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Right now, i have finished reading all 4 microeconomics textbooks(recommended by microeconomics' study guide) meanwhile i am about to finish reading Accounting,Banking, and Finance texts very soon by end of this month.
The schedule is quite surprising. SIM has somewhat forced to schedule preliminary exams by end of February till early March. Orignially, SIM thought they will be schedule in March. Sadly, let us see the schedule of preliminary examins and final exam for my year 2.
Preliminary Examination:
Corporate Finance 27/02/08 7pm-10pm(wow, it will be my first time taking exam at night!)
Principles of Banking and Finance 07/03/08 10am-1pm
Principles of Accounting 10/03/08 10am-1pm
Microeconomics 11/03/08 10am-1pm
Final Examination held in Expo for my year 2:
Microeconomics 15th May 10am–1pm
Principles of Accounting 16th May 2.30–5.30pm
Corporate Finance 22nd May 2.30–5.30pm
Principles of Banking and Finance 23rd May 10am–1pm
I wish that the final examination schedule should be like few days study in between two exam papers. Oh well, it doesn't matter since it is already scheduled.
I have studied every day to understand every tiny detail. I seriously want at least 1:1 or 2:1 class degree in order to create another path,if i have such opportunty and money, to study PhD or MSc. I am still considering to enrol MBA in few years time. That is why i am positioning myself to all kinds of possbilities to answer all kind of questions especially open-ended questions or tricky questions(that will 'stun' a lot of people).
I have to inform you readers that I will not set any schedule to post blog entries until end of the May. I can post as much as I can after my Corporate Finance paper.
However, if I need a long hour break from long hours studies, I can make use of it to write blog entry.
Now, let me give my thoughts on two professors/lecturers I respect the most for their original work and idea. They are Benjamin Graham and Peter Drucker.
The first time I heard about Benjamin Graham when I ran on researching stock market investment. From there, I discover his genius work and subsequently bought his books he wrote(Security Analysis 2nd Edition(1940) and The Intelligent Investor(Printed in 2003). I wish I has that chance to attend his class at Columbia Business School at his time. Sadly, he died few ten years ago. Today, I notice that there is a seminar lesson about Bejamin Graham's Security Analysis at Columbia Business School.
Best of all he developed his mathematical formula for security analysis and value investing work. With his research, he disseminated every stock and decide whether to purchase it.
Peter Drucker is yet another brilliant guy who I happen to hear his book 'Practice of Management' which I have bought last few months ago back. I have not read his book yet but I read the one 'A Class With Drucker: The Lost Lessons of the World's Greatest Management Teacher'. The reason why I want to read this book first is to feel his lecturer in class imaginably. Of course, I am in awe with his teaching. What he thought and taught was in the line with what I currently believed. Just throw any management textbooks out and read his work. It will sufficiently shape you into excellent manager. Some contents in the management textbooks are ok but they may be inflexible in such cases which mean impossibe to apply. Best of all, he never work as manager before and yet he was highly soughted for his management consulting.
Sadly again, he died few years ago.
Everyone has a chance to learn new things as they live throughout their own lives but many of them will never realise alternative points of views on such matter.
Let say an example for the sake of simplicity: You want a pay rise because you thought that your work has such significant contribution to the organisation.
From there, the big question always occur in your mind and manager's mind. 'How much is the pay rise and is it justisfied?'
I can tell you that there is no need to bootlick manager's shoes to realise this goal. The key to have it is the trust in between you and manager. If manager know you well and your quality of the work, you are often willing to work with your manager. Then there is a trust and therefore a pay rise will happen. However, if this 'condition' is not present, you will not have it.
I seriously say that one contribution can be not very significant to many of your colleagues and managers but you think it is very significant.
Why is it so? We all live in asymmetric information world. That is where, in terms of this example, you don't really know what your colleagues and managers thinking but you know your own thinking. Likewise, it is the same to your colleagues who know their own thinking but do not know your thinking.
It can effectively apply to stock market: Managers of the public listed firms know the value of their own firms but you investors don't know the exact value of these firms.
