Hypothetical Bias

hypo-nation hearts wilco

dude: (although i am decades behind the hip-and-with-it, my recent discovery of this new show "lost" -- maybe you have heard of it -- has led me to adopt hugo-esque conversation style) the hypo-nation loves wilco, who will be on saturday night live this weekend.

i, of course, will be asleep long before that.

From the teaching evaluations

Weaknesses:

Bad notes and all he says is sorry.

What improvements would you suggest?

Being more interesting (as a person).

Bad notes and all he says is sorry.

What improvements would you suggest?

Being more interesting (as a person).

From Greg Mankiw's blog:

The NY Times reports:

administration officials are counting on a lift this summer from the $168 billion economic stimulus package that Congress passed last week and from the Federal Reserve’s recent decisions to reduce short-term interest rates....[CEA Chair Edward Lazear] predicted that the stimulus package would create an additional 500,000 jobs this year.

In other words, each job created adds $336,000 to the national debt.

ECO 2040: Recession odds

From the WSJ Weekly Update (Economists Raise the Odds of a Recession to 49%):

SUMMARY: Economists gave Fed chief Bernanke the lowest grade of his two-year tenure, in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey, and said a recession is becoming more likely.

QUESTIONS:

1. Why have economists recently raised the odds of a recession?
2. What are the chances that a recession, if it occurs, will be more severe than the last recession?
3. Do economists expect further Fed rate cuts?
4. What explains the drop in economists' rating of Fed chair Bernanke?

ECO 2040: Spring exam dates

• Monday, February 18
• Monday, March 31