for internal use only trendy non-fiction for your advanced economics course chic-onomics:
TRANSCRIPT
for internal use only
Trendy Non-fiction for Your Advanced Economics Course
Chic-onomics:
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Presenters
Amy Hennessy, Economic & Financial Education Specialist
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Leah Kilfoyle, Economics Teacher
Mountain Brook High School
Julie Kornegay, Economic & Financial Education Specialist
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta – Birmingham Branch
Sara Messina, Public Information Specialist
Federal Reserve Board of Governors
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Disclaimer
The views expressed in this presentation do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, or the Federal Reserve System.
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PRINT RESOURCES
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Objective: Light a Fire!Use Trendy Non-fiction to expose your students to
The Economic Way of Thinking.*
1. Everything has a cost
2. People choose for good reasons
3. Incentives matter
4. People create economic systems to influence choices and incentives
5. People gain from voluntary trade
6. Economic thinking is marginal thinking
7. The value of a good or service is affected by people’s choices
8. Economic actions create secondary effects
9. The test of a theory is its ability to predict correctly*Source: Advanced Placement Economics Teacher Resource Manual, 3rd edition. CEE, New York, N.Y.
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Objective: Light a Fire! Or Gregory Mankiw’s “Ten Principles of Economics”.*
1. People face tradeoffs.
2. The cost of something is what you give up to get it.
3. Rational people think at the margin.
4. People respond to incentives.
5. Trade can make everyone better off.
6. Markets are usually a good way to organize economic activity.
7. Governments can sometimes improve market outcomes.
8. A country’s living standard depends on its ability to produce goods/services.
9. Prices rise when the government prints too much money.
10. Society faces a short-run tradeoff between inflation and unemployment.*Source: Principles of Economics. N. Gregory Mankiw, Cengage Learning Inc. 2009
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Ten Titles in Non-fiction
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Ten Assessment Options: Authentic and Traditional*
1. Economic Way of Thinking
2. Economic Terms/Concepts
3. Real world applications
4. Blog entries
5. Tweets or Status Updates
6. Cartoons
7. Song/video
8. Summary/Commentary
9. Chapter Questions
10.Test/Quiz
* Include class discussion with all assessments
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When to Assign Readings?
Summer Reading Course Supplement Long term project Incentive program Pre-requisite/screening for admission
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ONLINE RESOURCES
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Online Resources
Engage your students using modern media to which they relate.
BlogsWebsitesTwitter (Don’t be scared of it like I was!)
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Blogs: A clearing house of current economic events
Greg Mankiw: http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com
Paul Krugman: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com
http://www.krugmanonline.com
Marginal Revolution: www.marginalrevolution.com
EconSchill: http://www.valuingeconomics.blogspot.com
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Common Sense Economics www.commonsenseeconomics.com
Instructor Resources Test Bank Hot Topics Key Element PowerPoint presentations
Student Resources Reading Guides Exploring Topics Practice Questions
Really Cool Stuff
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The Naked Economist on Yahoo Finance
Monthly column for “Expert Advice”
Articles based on material in econ standards!
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Why would I want to use Twitter?“I am surprised how many people still think Twitter is a fad or a waste of time. I view Twitter
-- or some modified future version thereof -- as everlasting. Most of all, the search function helps you tap into a real time conversation on just about any topic you want, including the lecture you just gave. Google is wonderful but it's hard to sort through the mess and figure out where the conversation is now. For sampling opinion on either movies or music, Twitter is essential, or even for researching a forthcoming blog post. Think of it as Google focused on one time-slice and giving the weight of crowd opinion no more than linear force. If an opinion is more common it will receive more tweets but otherwise your search brings up the splat, ordered by chronology, and thus it is more idiosyncratic than the first Google search page and often in a good way.
At least now, the people on Twitter are smarter on average than the people whose choices feed into Google. I am not sure that particular benefit will last forever,
If you can find some people worth following, so much the better. But the value of the medium doesn't much depend on what they had for breakfast.
