I’ve started showing Barbarians at the Gate in my corporation finance classes because it is a great story that ties together so many items on the syllabus: investment decisions in existing businesses, sunk costs (the Premier cigarette), the differences between cash flow and accounting income, and the use of leverage. Plus, James Garner is so… [Read More]
Blog
Category: Teaching Finance
How much education about money should kids receive? And where?
The other night, I was talking to a friend who also has a son in high school about our kids’ schedules. Her son had to stop taking Spanish because his school district requires students to take a class in personal finance. On the one hand, I hated to see any American give up study of… [Read More]
The world’s oldest economics joke
Two economics professors are walking down the street. They see a $20 bill on the sidewalk. One stops to pick it up. The other says, “Don’t bother. If it were real, someone would have picked it up already.” The first professor picks it up anyway, sees that it is real, turns to the other and… [Read More]
What are the economics of spam?
I just deleted about 8900 comments in the spam folder, and in no time, three more were added. The economics of this are amazing. It’s cheap to send out zillions of messages, even semi-customized ones. But they are obviously ads for junk! Even if you are in the market for Ugg boots, would you be… [Read More]
Hot issues in finance, fall semester 2013
At the start of every semester, I ask my students to list some of the top issues in finance. We’ll review the list at the end of the semester to see if the course gave them any insight. Here’s what students in the two sections of the course came up with: AM Section Unionization and… [Read More]