Again, it can be used for car market whereby the seller of the car know the condition and quality of the car but you don't know the car's condition and quality.
From that example, that is why you need to send convincing signal to your manager. That is trust. Full stop. Nothing more or less.
From there, I am sure that you can easily develop few different scenario based on asymmetric information world.
Next topic is about education. Not so long ago, I have been reading few The News Papers for different days.
On Monday edition, I am so so so impressed with Larry Haverkamp's 1st year SMU economics students about the Medisave discussion. Like what he say, their comments deserved full marks and come straight from textbook. I suspect it is something to do with Consumer Theory:Slutsky Equivalent Variation(Microeconomics).
On Friday Edition, I see full of local poly schools advertisement. I say they are trying to signal that they are 'quality schools'. It will be good education investment if you are extremely slow learner. But if you are fast-learner or eager to learn a lot as much as you can, then these local schools are BAD investment.
Just go straight to private school doing 1 year or 2 years diploma courses that are awarded by different schools(I highly recommend UOL). I can easily tell you that you will learn much more than what you learn in poly.
How true?You see any foreign countries. Look at their diploma duration and syllabus.
I am really amazed why local poly design the programmes for 3 years especially some irrelevant subjects(history of Singapore or 'how to be good person' or 'how to look after elderly people') In my opinion, such subjects like this should be solely taught in Primary and Secondary schools. Tsk tsk tsk. I do not pity free-going o-level graduates who want to go poly for relaxation. But i do pity the ones who are serious in studies because they only know local poly and its quality. What do you know private schools' programme and its quality. Abosolute zero in their knowledge. That is why there is a need for signalling in asymmetric information world. I know that private schools do some advertising but they don't send powerful messages like local polys to all o level graduate students. Screw advertisement and marketing tools for such stunts.
Sharon told me that i was talented guy and i could have enjoyed in Poly. Well, it is true if i am in Ngee Ann poly, i will probably enjoying all available 'perks'. Ever since i graduate from Accounting HNITEC course, I never had so much free time to enjoy like those poly students. I slogged to graduate from management studies course. I like few subjects but was willing to learn the rest of the subjects.
Right now I am in Banking and Finance degree programme that I want to learn very badly. Although I am suffering, I STILL LOVE LEARNING from all 4 subjects currently.
Finally, I understood why Buffet can adjust his firm capital. I also understood why Ye Rongtian(in the TVB drama 'Threshold of an Era' do such strategies. The answers i develop from my studies of Corporate Finance. I am looking forward to learn many many things!
During my primary school days, I would be staring at the wall at home or playing soccer with my primary school classmates during weekdays(usually afternoon).
Secondary school days?Of course, i spent hours and hours playing computer games.
After Secondary school days?I worked long hours and understood the concept of organisation.
Then ITE? I do accounting homeworks at school or in MRT train and then at home i will be watching loads of Japanese animation and movies.
DMS course?During Semester 5, I started to read and read specialised books about Finance. Not only that, i also play computer games.
I began to play less and less before I started UOL Banking and Finance course.
Today, i study in the morning,afternoon, and night! Most of time in SIM library, National Library(Woodlands and Bugis). But now i am studying at home doing all kinds of questions.
My texts i read are:
And many more. So far i think i have read around more than 1000 pages from these books within few months. However, some books are not within recommended text but i read them to have better and extended understanding of the subject.
Nowadays, teengers have PSPs to play while I read book. This particular friend of mine, Yuan Xiang did an insane thing(i do think so in my own definition) that he sold older verison of ipod video and bought newer verison of ipod. It was like one year later. Not only that, all the money he got from NS spent on PS2(WTF outdated and obsolete machine),ipod video, psp, N95(wtf, he doesn't use every function of this phone other than SMS and phone call). He can't fully utilise all of them.
He will never use PS2 and PSP a lot especially when he play DOTA on pc or play acrade machines at Bugis. It is really no brainer thing.
