Economics 452, Spring 2012
Instructor: Timothy O'Neill Dang
Syllabus

Check this page regularly for course information! I will post assignments, problem sets, lecture notes, etc. here. The most recent additions will be at the top of the table.

TLDR A common phenomenon online is "too long, didn't read" (TLDR). Please don't fall prey to that with material I write for you, or material I assign for you to read. You will be responsible for what I ask you to read. (I will try not to be too wordy.) Sometimes I will recommend, but not require, certain reading. Then you can read, skim, or skip as you think best.




Suggested sources for related news Links I may use during lecture

Date addedItem
May 3
  • Here is a partial solution guide to midterm #2
  • Update: A helpful student pointed out an error in the solution guide for HW #12.
    • Here is the corrected answer guide..
    • The error was on problem #1 (d). I mistakenly used 0.73 as pT, the probability that a voter would be correct given that Friedkrug was correct, and then 0.27 as 1-pT. In fact, we'd found in part (a) that pT should be 0.88, and so 1-pT should be 0.12.
    • The final computation shown in the answer guide is correct, it must have been based off the correct calculations in spite of what was shown. So, the overall probability of a majority vote being correct is still approximately 0.768.
    • I apologize for the confusion.
May 2
  • I will be having extra office hours Thursday (12pm-2pm).
  • I intend to post a solution guide for midterm #2, but technical glitches are preventing it, so it will probably not be able to happen until Thursday morning.
April 30
  • More will be coming here in the afternoon, check back.
  • Wikibooks reviews and grading:
    • If you did not specifically request a review, then I will be giving you a grade on your Wikibook contribution on Wednesday.
    • I am working on reviews of Wikibook pages you've been working on. If you intend to keep working on the Wikibook, you should look at (at least) two things, and read them carefully:
      • First, look at these overall review thoughts. They apply accross the board.
      • Second, look at the specific review(s) for the page(s) you intend to keep working on. Not all of these are done yet, but when they are done they will be titled "TDang review April 2012". For instance: this one for Expectations management.
      • As I mention in the top of the reviews, the tone of my reviews may come off as negative. Please don't let it be discouraging, however. The emphasis on things I see which need improvement is the most direct way I think I can help you improve the book.
      • It is likely you and others will be editing the same material at the same time, possibly responding to the same piece of a review. Make small edits, and keep an eye out for changes made by others so you don't step on each other too much, or get redundant.
      • If you are concerned about the quantity of your contribution, here is a spreadsheet which might help. It can give you at best a very rough estimate, so don't put too much weight on it, but if it looks like you've only done 20% of the additions suggested, that might be something worth thinking about. Update 2:This spreadsheet didn't do what it was supposed to on the classroom computer, but does when I download it to my computer. So, you should fee lfree to try it, it might work or not. You also probably have some idea of how much editing you're doing without it.
      • Update 1:Most of you will not be getting individualized reviews from me. I will send you an individualized email only if I notice a specific, significant problem with what you have done so far. If you don't get an email from me, it is either because:
        • You have done very little and so there's nothing worth reviewing for you. This is obviously a significant problem, but one you should be aware of without an email.
        • Everything which needs to be said about your editing can be said in the general review of the pages, rather than aimed at you personally. This will be why for most of you.
  • Here are Phil Hihn's lecture notes from today.
  • Here is an answer guide for homework #12.
  • Another note on writing for the Wikibook: The strict volume of your editing is just a rough guide to the significance of your contribution. If you do formatting improvements, this might not look like any change in the size of a page, but it is helpful and will be considered. Fixing grammer is the same. Adding graphics adds only a small amount to the size of the page, but is significant both in helpfulness to the book and in work required to do it, so will be considered a significant contribution. (These are just examples.)
April 25
  • Here are Dr. Dang's lecture notes from today.
  • Here are Phil Hihn's lecture notes from today.
  • For Monday, April 30, complete this homework and hand it in, at the beginning of class.
  • For Monday, please watch the following two videos:
  • Two corrections/clarifications about grading:
    1. When I gave you your current participation score, I had it as "x out of 15" points. In fact, according to the syllabus, it should be out of 12 points. When I give you your grade status next week, the points for participation will be correct. I apologize for getting the scale wrong.
    2. If you are asking for a review rather than a grade on your Wikibook contribution, then you will have up until the time of the final exam to make more changes to your contribution which will be considered in your grade. That means you will be graded on your editing as of 10:30am, Friday May 4.
April 23
  • Here are Dr. Dang's lecture notes from today.
  • Here are Phil Hihn's lecture notes from today.
  • It might be too late, but it's possible that you can get help with the technology of Wikibooks editing from Taylor Corcoran during her office hours on Tuesday.
    • Taylor's office hours Tuesday are 1pm-3pm in the economics department study room 401B.
    • Taylor has edited Wikibooks before, so may be able to help you if you're lost.
    • However, Taylor's office hours are primarily devoted to helping Econ 361 students, and those students have an exam this coming Thursday. I have told Taylor that the Econ 361 students get priority over the Econ 452 students, so ... she may be able to help you, or she may be too busy.
