Category Education
Why do beginner econometricians get worked up about the wrong things?
People make elementary errors when they run a regression for the first time. They inadvertently drop large numbers of observations by including a variable, such as spouse's hours of work, which is missing for over half their sample. They include every single observation in their data set, even when it makes no sense to do […]
Discriminating custom essay services
The most fascinating part of custom essay writing websites are the price sheets. The market is international, and – judging from the number of such sites – highly competitive. For an undergraduate essay with a 5 to 6 day deadline, typical prices are in the range of $16 per page, $16.76 per page, $18.99 per page (for premium […]
Feminist framing and general equilibrium theory
Consider a very simple general equilibrium 2X2 example to illustrate my point: Divide the population into two groups: call them "men" and "women". Divide all outcomes into two groups: call them "arts" and "science". Everybody is somewhere in the 2X2 matrix. Here are four questions we could ask of the data: 1. Why are women […]
On intro micro first, and splitting micro and macro
I thought Noah Smith's post on why we should teach intro micro before intro macro was very good. I agree with Noah: even though macro is much more glamorous, micro is just as useful and important, and we are more confident that micro works. (Read his post for the full story.) I want to add […]
Earnings in the “Good Old Days”
The last two times I’ve taught my quantitative economic history course, I have assigned a micro-data collection project based on the 1901 Census of Canada. All in all, this data collection was a good experience for the students given they got some direct experience collecting primary data, coding it and then analyzing it. Moreover, I […]
Academia’s not-so-dirty secret
It happens at universities across the country. Professors do it. Administrative staff do it. Some sneak onto campus on evenings or weekends, and quietly do it when no one is around. Others are bold enough to do it during regular office hours. I'm talking about cleaning. Dusting. Vacuuming. Sweeping. And, for the truly bold: Painting. Unblocking […]
Higher Education Financing Takes Two to Tango
Alex Usher of Higher Education Strategy Associates has spent the last week on his blog going through an analysis of the financing of Canadian universities. His final post on the subject today provides a convenient summary showing that while total dollars per student has grown substantially over time, the academic operating side of the university […]
The Dead Grandmother Syndrome Reconsidered
Students don't question professors who miss office hours because of sick children or aging parents. So why are professors so untrusting of students who claim to have a sick or dying grandparent? Every stage in life has its joys and sorrows. A typical university student is around 20 years old. His or her grandparents will […]
University Debt II: A Longer-Term Perspective
My recent post on university debt presented data on total enrollment, total long-term debt and the debt to revenue ratio for 20 Ontario universities in 2012. I recently updated the numbers and was able to extend the data backwards to 2000 for many but not all of the same universities. For those of you who […]
University Debt: The Perils of Being Small
You may recall my recent post on Ontario university financing in which I focused on the university debt levels of Brock, Wilfrid Laurier and Guelph given that they were undergoing program reviews designed to address “sustainability”. Well, I have done a bit of an update by getting information on long-term debt, total revenues and enrolment […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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