Young people need to drill the mantra in their heads. 'Do not spend when you hardly use it'
I will never buy psp,ps3 or any kind of things like that. Most of the time, i will be using my books, laptop, and computer.
Next topic...Few months ago back, Eugene with his Citi clear card think he can control. It sound good but future is somethong you can't control. What if you are forced to roll over the credit because of this circumstance.
You don't believe?Just question why many healthy firms suddenly apply Chapter 11 bankruptcy(US law system) to allow them to have enough time to repay to senior and junior creditors. It boils down to economy situation. Every month I see a friend's friend write $500 credit on something(because he also own Citi clear card). I sighed and I fully agree with what Warren Buffet say. Do not own credit card! However there are benefits of credit card to take advantage. Paying purchases on credit without paying now is not the benefit. The true benefit of using credit card is to have discount for certain purchases and allow you to feel comfortable when purchasing online. The rarest benefit which many people(of course normal and common jobs) do not take advantage is to buy things on credit when the job require you to travel for meeting or exhitibition in such short notice. Why buy things when you cannot afford? If you cannot afford, don't buy. Simple like that which mean you don't really use credit card. For me, I may not own credit card in the future unless i travel a lot in such short notice. What i say may not the best thing i can come up but however it is somewhere there to see why many people will never fully utilise their own credit cards. O percent-free installment is gimmick to me. Just pay in full or made down payment and then pay later upon delivery of product!
If you know how bank organisation operate, you should know these kind of stuffs.
I see some real-life stories about having credit card problem. Tsk tsk tsk, little wonder they realise the evil power of credit card. I know people gotta tell me that they can control their own budget. It is the best excuse they can come up with. In future, I will not be surprised that they are at the mercy of bank and banks' stunts.
Oh yes, automobile car is another item that i will never buy in the future. One time, when i was walking from Bukit Timah bus stop(opposite Bukit Timah Shopping Centre), i happen to see an incident where motorcyclist is trying to challenge the taxi driver on the road. It is reckless thing to do. It will result in massive collusion accident if taxi driver obligied. It is about the time to increase the strictness as in fail them if they make any slightest mistake in ethic driving test. There is no mercy at all if they are unleased on the road. Only then, mercy prevails if they can't do on the road because they do not have driving licence.
If i buy car, there is no benefit for me to drive the car. I will see debt and debt and debt. What James Kwan told my Business Finance class about purchasing car is true. You are actually better off not owning any automobile car. No matter how convenient you drive, you are basically paying every day for petrol,ERP,road tax,parking coupon,damages,upgrading,maintainence and etc. Your wealth will never go up as long as you hold normal and common job while being proud car owner. Each car-related expense is hardly utility-maximising.
1)You park illegally, you get caught and pay fine.
2)You park legally in public open carpark, some naughty brat will use key to damange your car inferior plate cover.
3)You forgot to remove cashcard, the thief smash the screen window and disappear with your cash card.
4)Your sloppy car parking cause your car a slight scratch and you need to pay few hundred for repair
5)You can't calculate physics stuff in order to change lane during heavy traffic jam, the other motorist will do the same. You get accident. Hospital bill, car repair bill..
Endless list of problems!
You will discover that each time you try to solve the problem, you will have new problem coming out of the blue.
Next topic is about the fact I encountered last week.
I can't believe how the ending goes like when i saw a Korean Movie titled May 18.
I never pay much attention about political news in Myanmar last year. I only understood how serious it is when I saw this movie. Going through these events knocked me cold and eventually made me to slog harder by studying.
I am very determined to read the Hayek's The Road to Serfdom book after exam.
It is based on true story. I urge you to read my opinion on this movie(at the bottom of the blog entry).
화려한 휴가 (Hwa-ryeo-han Hyoo-ga)(May 18)(Korean Movie 2007)
Synopsis:
Min-woo leads a relatively peaceful life with his younger brother – until the day the soldiers go on the rampage against the citizens. The citizens form a militia determined to protect their loved ones, and Min-woo finds himself in the middle of it all.
