Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Whoa, a thing is happening!

If you're in Portland from now until July 3rd, the 85th annual conference of the Western Economic Association International is meeting to talk econ things and do econ stuff, which I think means drinking, a great tradition I'm proud our econ club follows. The registration fee is outrageous, but someone in our department told us you can sneak in real easy. It'll be like jumping the fence at Coachella, except a lot less cool.

The real draw is that on Friday, July 2nd, our very own Patrick Emerson will be organizing and chairing a session on Issues in Growth and Development. Other celebrity panelists include Bruce McGough and Elizabeth Schroeder, who will be teaching at Oregon State starting in the Fall. Other OSU professors and grad students will also be presenting papers at the conference, so click here for more information about the conference.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

June is John Maynard Keynes Month


June 5th is the birthday of both John Maynard Keynes and Adam Smith. What an auspicious day to be an economist!

Keynes, a Depression-era macroeconomist, has come back into popular (popular for an economist) focus after this most recent economic crisis. His solution to depressed markets could be grossly simplified as fiscal expansion. If governments spend more, total output will increase.

In fact, looking at the Keynesian Cross model, even a modest increase in aggregate demand will lead to a much larger boost in output. The story is delightfully simple. Imagine today the government gives you 10 bucks to build a dam. You take that 10 bucks, save maybe 2 dollars, and spend the other 8 on Carls Jr. Carl then takes your 8, saves a dollar from it, and spends the other 7 buying more beef. The rancher saves a bit, spends the rest on fertilizer, and so on and so on. We see that from that initial 10 dollars, the money goes a long way in generating transactions.

Of course we learn this the first week of Intermediate Macroeconomics I. Week two, with its IS-LM and A Sad World models, shows us why this doesn't work and why we should all be good little monetarists. Still, enjoy your time in the sun, Mr. Keynes! June is your month!

Last thing I want to share, hip hop artist Slim Thug giving props to Sir John. Skip to 1:40 for the coolest moment macroeconomics will ever have.
The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Slim Thug's Music Video - Still a Boss
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorTea Party

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Seminar! Seminar!

Our very own Zheng Cao and Daniel Stone will be presenting a paper on choking under pressure in the NBA this Friday, 1pm in Kelley 1001. You're all welcome to come and show support and pretend you understand economics for a while until the speakers get to the punchy conclusion. Afterwards we may have an econ club meeting to elect the new president, or I'll just assume power.