The UNI Department of Economics Blog

Ken McCormick Recommends "Boomerang Travels in the New Third World"

2012-01-28T18:08:00.003-06:00

"Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World" by Michael Lewis (Yes, the same guy who wrote Moneyball, Liar's Poker, and The Big Short). If you want a very entertaining explanation of the financial follies of Iceland, Greece, Ireland, German Banks, and U.S. state and local governments, I highly recommend it. It is extremely well written, and contains good information and insights.

Oliver Blanchard on the Importance of Expectations to Recent Macroeconomic Events

2011-12-29T16:01:00.002-06:00

Olivier Blanchard Economic Counsellor and Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund provides interesting commentary on recent macroeconomic developments and how they have been shaped by expectations. http://blog-imfdirect.imf.org/2011/12/21/2011-in-review-four-hard-truths/

Buy Local

2011-12-01T11:44:00.001-06:00

Consider this:

http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/11/14/the-inefficiency-of-local-food/

Is Uncertainty About Regulations Holding Back Business Spending and Hiring

2011-10-26T11:10:00.002-05:00

Lawrence Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute examines the claim that firms are holding back on spending and hiring plans because of uncertainty over future regulations.
http://www.epi.org/publication/regulatory-uncertainty-phony-explanation/

Harvard Economist Robert Barro on "How to Really Save the Economy"

2011-10-20T13:59:00.001-05:00

Harvard economics professor Robert Barro offers his advice on how to really save the economy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/opinion/sunday/how-to-really-save-the-economy.html

A Sin Tax on Football

2011-10-20T13:54:00.002-05:00

If we tax tobacco because of its negative externalities, why not tax college football?
http://www.chicagolife.net/content/politics/Taxes_and_Touchdowns

Bad Trades? Blame it on hormones?

2011-10-20T13:41:00.004-05:00

Why men make bad trades and why women are less likely to do so.
http://www.economist.com/node/21530111

The Real Keynes

2011-09-07T11:18:00.003-05:00

This is a very short piece by Britain's shadow chancellor that actually 
discusses the real Keynes, not the caricature that both left and right 
have made of him.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/sep/04/internationalist-spirit-global-plan-growth

A Course Load for the Game of Life

2010-09-08T12:19:00.003-05:00

Professor Greg N. Mankiw of Harvard University recently sent his oldest child to college. That led him to consider what students should learn in college. He concludes that economics, statistics, finance, and psychology provide important foundations for students of all ages. He admits that he failed to take psychology as an undergraduate, but has since sat in on the introductory course at Harvard.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/business/economy/05view.html?_r=1

What Motivates People

2010-07-27T08:38:00.004-05:00

Recent research by economists shows that people are motivated by self direction, mastery, and purpose.
See an animated video about this research here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIsz5X3vqSA.

Get LinkedIn with Alums, Students, and Faculty

2009-07-13T08:53:00.000-05:00

The department now has a LinkedIn group. LinkedIn is a professional network where you can post a professional profile. You can stay in touch, find experts, and post or look at job postings.

To find out more, go here: http://learn.linkedin.com/what-is-linkedin/.

To join the group, go here: http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/2101050/

UNI offers Virtual Career Services

2009-05-05T07:52:00.000-05:00

VIRTUAL CAREER CENTER AVAILABLE:
The UNI Alumni Association and UNI Career Services have partnered with CareerBeam®, LLC to offer a new virtual career success center, a free service for UNI alumni and students. CareerBeam offers company and industry research tools, international databases and lead generation technology available in the market. The success center also has a career development seminar series offering assessments, professional resume and cover letter builders and search strategy resources. Visit the Alumni Career Center at www.unialum.org/career.

Interview Tips

2009-01-17T16:20:00.002-06:00

Interview Tips

David Boege

I am currently a quality engineering supervisor at John Deere. During the nine years that I have been in the working world I have had many opportunities to sit on both sides of the interview table. I have interviewed people that were coming out of their freshmen year of college and some that have been in the working world for more than 30 years. This has allowed me to see some people that did a great job and some that were absolutely terrible at interviewing. In the following few paragraphs I will try to summarize some of the things that make a person a great interviewee.

