Posts on Economists
December 29, 2005
Open Source Textbooks
Kyle's comment in my earlier post on Danny Quah's article reminded me -- as a big fan of open source textbooks, it's nice to see Ariel Rubenstein's microeconomics textbook available for free online, at his website.
I agree with you Kyle, it's a great idea, and I hope we get to see more of this in the future!
Posted by vinayak at 10:51 PM
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December 26, 2005
The excess supply of knowledge.
Danny Quah, who is Professor of Economics here at the LSE (and is my supervisor), has written a really interesting piece titled `The Excess Supply of Knowledge' for Newsweek's 2006 Special's -- ``The Knowledge Revolution...''. The piece focuses around the differences (and/or lack thereof) between dissemination and invention. This is an area that has fascinated me for many years (even before Economics fascinated me), and I've written about it once before. What I like about this piece is that it puts across fairly difficult-to-comprehend ideas in a very accessible way (a characteristically Quah trait that EC102/EC413 students will swear by). What I also like about this piece is that it provides you with enough mulch to ponder the consequences of our understanding these differences in terminology... consequences that definitely need a larger audience.
I haven't seen the Newsweek version yet, but here's Danny's original version, from his website.
I don't normally find it joyful to endorse the people/stuff that I dig but I figured there'd be some definite Pareto gains by urging you guys (non-economists included) to give this short piece a read!
Here's a snippet:
As humanity becomes more educated, and ideas, tastes, and beliefs integrate more closely, the greater become the potential social benefits from deploying all the different kinds of knowledge --- those that increase our productivity, improve our health, and raise our quality of life. With modern globalisation and the Internet, we are now in the midst of arguably the largest expansion ever in the demand of and absorptive capacity for knowledge. In this situation the fewer copies of knowledge being made, the greater the loss to humanity.
Posted by vinayak at 9:46 PM
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September 26, 2005
economists on economy class
I know everyone jokes about the life of a 'poor graduate student'. Okay, I'll grant that there are lifestyles that could probably be much, much worse, and I don't want to sound like a snotty whine pot, but I thought I'd write a bit about how there are times when I crave to be an investment banker.
I'm not about fast cars (unless Minis are fast). I'm not much into big houses and fancy real estate. Small car, cozy apartment, even if I were filthy rich (which I'm not). But you know what I really really really want? I want to be able to waltz into first class when I fly home to see the folks (which I'm doing right now... this post comes to you from Washington Dulles Airport). I don't know why, but I keep getting the feeling that as the days go by, my ailing bones won't be able to manage the pleasant tortures that airline companies so lovingly indulge their Economy customers with.
Take for example my flight to Washington from London. My seat - 35E, on a Boeing 777. Hmm... have you ever seen those really funny Airbus advertisements that say "On an Airbus A320, you're only ever one seat from the aisle"? They were quite popular in India when they first came out, and I used to scoff at them, because I couldn't even possibly remember the last time I was shoved into a middle seat... a seat that is in the middle... the arithmetic mean of the number of seats in that row. Well well well, fate had it's delights in store for me tonight. I was stuck with two people on either side of me. The lady at the London terminal said "yes sir, I put special request for you sir... special special... we change your seat to best in aircraft... just ask lady at boarding gate". After removing my shoes (a procedure which, in my humble opinion is the REAL shoe bomb), booting my laptop, and going through great lengths of passion to truly assure the security lady that my bags were indeed packed by me, I finally caught sight of the boarding gate lady. On asking her for the promised seat, the boarding gate lady smiles, smiles to the other boarding gate lady that is, and says "oh we definitely have the best seat for you - you're sitting in it. 35 E - you get view of whole aircraft... like a commander in chief... you are in the middle of all the action!" How ironic that at just that moment, a guy with a "Goldman Sachs" tag on his bag walks by me with a polite grin as he proceeds into Door "A" for priority boarding. Hey... if it weren't for the dedicated cutting edge research of my clan you wouldn't be able to walk through Door A... so make sure you get that straight dude! Now if you don't mind... I'll see you when I enter through Door "B".
So I finally board the plane, and atleast God/Elvis was nice enough to give me two amazingly sweet (and breathtakingly gorgeous) women to keep me company on my left, and two really nice gay guys on my right. I decided to be nice as well and cooperate. I held my bladder until any one of the people on my right/left decided to get up, instead of bothering them both. Quite efficient, and a good exercise to see how far your urinary tract will support you in your endeavours to be a better person. I highly recommend it. We pass time doing sociable things, like bitching about the airhostess with an attitude problem, or just grunting.
There are other little things... dinner comes in a box, and the lady keeps screaming "after you finish make sure you put everything neatly into the box so we can dispose of it faster... neatly into the box... PUT IT BACK INTO THE BOX PLEASE". Meanwhile Goldman Sachs man is being mind-read by a clairvoyant head purser - "Are you feeling cold sir, you look cold, let me put this blanket on you." or "Would you like some more light to read that brief sir?" or "More dates sir?" or "The lavatory is vacant now sir, we're holding it for you." Sure... when you travel business class your urinary tract really misses out on something... but I wonder if it's okay to wish for a luxury as inane as that... a clairvoyant caretaker.
I could start about the seat pitch. Actually I will. As if it weren't enough for the poor graduate student to be subjected to the tortures of Economy, there is this growing section of the aircraft titled "Economy Plus". The seats are the same... the food is the same old crap... but the most sought after luxury of them all... one extra inch of legroom. Those idiots pay a fortune for a measly inch of legroom... and the Economics of it make so much sense (lots of demand) that they actually believe in the damn concept. Which means poverty stricken oafs like me have to see THREE groups of gleefully happy people... the ones up at first, the ones in business, and now... the ones on Economy Plus.
Then there's the question of the lounges. Goldman Sachs man (who is a really nice chap btw... no offense intended whatsoever to him) is en route to another destination as well... and he bids me farewell as I proceed to gate D10, while he looks up the first class lounge. He tells me he's on his way to visit his parents for a week. What a coincidence... that's MY agenda too... perhaps you'd like to talk over it with me in your lounge?
I love this life... I do so give me a break when I bitch about the crummy days.
Bon Voyage Goldman Sachs Man! Say hi to the folks.
Posted by vinayak at 5:21 AM
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