Your Weekend Reading

The "Those kicks sure look real to me" version.

Jam

By now you have probably heard of the 60 mile long Chinese traffic jam. That is some quality stuff. Sharing this story with your students is a no-brainer as you can bring in scarcity, supply/demand, economic growth, price gouging..... and you can talk about the traffic jam based "economy" that has sprung up overnight. Someone has to feed and provide essentials for those stuck in the jam.

This is going to make me rethink my shaky relationship with the 285 in Atlanta.

The Chop

A young North Korean girl welcomes President Carter with a crisp tomahawk chop.

Geography of a Recession

This would be a nice hook to get the kids interested in what is going on out on the street.

Marshmallow Utility

Dear High School Econ Teachers,

You say you are struggling to find a quality lesson that deals with cost/benefit analysis and marginal analysis? Well, our good friends at EconEdLink have hooked you up. Check this lesson out and give it a whirl with your students.

I've said it before and I will say it again...anytime you can involve the eating of marshmallows with the learning of economics you are heading in the right direction. Bon appetit!

Love,
Econblog

Your Weekend Reading

The "Let's Bail" edition.

Population Growth

If any of you out there ever have an extra ticket to a TED conference that you just don't know what to do with feel free to send it my way. Watch Hans Rosling discuss population growth and country development.

This would be a nice companion piece to teaching about free markets.

A nice article on GCEE Executive Director David Martin.

From the AJC.

Econ Photo Shoot

Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.

And you're working for no one but me.

Costs

So there you are...it's early days in 1st semester and you are scratching your head trying to think of new ways to engage your students. Try this... ask your students how much a gallon of gasoline costs.

As soon as they start talking you start writing their answers on the board. "$2.75, $2.50, $2.90" they will say, you just keep nodding your head and writing. When they run out of answers you come back with..."What about the cost of the pollution associated with that gasoline?", "What about the climate change associated with that gasoline?", "What about the cost of the dead fish in the gulf?" Cue the blank stares and off you go with a great lesson on "costs" and externalities.

The trick to really teaching econ well is to get your students thinking like economists. Set that as a goal this semester. Share the following article with your class and you may be on your way to accomplishing this goal.

Berry College Econ Speakers

Attention all North Georgia shoppers! Berry College will be hosting two econ speakers in the near future. Details below....

Full Title: "Yada, Yada, Yada: The Economics of Seinfeld"
Name of Presenter: Linda S. Ghent

Credentials of Presenter: Linda Ghent is a professor of economics and chairs the economics department at Eastern Illinois University. Her undergraduate degree is from Ball St University and her Ph.D. in economics is from North Carolina State University.

Description of Event: A public lecture on principles of economics depicted in some "Seinfeld" episodes.

Date of Event: Oct 7, 2010
Time of Event: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Science Auditorium (reservation pending)
Academic Sponsor: Economics
Contact Person: Frank Stephenson
Contact Email: efstephenson@berry.edu

Full Title: "Kelo and its Discontents: The (Ab)Use of Takings for Economic Development"

Name of Presenter: Edward J. Lopez

Credentials of Presenter: Edward Lopez is an associate professor of law and economics at San Jose St. University. He holds a Ph.D. from George Mason University and did his undergraduate work at Texas A&M. He's the author of many journal articles including at least two on the Kelo case.

Description of Event: A public lecture on the use of eminent domain for economic development purposes.

Date of Event: Oct 25, 2010
Time of Event: 7:30 pm
Location: Science Auditorium (reservation pending)
Academic Sponsor: Economics
Contact Person: Frank Stephenson
Contact Email: efstephenson@berry.edu

Back At It

Welcome back to school everyone! All of us at the Georgia Council are pleased to announce that we are tanned, rested and ready to take it back out on the road. Workshop season is upon us and you will see (look right here) that we have scheduled many/many/many workshops in a town near you.

We look forward to another school year of helping teachers teach economics in the public and independent schools of Georgia. See you soon.

It's The Economy Stu.....

Trying to relate econ to the "real" world in order to get your students looking past the boring definitions they see in their textbooks? This image would be a great place to start. Why do so many people from countries to the south risk everything to come here? Opportunity....much of it economic.

Use the map as a segue into discussing HDI.
See where the countries rank here.

Econ Photo Shoot

I'm thinking that if you need to buy your sneakers on layaway you should maybe rethink your current financial situation.
(Walt's sells footwear/apparel)

He Came From the 80's

David Stockman's mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore.
His "Four Deformations of the Apocalypse" article.