Many people use Twitter to ask for advice; I have yet to learn how to do this well.”
--Tyler Cowen, George Mason University Economics Professor and noted blogger
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Who’s On Twitter? Paul Krugman Andrew Ross Sorkin Robert Reich (make sure you have RBReich) Arnold Kling Tyler Cowen (Marginal Revolution Blog) Russell Roberts Greg Mankiw Thomas Sowell
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NON-FICTION &CENTRAL BANKING
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Exploring Issues in Non-Fiction
Personalities of central bankers Understanding the gold standard Central banks in economic crisis Yes or no to a central bank?
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Personalities of central bankers
How do central bankers’ personalities, background, experience, research interests impact their policymaking, philosophies, and responses?
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Understanding the gold standard
What are the benefits and costs of the gold standard, and what are the challenges?
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Central banks and economic crisisHow do central banks respond to economic crisis, and evaluate the effectiveness of the response.
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Behavioral EconomicsGive Your Students a “Nudge”!
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Who wants to participate in an activity?
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Which statement best describes your attitude?
A
I sometimes make food choices that I know I shouldn’t. (Ex: fried food, salt, sugar, etc.)
B
I always make food choices that are in my bodies best interest.
Statement 1
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Which statement best describes your attitude?
A
I wish I would have started saving a little earlier for retirement.
B
I have always saved at least 10% of my income for retirement no matter my age or salary.
Statement 2
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Which statement best describes your attitude?
A
I wish I had more time to exercise.
B
I include some form of exercise into my routine every day. It is the most important part of my day.
Statement 3
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Which statement best describes your attitude?
A
I have trouble trying to figure out how to invest my retirement account.
B
I know exactly how my retirement account is invested, including which companies make up any index funds.
Statement 4
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Which statement best describes your attitude?
A
I am busy and don’t have time to think deeply about everything.
B
I am good at translating problems into solutions that are solved logically. I think all things through thoroughly before acting.
Statement 5
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DO YOU MORE CLOSELY IDENTIFY WITH “A” OR “B”?
Thank you for participating.
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Are you a “Human” or an “Econ”?
A
Human
Are susceptible to temptation
Do things “automatically” or without thinking
B
Homo Economicus
Good at translating problems into terms that are solved logically
Utility determines choice You can never be worse
off by having more choices
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Choices Aren’t Always Logical
Homer Simpson Spock
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Passive Decision Making
People tend to be passive decision makers.
This can be described as what requires the least amount of effort.
An example of this is saving for retirement.
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Choice Architecture
• Framing – the idea that choices depend, in part, on the way in which problems are stated.
•Choice architecture can successfully nudge people toward the best decision without restricting their freedom of choice.
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How Does the Fed Use Behavioral Economics?
Boston Fed’s –
Center for Behavioral Economics
http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/bedm/index.htm
Topics include:
Behavioral aspects of price setting
Household savings behavior
Fairness and the Labor Market
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How Does the Fed Use Behavioral Economics?Dallas Fed’s –
Consumer Decision-making Conference
http://www.dallasfed.org/news/ca/2010/10consumer.cfm
• The impact of complex financial markets on consumers
• Immediate gratification
• Lack of knowledge and understanding about the costs and benefits of financial services.
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Chic-onomics: Trendy Non-fiction for Your Advanced Economics CourseEconomics has never been trendier!
Learn to leverage popular non-fiction literature as a powerful tool for unlocking classroom discussion and promoting students’ economic way of thinking in your advanced economics course. Discover effective practices for engaging learners with the newest ideas, anecdotes, and narratives about globalization, behavioral economics, the financial crisis, and other economics content, so that your students can participate in the dismal science’s best makeover yet!
We will be giving away copies of the books we discuss as door prizes so make sure you get a ticket!
Saturday 8:00 – 8:50 a.m.
Session H - 77