April 18
April 16
  • Here are Dr. Dang's lecture notes from today.
  • Here are Phil Hihn's lecture notes from today.
  • Upcoming readings: We'll be reading through Infotopia pretty quickly, with at least one extra reading:
    Wed. April 18
    Chapters 2 & 3
    Mon. April 23
    Chapter 4, and also "The Use of Knowledge in Society" by F. A. Hayek. (You should be able to access this paper. However, if you find it awkward, doing a web search will pull up alternative sources for it.)
    Wed. April 25
    Chapter 5
    Mon. April 30
    Chapter 6
April 11
  • Here are Dr. Dang's lecture notes from today.
  • For Wednesday, April 18, complete this homework and hand it in, at the beginning of class.
April 9
  • What's coming up:
    • Infotopia: We'll be reading Infotopia, supplemented by some other readings and some more formal modeling of the ideas in the book. For next lecture, please read the Introduction and Chapter 1. The book is a fairly easy read, so you might want to try to read the whole thing as soon as you're able.
    • Wikibook: You need to be preparing to finish up your Wikibook editing. Here's what I want from you:
      • According to the syllabus, Wednesday, April 25 is the last day for Wikibook contributions. I'm going to add just a little bit of flexibility to that.
      • By Wednesday, April 25, I want the equivalent of 3 good pages that you have done on the book. That means good information and/or analysis, with references, well-formatted and proof-read.
      • Once you have that, you have two choices. You can ask me to review what you have done, or to grade what you have done.
      • If you ask me to grade what you have done, then I will consider that your completed work for the course, and will ignore any editing after that point in deciding your grade. The possible advantage to you of doing it this way is that you will be able to get a more complete grade status from me before the final exam. However, if you don't think your grade is satisfactory, it will be too late to change it.
      • If you ask me to review what you have done, then I will not give you a grade until after the final exam, but I will look over what you have done and give you some feedback, likely including suggestions for improvement. The advantage to you of doing it this way is that you will have a little more time, and will have a chance to act on the feedback I give you, and hopefully wind up with something better.
      • I will expect most of your work to be what we decided (you chose, or I assigned) in the "editing plan" section of the classlist. If you need to do something different (or you never choose an area to work) you should contact me about that.
      • You can estimate how much you have added by using a "DIFF" to compare different versions of the page you are working on. (For instance, here is a DIFF of some changes I made to one of the pages.)
      • You can estimate how many pages the Wikibook page would be if printed by going to "Print/export" on the bottom of the left-hand-side menu, and choosing "Download as PDF" to see how it would print.
      • You should feel free to ask me for advice on how to proceed, but time is short and I might not be able to respond immediately.
April 4
March 28
  • Here are Dr. Dang's lecture notes from today.
    • The notes from today are sparse because a great deal of the class was taken up by the experiments. We'll continue to talk about them, so as a reminder, here are the rules for (Experiment #1), (Experiment #2).
    • There are also some comments relevant to the experiments on the wikibook.
  • Here are Phil Hihn's lecture notes from today.
  • For Wednesday, April 3, complete this homework and hand it in, at the beginning of class.
  • Here is an answer guide for homework #8.
March 26
  • Here are Dr. Dang's lecture notes from today.
  • Here are Phil Hihn's lecture notes from today.
  • You can see some of the game theory material I discussed today on the Wikibook here.
March 21
March 19
March 7
  • Here are Dr. Dang's lecture notes from today.
  • Here are Phil Hihn's lecture notes from today.
  • Don't forget the homework and reading assignments for Monday, March 19 (see below).
  • Here are two potential sources to use in working on the Wikibook:
    • First, if something has the proper licenses, it should be possible to import it to Wikibooks. For instance, it is legal to import material from Wikipedia to Wikibooks. If you would like to do this, there is a particular way to go about it, so comunicate with me about it first.
    • Second, I have begun uploading versions of my lecture notes to Wikibooks, not as part of the Wikibook but so that it is legal to copy stuff from there to the Wikibook proper.
      • The material is linked from this page as "rough lecture notes".
      • You may use this material without checking with me first. However, for the sake of academic integrity, mention (probably in the edit summary) when you do so.
      • This does not mean you can use the material that is in my lecture notes posted on the course web page. You may use those notes for inspiration and ideas, certainly, but not to copy material from.
March 5
February 29
  • I'm very sorry about missing today's lecture.
  • You won't be ready for homework #5, problem #2. Turn in problem #1, which will count as 110 points. Problem #2 will appear sometime in your future.
February 27
February 25
February 22
  • Please go look at the notes on editing plans I have commented on what you wrote, possibly giving you some suggestions, or maybe telling you you need to change to something else. If you asked me to assign you a topic, I did so there.
  • If you don't see a comment from me, or an editing plan for yourself, then you haven't either selected a plan or asked me to assign you one. You should do so. See the assignment below on February 8.
  • We're going to shift gears to talking about network externalities now. That material is not in your textbook, and so we'll be relying largely on lectures. However, you should also read in the Wikibook:
February 20
  • Here are Dr. Dang's lecture notes from today.
