Re: The M.B.A. - why bother?
You'll have to do field research. I'll be glad to talk to you privately once your project matures. There are also a lot of rules of thumb in different industries in hiring and promotion you might look at. Best Regards, MG From: Pat McCann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2000 10:23 AM Subject: Re: The M.B.A. - why bother? > As an undergraduate economics major investigating the
Re: The M.B.A. - why bother?
In my experience, outside of specialized consultants, many consulting firms hire preferentially philosophy/history majors with knowledge of languages and supervisory experience. Sales and community experience is helpful. MBAs are for scutwork, as they say, and you're supposed to pick up engineering background unless you are a specialist. Persons with knowledge of opera who enjoy country music are considered way ahead of the pack as business and economic analysts, whatever the background. Most other requirements are there to satisfy government mandates, dazzle customers or mislead those who do not have the background and are trying to get hired. There are even standards based on hobbies an interests that are used for hiring, as these tend to be quite revealing when all other factors are constant. Alexander Proudfoot, for many years the top implementation consulting firm, hired top persons exclusively based on their ability to apply the philosophy of Gracian, Sun-Tzu, various Samurai thinkers and Lao-tse to business situations in interesting ways, Aristotle's Physics was required reading for top persons. Top marks to anyone on the list who figures out why all this must be so. The NYT is 70 years behind the curve and why are academics assuming they understand that it has any understanding of how consultants act? For many years a major firm used a device called a consensor on those with academic training or government backgrounds. This device was like the electronic voting devices on TV that averaged responses. They were asked a set of questions on how to solve a problem. Those that did not follow the pack were hired, especially if they knew opera. Many consulting firms, however, exist that do not follow such standards as they are in the business of justifying decisions already taken. For them MBA's and other degrees are a signaling device and are so called quite openly, also "union cards." Best Regards, MG Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2000 10:15 PM Subject: The M.B.A. - why bother? > > Business schools have been criticized for being pure credentialing > agencies. The New York Time ran an article today about how consulting > firms are hiring non-MBA's. usually people with graduate degrees > in any field. In house studies show that MBA do just as well > as non-MBAs. > > The article is: > > http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/01/business/01MBAS.html > > Question 1: What took firms so long to realize this? Did they just > depend on the MBA as an easy signal (smart, business oriented) until > the stream of MBA's started to get diverted to the internet start ups? > > Question 2: In a competitive market for labor, what value does the > MBA degree have? The NYT article reports that non-MBA pick up what they > need in a few weeks. Is there any value added? > > -fabio >
Re: more on dynamic pricing
We have no evidence that all or significant Amazon consumers dislike the pricing or even understand the issue, merely press clippings and government threats. Best Regards, MG > do it badly? Why are Amazon's customers so angry about dynamic pricing? > Do they not realize that dynamic pricing should on average make them > better off? Or is it because they think it's unfair that different people > are charged different prices for the same product?
