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These
newsletters are aimed at making your teaching, particularly your teaching
of economic principles, more effective and more enjoyable.
William
A. McEachern, Editor
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William A. McEachern, Editor
Welcome
to The Teaching Economist, a semi-annual newsletter aimed at making
your teaching of economics more fun and more effective. Now
in its sixteenth year, The Teaching
Economist also provides a forum, called The
Grapevine, where contributors can share teaching ideas.
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Issue 36
Spring 2009
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Index of Issues
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Subscription Information
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If you have not yet asked to receive a hard copy of this semiannual newsletter, compliments of South-Western Cengage Learning, or if you need to change your address, please write to:
South-Western Cengage Learning
The Teaching Economist
Attn: John Carey
5191 Natorp Blvd.
Mason, OH 45040-7945
E-mail: John.Carey@cengage.com
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Contribute Your Ideas for the Grapevine
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| If you
have developed any attention-getting examples, ways to 'sensationalize'
economic concepts, useful resources on the Internet, or more generally, ways to teach just for the fun of it, please share these with colleagues in “The Grapevine” by sending them to:
William A. McEachern, Editor
The Teaching Economist
Department of Economics
University of Connecticut
341 Mansfield Rd, Unit 1063
Storrs, CT 06269-1063
E-mail: william.mceachern@.uconn.edu
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About the Editor
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| William
A. McEachern is Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Connecticut.
Since 1973 he has taught principles of economics and in 1980 developed
a series of annual workshops for teaching assistants. He has given
teaching workshops around the country and is the author of Economics:
A Contemporary Introduction, a best-selling principles of
economics textbook.
Professor McEachern earned an undergraduate degree
cum laude in the honors program from Holy Cross College and an
M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. He has authored
several books and monographs in public finance, public policy,
and industrial organization. His research has appeared in edited
volumes as well as journals such as Economic Inquiry, National
Tax Journal, Southern Economic Journal, Journal of Industrial
Economics, Kyklos, Quarterly Review of Economics and Business,
Challenge, and Public Choice.
Professor McEachern has been quoted in publications
such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times,
The Christian Science Monitor, and USA Today. He
has received the University of Connecticut's Faculty Award for
Distinguished Public Service. He has also received
the University of Connecticut's Faculty Award for Excellence in
Teaching.
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About the Publisher
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South-Western
is a division of Cengage Learning. Founded in 1903, South-Western
is the premier publisher for business education. Please share your
questions or comments about our economics publishing program with
us. We are committed to serving your educational needs.
For helpful comments on a draft of this issue, I thank William Alpert, Sarah Greber, Dennis Heffley, Charles Martie, Stephen Miller, Stephen Sacks, Dave Shaut, and Susan Smart.
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Table of Contents
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Teachable Moments
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| It is said that geologists learn more about the nature of the earth's crust from one major upheaval, such as a huge earthquake or volcanic eruption, than from a dozen lesser events. Similarly, extreme brain disorders allow neurologists to explore how the brain works under normal conditions. In that same way, we should learn more about how the economy works from the wrenching events of recent months than from the more modest business fluctuations of recent decades. But all that learning will take time (after all, we are still sorting out the causes and cures of the Great Depression). Yet people want answers, and they want them yesterday. [More]
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Incoming freshmen at Berea College who do not request a roommate are unconditionally and randomly assigned one. Ralph Stinebrickner of Berea College and Todd Stinebrickner of the University of Western Ontario rely on this luck of the draw to examine the effect on a student's first-semester grades of being assigned a roommate with a video game. Based on a sample of 210 students, the authors find that having a roommate who brings a video game lowers the student's grade point by an average of 0.28 (based on a 4.00 scale) if the student also brings a video game himself. This effect is statistically significant. If the student does not bring a game himself, the impact of having a roommate who brings a game is to lower the student's grade point by 0.20, but this difference is not statistically significant at conventional levels. Students also kept diaries to track time use. The average student studied about 3.5 hours per day. Students with a video-game roommate studied an average of about 40 minutes less per day than other students. Being assigned a roommate with a video game has the same predictive power on one's first semester grade point average as scoring one standard deviation lower on the ACT. See “The Causal Effects of Studying on Academic Performance,” The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy , (2008, 1) pp. 1-53, which can be found at http://www.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1868&context=bejeap . [More]
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Online Resources
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This recession is evolving so fast that summaries of events, research, and even timely accounts such as PBS Frontline 's “Inside the Meltdown” ( http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meltdown/view/ ) can become quickly dated. The timeliest sources are those blogs and online sites that focus on the downturn. Here are a dozen sites in alphabetical order that could be useful to you and your students. Criteria for selection include attention to the current economy, frequent postings, links to timely resources, a range of perspectives, and free access. [More]
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Ideas for the Grapevine
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If you have developed any attention-getting examples, ways to "sensationalize"
economic ideas, useful resources on the Internet, or more generally,
ways to teach just for the fun of it, please share these with colleagues
in “The Grapevine” by sending them to: [More]
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