First Impressions

The first impression that a person has of you is extremely important. I will not hire someone in the first minute of an interview, but I may rule someone out. Start with a firm handshake and look the interviewer straight in the eye and introduce yourself. Everyone gets nervous at the start of an interview, so take your time and collect your thoughts before beginning to answer the first questions. If you do not believe that you deserve the job, then the interviewer will not believe it either.

Be Prepared

While there are different types of interviews, the one thing that you need for all of them is a variety of answers so as to not repeat yourself all day. First, make sure that you know a little something about the company and if you know who you are interviewing with feel free to “Google” them. Now you do not need to come out and tell them you did this as they might think you are a stalker, but having a little additional information about the interviewer can be helpful. For example if you know that they wrote a paper on a certain topic, you may want to try to incorporate that into the conversation. There is nothing wrong with kissing up a little and it shows that you are genuinely interested in the job.

Prepare for questions on a variety of topics that you think could be asked. Common topics include the following:

A team working on a project, possibly with poor performers
Complex projects that require skills you do not have and how you handle that
Project tracking and keeping to a budget or schedule
How you define “good” performance and how you strive toward that
How to handle disagreements with professors, coworkers
Decision making and what you considered before deciding

In general I would recommend having 5-10 different projects or situations that you have been a part of that are good at showcasing a variety of your skills. If you have good examples, the same one could answer 3 or 4 of the above questions.

Be specific

At least within Deere and I believe in most company, we are looking for people that can execute and drive real improvement. In an interview the way to find such people is to see who can talk about some very specific projects that they have done and the good that came from those projects.

Anyone can get up and say I am a people person, I am hard-working, and I am wonderful.

What interviewers want to hear are the specifics of what makes you special. What did you do on the projects to make them successful? How did you work with your teammates to improve their performance? What was your role on the team that led to that success? Giving generalizations gives the impression that you were not intimately involved in a project and did not do much of the work.

There is nothing wrong with bringing some of the information from some of your projects to show the interviewer. This information backs up your case that you have done a lot of work on the projects.

For those of you that are early in your education the examples will be more difficult to come up with. If you have been a part of high school teams or even worked at temporary jobs, do not hesitate to use those as examples too. Most interviewers understand that you have not been through as much, but they still want to see that you have done something with the opportunities that you have had.

Summary

Remember to come prepared for the interview as the interview really starts long before you walk into the room. Once you are in the room give a good first impression by being (or at least acting) confident. And lastly make sure that you are specific with your examples as it is pretty easy to see through someone if the interviewer digs into the details. Sell yourself and good luck with you future interviews.

A WebSite For Econ Jobs

2009-01-14T11:05:00.002-06:00

Here's a website listing jobs in economics.
http://www.econ-jobs.com/

Economic Models and Reality

2008-10-07T13:57:00.001-05:00

Fundamentalists versus Realists

Submitted by Paul Romer on Mon, 10/06/2008 - 04:27.

Debate among economists about the $700 billion Paulson plan reveals a deep divide between realists and fundamentalists. If economists and policy makers pay attention to how the tension between these two positions plays out in this particular debate, it will help us know how to deal with it in other areas, including development.

The formal, model-based approach of the fundamentalists has contributed much to progress in economic analysis. At key junctures, it has also made important contributions to policy. The challenge is to maintain an intellectual environment that leaves space for a conversation with realists as well. In complicated policy contexts where models don't yet capture key forces, the realists have much to offer both policy makers and fundamentalist modelers. By giving voice to observations that strike realists as obvious but that are not accepted in conversations dominated by fundamentalists, the report by the Commission on Growth and Development could encourage a richer, more open debate about the policy options for poor countries.

For the rest go to: http://www.growthcommissionblog.org/content/fundamentalists-versus-realists

Finding out More About Economics

2008-09-11T20:57:00.000-05:00

The American Economics Association has created a site for undergraduate economics majors. It has information on skills, careers, writing, issues and popular books. This website is at
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AEA/students/index.htm.