  • Here are Phil Hihn's lecture notes from today.
  • There will be a review session for the first midterm exam, today 6pm-7:30pm McClelland Hall room 132
  • Here are some additional study questions which are worth thinking about.
February 15
  • Here are Dr. Dang's lecture notes from today.
  • Here are Phil Hihn's lecture notes from today.
  • There is no homework due next week.
  • Here is an answer guide for homework #4.
  • The first midterm exam is next week, Wednesday, February 22.
  • There will be a review session for the first midterm exam:
    • Monday, February 20, 6pm-7:30pm. McClelland Hall room 132
    • I may post some study questions here. If so, I will email the class to notify you.
February 13
February 8
  • Here are Dr. Dang's lecture notes from today.
  • Here are Phil Hihn's lecture notes from today.
  • For Wednesday, February 15, complete this homework and hand it in, at the beginning of class.
  • Here is an answer guide for homework #3.
  • Before lecture on Mnday, for the wikibook project:
    • Go to the "editing plan" area and, under your username, indicate what you plan to start working on (see the instructions there for some thoughts).
    • If you can't choose, that's OK, but then please email me and let me know. I will assign you something to work on.
February 6
  • Here are Dr. Dang's lecture notes from today.
  • Here are Phil Hihn's lecture notes from today.
  • Next week, we'll be getting into durable goods. Please start reading the chapter on "Decision Making Over Time: Durability".
  • Homework #3, question #3 is asking you something about two-part tariffs which you might not be ready for (based on where I've gotten in lecture). You should skip question #3. If you've already worked on it, don't worry, it should come back up again. (Questions #1 and #2 will be re-weighted to account for #3 being missing.)
February 3
  • There was an error with the prices in #2 part (c) of the homework #2 solutions. It's been corrected, both below and here.
February 1
  • Here are Dr. Dang's lecture notes from today.
  • Here are Phil Hihn's lecture notes from today.
  • For Wednesday, February 9, complete this homework and hand it in, at the beginning of class.
  • Here is an answer guide for homework #1.
  • Here is an answer guide for homework #2.
  • I still intend to talk about the online articles on Udacity and Apple iBooks...
January 30
  • Here are Dr. Dang's lecture notes from today.
  • Here are Phil Hihn's lecture notes from today.
  • Please read the chapter on "Advanced Topics in Pricing" (more material on price discrimination) for next Monday.
  • If you haven't already, read the online articles linked below for Wednesday.
  • For Monday, February 5, please do a brief review of one page of the wikibook:
    • I've given you some more instructions, and assigned which page I'd like you to review on your personal Wikibook "talk page". Make sure it's there. If it's not there, something may be wrong and please email me right away.
    • I'd really like this done before class on Monday, but in case you have difficulty with the Wikibook-editing part, it won't be considered late as long as it's done sometime on Monday. That gives you the option of asking Taylor Corcoran (or possibly me) for Wikibook assistance.
    • You are likely to be in over your head on this. That's deliberate, and don't let it worry you. Some of the pages will be material which seemed appropriate when first added to the book, but maybe isn't. Some of the pages will be on material we won't cover until later in the course. And some will just be confusing until they are better-edited. Read what's there, and make suggestions.
January 25
January 23
  • There was a problem with the homework. On problem number 2, the demand function was defined incorrectly. This will make the problem pretty nonsensical, and hard to solve. This version has been corrected.
  • Here are Dr. Dang's lecture notes from today.
  • Here are Phil Hihn's lecture notes from today.
  • If you find yourself needing help with Wikibook editing, besides myself, you can visit the preceptor Taylor Corcoran at office hours. Taylor won't be able to help you with 452 course material, but has edited a Wikibook before.
    • Monday 11am-1pm (401A)
    • Tuesday 1pm-3pm (401B).
January 18
  • Here are Dr. Dang's lecture notes from today.
  • Here are Phil Hihn's lecture notes from today.
  • By class time Monday, Juanuary 23, make one minor improvement:
    • This could be a spelling correction, a re-phrasing, cleaning up formatting. It doesn't need to be anything major, just a little improvement to get you started editing.
    • By "On the Wikibook", I mean anything that is part of this book: Strategy for Information Markets
    • Be sure you are logged in when you do the edit.
  • For Wednesday, January 25, complete this homework and hand it in.
January 18
  • Here are Dr. Dang's lecture notes from today.
  • Here are Phil Hihn's lecture notes from today.
  • By class time Monday, Juanuary 23, make one minor improvement:
    • This could be a spelling correction, a re-phrasing, cleaning up formatting. It doesn't need to be anything major, just a little improvement to get you started editing.
    • By "On the Wikibook", I mean anything that is part of this book: Strategy for Information Markets
    • Be sure you are logged in when you do the edit.
  • For Wednesday, January 25, complete this homework and hand it in.
January 11
  • Here are Dr. Dang's lecture notes from today.
  • Here are Phil Hihn's lecture notes from today.
  • Read chapter on "Monopolies, Monopsonies, and Dominant Firms" for Wednesday, January 18
  • Create account and get started on Wikibooks for Wednesday, January 18.