Re: Economics of Love
Is monogamy presumed here? What about multiple quantities of great price? Does the assessment change once the good is obtained--a range of possibles, but once a committment is made one is inflexible, like turning a house to a home? Best Regards, MG (meaning, > people desire one quantity, but at any price), or *perfectly elastic* > (meaning, people desire any quantity, but demand will be infinite below a > given price), or something else entirely? > > Any ideas? > > -JP > _ > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. > > Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at > http://profiles.msn.com. >
Re: The Economics of Chess conventions
I would add that in poker, money management is also very critical. One can lose most of the games, and often must, to end up with the largest pot I notice the responses so far seem to divide this list among the games that attempt to model a portion of reality, such as Diplomacy, Risk and so forth, and then those that seem to model specific economic behaviors such as risk avoidance and resource management and are more traditional and abstract, such as poker. There is a whole class of jigsaw puzzle games used by corporate trainers to specifically model economic behavior in industrial decision making as a teaching device. One may argue the famed Monopoly is such a game for the wider public, as are city-building games such as began with "Gilgamesh" and continue with Sim-City and Empire. Do they model "Crusoe economics" by using entire sets of economic behavior? And--what about co-operative games where the point is to help everyone win, such as Korean circle ball ( after which hackey-sack is modeled) or the focus is on personal action, such as certain "girls games," acculturation games used by therapists and in many communes or social settings, or games played by toddlers? Best Regards, MG From: Fred Foldvary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2000 9:04 AM Subject: Re: The Economics of Chess conventions > > Question: Any other games use economic insights to make playing > > and spectating more fun? > > -fabio > > Poker uses two insights: > > 1. Rent. There are higher and lower valued cards, so a hand (set of > cards) acquires a rent, paid by betting. > > 2. Entrepreneurship. One can win not just by having a highest-valued hand > but also by bluffing, making others believe that one has it. The > card-player as enterpreneur is successful if he knows the market, i.e. the > playing styles of the others and the likely supplies (hands) and demands > (likely bets). > > Fred Foldvary >
Re: The Economics of Chess conventions
a)My understanding is that touching the piece often causes the opponent to reveal "tells" or body signals indicative of his strategy. It also prevents claims a piece was moved by mistake. b)Poker? Monopoly?Tower building games (judging a marginal effect)? Best Regards, MG > Question: Chess players often use the "touch rule" - you touch > a piece, you move it. Is there any economic motivation for this rule? > > Question: Any other games use economic insights to make playing > and spectating more fun? > > -fabio >
Re: "Dynamic Pricing"
Ask. Best Regards,MGFrom: Erik Burns To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, September 15, 2000 8:19 AM Subject: RE: "Dynamic Pricing" this is an interesting move from Amazon, if true. The difference with the temperature sensitive Coke machine is that the price rises for everyone for external reasons. with the Amazon move described here, the discriminatory pricing is based on individual characteristics and is therefore actually discriminatory. (the temp sensitive Coke machine is reacting to supply and demand (higher temps, more demand, higher prices) while the point-of-purchase price differences do not. something that has always intrigued me about Amazon (being a regular client) is how they offer almost nothing for loyalty or regular use. i guess i was expecting something in the way of discounting or gift certificates or something. maybe i just don't spend enough there, but it does seem a bit strange they don't focus more on keeping customers with a solid record of purchasing. (i spend about $100 a month at Amazon). etb -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Seiji SteimetzSent: Thursday, September 14, 2000 12:13 AMTo: [EMAIL PROTECTED]Subject: "Dynamic Pricing" It looks like (3rd degree) price discrimination is becoming more sophisticated. Check out the following article: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/zd/2911/tc/behind_amazon_s_preferential_pricing_1.html According to the article, Amazon.com uses various gauges of your "price sensitivity" (read: own-price elasticity of demand), such as which browser you're using, to determine what price to charge you for DVD's. It also discusses Coca-Cola's investigation into vending machines that can automatically adjust prices according to outside temperature. I think most economists will think this is pretty cool. However, I doubt that the public response to such practices will be favorable. This leads me to wonder about one legal ramification. From what I understand, price discrimination is de jure illegal (but not de facto illegal) if it interferes with competition. Will price discriminating Coke machines impede or promote competition? Seiji___Seiji Steimetz Office: Social Science Tower 305Compulsory Union Fee Paying Graduate Student University of California, Irvine Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Department of Economics Web: http://zotnet.net/~steimetz 3151 Social Science Plaza Office: (949) 824-1372Irvine, CA 92697-5100 "Every time a calf is born, the per capita GDP of a nation rises. Every time a human baby is born, the per capita GDP falls." -- Julian Simon___