Opinions:
I can't believe how South Korean paratroopers treated to their own South Korean citizens. In the end, there is no win-win situation. I feel that we are so fortunate to live in Singapore and Lee Kwan Yew is doing great job providing security which these South Korean citizen never had! I feel that registering such political talk publicly at any police post is good move. Who believe who? It is very easy to spend inaccurate news to one another. US government even can't differentiate the situation like this.*slap my forehead* That is why it is better to let them know what you will be doing. This way you know,they know,public know. So there is no problem.
I feel that changing the military commander every few years is good thing to do. It certainly affect the influence of the army. I understand that doing thing will undermine the quality of leading the army BUT military leader must know how to command army in such short time. It is not impossible. Just imagine that your own country army can't differetiate you from dissenters, you will be beaten up for wrong reason. I finally understood why history always repeat. People always forget and forget!
IF you are not convinced, just watch this movie. By then, you will be convinced why I say that.
Rating:8/10
Bonsuses:1)great lesson to learn from 2)excellent acts 3)blood,cruelity,gore and many more
Over Drive (Japanese Anime 2007)(26 Episodes)
Synopsis:
The story begins with a flashforward to the Tour de France, where Mikoto Shinozaki would become the first Japanese champion.
Time before this, and while feeling a deep crush on Yuki Fukazawa, Mikoto then decides to get into his high school cycling club as Fukuzawa's suggestion, even though he has never practiced any sport before. Ironically, the club's leader is Yousuke, Fukuzawa's older brother and a renowned road racer from his town. Yousuke's long time cycling partner and club's vice president Kouichi Terao sees in Shinozaki all the potential and courage necessary to become a road cycling legend.
Over drive is the story of how Mikoto Shinozaki becomes interested in cycling and all the ups and downs he must live to get his dream of becoming Tour de France's champion come true.
Opinions:
Kudo to Shinozaki.He first time cycle competitively against veteran and professional cyclists. Crossing around 4 mountains to complete within less than 7 hours. Each time he feel like giving up, he still persist cycling!
Rating:7/10
Bonuses:1)Cycling spirit 2)never-say-die spirit
Book:A Class With Drucker: The Lost Lessons of the World's Greatest Management Teacher
Synopsis:
Long considered the world’s greatest thinker and writer on management, Peter Drucker’s teachings continue to inspire leaders everywhere. From 1975 to 1979, author William Cohen studied under the Great Man and became the first graduate of his doctoral program. What Drucker taught him literally changed his life. In a matter of a few years, he was recommissioned in the Air Force and rose to the rank of major general. Eventually, he became a full professor, management consultant, multibook author, and university president – as well as maintaining a nearly lifelong friendship with the master.
In A Class with Drucker, Cohen shares many of Drucker’s teachings that never made it into his countless books and articles, ideas that were offered to his students in classroom or informal settings. Cohen expands on Drucker’s lessons with personal anecdotes about his teacher’s personality, lack of pretension, and interactions with students and others. He also shows how Drucker’s ideas can be applied to the real-world challenges managers face today. Now every reader can benefit from Drucker’s thoughts on such topics as:
* what everybody knows is frequently wrong * why everyone should approach problems with their ignorance * top executives should stay no longer than six years * some so-called menial tasks can only be done by the boss * what everyone needs to be an effective manager * why self-confidence is a necessity
Enlightening and intriguing, A Class with Drucker will enable anyone to gain from the timeless wisdom of the inspiring man himself
Opinions:
Great book. Just read it. I need not to say this much.
Rating:10/10
Tony Del Piero wrote and posted at at 10:45 pm Finally, i can write down since i am halfway watching Heroes Season 1. At first, I saw episode one and my eyes were trying to tell me that I should sleep. It was last year. But then i decided to give a chance. I watched it during my rest time break in between my studies. WHOOPS, subsequent episodes are getting better. It was so engaging that I wanted to figure how to solve the problem.
