Thursday, March 29, 2012

A note to economics students...

...if one of your mid-term questions begins with the sentence "Dr. E is an environmentalist and a critic of economics. On the Charlie Rose Show he attacks an economics text as follows", there is an extremely high probability that your professor is going to expect you to disagree with whatever follows.

You are better off saying you disagree and just throwing random vocabulary from class together than you are defending whatever follows.

You are, of course, best off knowing why the hypothetical character is wrong.

Regardless of whether you go for the better option or the best option - don't expect to get anywhere by saying the guy is right.

7 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Haven't I told you to keep your radicalism to yourself? I'm trying to make the left respectable again here!

      ;-)

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  2. Are you making fun of the professor or of the students?

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    Replies
    1. No actually it was a very well worded question. It was about peak oil - which I think there IS some value to thinking about - but the question was specifically about why he was wrong in claims he made about suppliers.

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    2. Kind of like how Jevons' claims regarding "peak coal" in the 19th century was worth thinking about? "Peak oil" is a fantasy.

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  3. If I just wrote 'laws of demand and supply' 'opportunity cost' 'comparative advantage' and 'incentive' over and over, would I pass?

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