Re: Reading Recommendation with a Comment
What an interesting discussion. Yet who influences the peers but the leader? To take a different tack, as Anatole France said, when asked who the greatest Modern European was, "Spinoza's father." Economic and social change does seem to happen on the margin, often unrecorded by historians and students of society.. We know his mother's name was Hannah Deborah, but else of his father, that he might have died horribly of plague, and was probably a systematic and very devoted family man. Best Regards, MG (Michael Gilson De Lemos) Check out... *MG is on the USA LP EXECOM. Got suggestions? Send 'em. *** - Original Message - From: Robin Hanson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2000 5:26 PM Subject: Re: Reading Recommendation with a Comment > Bryan Caplan wrote: > >All three of the other admitted readers of the Harris book - Bill, > >Robin, and Alex - are parents. Has this in any way affected your > >"parental investment" or anything like that? > > At tad but not much. It seems that the way that evolution induced > people to parent is not to give them an abstract realization of > benefits, but to make them directly enjoy it. So I parent mostly > because I enjoy it, even if I realize that on the margin in today's > world it doesn't help much. > > > Robin Hanson [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://hanson.gmu.edu > Asst. Prof. Economics, George Mason University > MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030- > 703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323
Re: Xerox machines and book prices
This has been going on for years. Xlibris, Ingram, American University Press (starting up), Libertarian Sci-Fi author's Schulman's Pulpless.com, LIO is looking into using it for translations, etc. The nice thing is also many books out of print are now available like Dover used to do, only more titles. Best Regards, MG From: Bernard Girard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2000 1:51 AM Subject: Re: Xerox machines and book prices > That's an idea almost as old as xerography. Does anyone knows of a company (or > library) that markets this type of service? > > > michael gilson de lemos a *crit : > > > Hmmm. What about on-demand publishing, which is JIT, controlled set-up costs > > and dependent on photocopying technology? > > > > Best Regards, > > MG >
Re: Xerox machines and book prices
Hmmm. What about on-demand publishing, which is JIT, controlled set-up costs and dependent on photocopying technology? Best Regards, MG
Re: How to own the world
The higher returns are local to only a part of world economy. Best Regards, MG - Original Message - From: Alex Tabarrok <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2000 6:47 PM Subject: How to own the world > Suppose you invest in the stock market and reinvest all dividends. > Thus earning (conservatively) 5%-6% a year. The world economy grows at > (conservatively) 2.5% a year. Thus, in a surprising short time (around > 700 years supposing you begin with one million dollars) you will have > more wealth than all of WP (world product), indeed your dividends will > be more than WP. Is thus a theoretical conundrum or just an empirical > one? > > Alex > > P.S. This sort of issue has been discussed here before but I believe > the above argument presents the issue more clearly than earlier. > -- > Dr. Alexander Tabarrok > Vice President and Director of Research > The Independent Institute > 100 Swan Way > Oakland, CA, 94621-1428 > Tel. 510-632-1366, FAX: 510-568-6040 > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Non-Negotiable Contracts
What is there to negotiate? Best Regards, MG > > "The company I'm buying a house from won't negotiate any part of the basic contract. Why not? The dopey answer is "monopoly power" . . .I tend to think that the seller just anticipates no gains to trade. >
Re: Summer reruns
Also, a lot of folks don't like to work in the summer.Especially in CA. Best Regards, MG been averse > to > >breaking the tradition and producing more original content in the summer > to > >capture market share from their rivals? > > > >R.J. Lehmann > >Retail Editor > >Travel Weekly > >(201) 902-1931 (v) > >(201) 319-1947 (f) > > > > > > >
Re:more refills.
Is it more appropriate to say free refill, or doling out in small quantities that not all may use--and one depends on people not using all they are entitled to? If the latter, can the multiplier effect in some sense be viewed as what happens when people do not use all they are entitled to, allowing banks to loan deposits? Best Regards, MG
Re: Free Re-fills
In what sense can a church that doles unlimited free soup to the poor be giving free-refills? Is that a pre-emptive strike? Best Regards, MG (have said that > there are no free drink re-fills in Europe , but is > this also true of fast food? Maybe the test case is the same franchise on > different continents. > > > >
Re: Diamond Arbitrage?
I agree with Fred. Something similar goes on in stamp and coin collecting, and to some extent with auto appraisals.However, diamonds are a very controlled market. Best Regards, MG appraising at > the retail price, but the "wholesale" is a fiction, actually being the real > retail price, and the "retail" price is a fiction that few would actually > buy at. > > Fred Foldvary
Re: Free Re-fills
Restaurants of what type and what were their corresponding policies? Best Regards, MG > Is there any logic to whether restaraunts offer free refills for soda > drinks? > > I've observed one street alone among three restaraunts
