheers,
John A62
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Global Capital Market (DVD)
Hi there,
I am pleased to present you a second (out of four) part of Global Economics series, which focuses on global capital market. Oh wells, better to paste author’s description,
Yup, excited, right? I knew you would be. So, following a structured pattern,
| Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV |
(i) a few computer geek video specifications:
Format : Windows Media at 1 413 Kbps
Length : 368 MiB for 36mn 22s 850ms
Video : WMV2 at 1 236 Kbps
Aspect : 320 x 240 (1.333) at 29.970 fps
Audio : MPEG Audio at 112 Kbps
Infos : 2 channels, 44.1 KHz
(ii) a couple of screenshots:
(iii) a quick what-to-do guide:
a) download all parts (I to IV)
b) download and install WinRar (click here)
c) right-mouse-click on one of the files, 'extract files', OK and voilà - it's done.
(iv) watch online:
Hope you will have a jolly good time. Enjoy.
Cheers,
John A6
PS Sorry for low quality of the online video, had a few obstacles to overcome. Download to experience a higher quality.
I am pleased to present you a second (out of four) part of Global Economics series, which focuses on global capital market. Oh wells, better to paste author’s description,
‘We are shown the balance between the benefits and the downfalls of financial integration. Many of the essential key terms and phrases are broken down into manageable pieces, with evidence to confirm their meaning and consequences. There are certain pivotal moments in history that are assessed, such as the Mexican peso crisis; the aftermath of this can be felt all over the world. We are shown the theories that have evolved from the capital global market and patterns that already exist from events that have happened.’
Yup, excited, right? I knew you would be. So, following a structured pattern,
(i) a few computer geek video specifications:
Format : Windows Media at 1 413 Kbps
Length : 368 MiB for 36mn 22s 850ms
Video : WMV2 at 1 236 Kbps
Aspect : 320 x 240 (1.333) at 29.970 fps
Audio : MPEG Audio at 112 Kbps
Infos : 2 channels, 44.1 KHz
(ii) a couple of screenshots:
(iii) a quick what-to-do guide:
a) download all parts (I to IV)
b) download and install WinRar (click here)
c) right-mouse-click on one of the files, 'extract files', OK and voilà - it's done.
(iv) watch online:
Hope you will have a jolly good time. Enjoy.
Cheers,
John A6
PS Sorry for low quality of the online video, had a few obstacles to overcome. Download to experience a higher quality.
Monday, 29 June 2009
The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford
Hi there,
Yup, yet another book review. This time took a closer look to a fairly popular writing by Tim Harford – ‘The Undercover Economist’. It’s one of those recently popular ‘eco-books for dumbies’. And have to admit that there is really something unique that make them reasonably easy to read publications.
It might be this simple language. No sophisticated terminology, no confusing diagrams, no complex anagrams. You will definitely not find FSA, CDOs or NIESR. Maybe GDP, but very seldom. You won’t feel overwhelmed by a vast amount of data. To be honest there is not much information in the book itself. Taking the juice out of it, you will have a bit about scarcity, perfect market, externalities, globalization, moral hazard and a not in-depth analysis of China’s performance in the last 50 years. Um, relatively modest as for 250 pages. What make those quasi-economics books so appealing to wider public is the fact that the explanation is extremely, extremely gradual, you might even feel insulted at times. The author usually starts with a basic example, then jumps, very smoothly, to a more advanced example, obviously applicable to real world, e.g. coffee bars, second-hand card market, afterwards he names the theory behind the examples, yet he annoyingly sticks to a simpler expression, e.g. ‘adverse selection’ – ‘lemon market’ (gotta read to understand why) and that’s basically it. The process keeps repeating and repeating. Might sound awful, however, it wasn’t so bad. Enjoyed it. A little relaxation while was revising for AEA. Read on The Student Room that it can be helpful. Wasn’t at all, but who cares. This book is rather not meant to be very scientific and rich in information. It is more targeted to an average Joe, who knows nothing about economics (not that I do, huh). And, speaking frankly, it might have done the trick. But that’s just my opinion. Yours might differ. There’s only one way to check whether it would – you have to read ‘The Undercover Economist’ by yourself.
Cheers,
John A6
Yup, yet another book review. This time took a closer look to a fairly popular writing by Tim Harford – ‘The Undercover Economist’. It’s one of those recently popular ‘eco-books for dumbies’. And have to admit that there is really something unique that make them reasonably easy to read publications.
It might be this simple language. No sophisticated terminology, no confusing diagrams, no complex anagrams. You will definitely not find FSA, CDOs or NIESR. Maybe GDP, but very seldom. You won’t feel overwhelmed by a vast amount of data. To be honest there is not much information in the book itself. Taking the juice out of it, you will have a bit about scarcity, perfect market, externalities, globalization, moral hazard and a not in-depth analysis of China’s performance in the last 50 years. Um, relatively modest as for 250 pages. What make those quasi-economics books so appealing to wider public is the fact that the explanation is extremely, extremely gradual, you might even feel insulted at times. The author usually starts with a basic example, then jumps, very smoothly, to a more advanced example, obviously applicable to real world, e.g. coffee bars, second-hand card market, afterwards he names the theory behind the examples, yet he annoyingly sticks to a simpler expression, e.g. ‘adverse selection’ – ‘lemon market’ (gotta read to understand why) and that’s basically it. The process keeps repeating and repeating. Might sound awful, however, it wasn’t so bad. Enjoyed it. A little relaxation while was revising for AEA. Read on The Student Room that it can be helpful. Wasn’t at all, but who cares. This book is rather not meant to be very scientific and rich in information. It is more targeted to an average Joe, who knows nothing about economics (not that I do, huh). And, speaking frankly, it might have done the trick. But that’s just my opinion. Yours might differ. There’s only one way to check whether it would – you have to read ‘The Undercover Economist’ by yourself.
Cheers,
John A6
Friday, 19 June 2009
China in times of economic crisis
Hi there,
AEA Economics is coming and as a part of my preparation I have recently been pretty much into BBC videos. Few days ago came across quite an interesting two-part documentary series of Paul Mason about China and how it is coping in these tough economic times. Definitely worth a watch. Without further ado,
(i) a trip through China's economic crisis - part one:
'Part One of Paul Mason's journey across China to see the effects of the economic crisis on the world's biggest exporter.'
(ii) a trip through China's economic crisis - part two:
'Paul Mason continues his journey through China by train and car to see how the country is being affected by the world's economic crisis.'
Cheers,
John
AEA Economics is coming and as a part of my preparation I have recently been pretty much into BBC videos. Few days ago came across quite an interesting two-part documentary series of Paul Mason about China and how it is coping in these tough economic times. Definitely worth a watch. Without further ado,
(i) a trip through China's economic crisis - part one:
'Part One of Paul Mason's journey across China to see the effects of the economic crisis on the world's biggest exporter.'
(ii) a trip through China's economic crisis - part two:
'Paul Mason continues his journey through China by train and car to see how the country is being affected by the world's economic crisis.'
Cheers,
John
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