I attended my cousin's wedding at Sentosa last Sunday. Since my family was not going, so I went there by taxi. After all, I shouldn't arrive there late. So far the taxi fare from Lot 1 to Sentosa costed me $16.70. Not so bad. It was smooth ride.
Should you worry about taxi fare hike? I think it is only beginning. What am i trying to say? It is not possible to reduce the cost when a country is growing up. Only fools get this kind of delusion. Just imagine that you live in Japan from the end of World War 2 till now. You should know how Japan transform into. When the standard of living is rising(every once a few years?), obviously the day-to-day expense will also increase as well.
Over there, the ballroom was smaller than expected. After all, my cousin family isn't that rich considering the fact that my uncle had recovered from cancer. As you can see, it is difficult fight against cancer. He tried to control his vomitting.
It should be your lesson why you should take care of health.
It is lose-lose situation if you try to diet. If you want to diet, you have to do it in the right way. Never throw the food when it is already cooked. Mind you. The cost of food is increasing. If you don't really want to eat at this time of hour, all you can do is to inform beforehand. Do not assume that exercising will always keep you healthy.
It is quite long time I went to Sentosa. The last time I went was when i was playing soccer with Louis and the gang there few years ago. Now Sentosa is going to have face lift here and there. Wah, you can take moonrail from Habourfront to Sentosa. Last time, the mode of transport is to take by ferry or cable car or car.
At the wedding, I didn't talk much because I am not that close to my late father's family. There is one female cousin of mine. She is probably around my age or older or younger. As usual like many thin girls, she pick food that deem not-too-fatty ones. All of my uncles and few cousins are eating at their pleasure. I saw my few months old cousin. He or she?I forgot to ask. This baby cousin is so easy to take care of. I was in the car waiting for my uncle and aunt to pack things at the rear of the car. The baby cousin was crying then. Aunt just took out pacifier and put it on my baby cousin gently. Done! He stop crying and then slept. Wow!Immediate impact.
Look like my aunt know him/her mood very well.
Wah, Eugene is spot-on. He told me that afternoon wedding is like buffet. It was like this! Eugene, did you go too many afternoon wedding?
After wedding,back at home, I told my mother that you were outdated in thinking that there is a must to have short hair at wedding. Long or short hair..it doesn't really matter as long as you keep your hair clean and tidy. My male cousin has ponytail and he is teacher! My mother was shocked. Enough said. :D
I once saw a western guy talking with Mark Harris outside the lift. I wonder who he is. I tried asked a few who I know. Nobody know until I saw him as a Management Mathematics(MM) lecturer at the end of MM lesson. I am quite lucky to have my Corporate Finance lesson to be in that room after his lesson. I asked Benny about him. As far as i know he is Scottish. I tell you..He has angel look.
What i am saying that you need not worry about apperance. As long as you dress as much as you can, it is more than enough. There is no need to go extra miles to make it more fantastic.
Nowadays, you get to see 'more pretty girls' Thanks to the wonderful items. They are make-up tools, push-up bras, all different kinds of hairstyles, and many others. Long time ago, it was not that many and it is very easy to distinguish pretty ones among them. Today, to be one of the special girls, lady need some kind of X-factor.
So, there is no point doll yourself so much. All you need to have simple and interesting conversation every day. It beat looking at handsome guys without talking anything.
Finally, I am at capital structure(It is quite interesting Corporate Finance chapter), banking regulation, Oligopoly(small part of it; it is expected to be completed in 3 weeks time) and cost accounting. I just finish reading Welfare Economics and right now I am reading Externalities, Public Good and Government chapter before I start practise all kind of Microeconomics questions.
Dr Money article on every Monday TNP edition is written by Larry Haverkamp. I like his article. I just find out that he is adjunct professor of economics at SMU. No wonder I noticed some economics terminlogy. I have great respect for his simple write-up articles!
I read a lot of Nobel Laureates for Economics winners' autobiology. I am really fantasizing their success. Awesome! Their work is there to make our lives better indirectly. Let me inject something which many Singaporeans(especially those who do not have chance to study overseas in well-known schools).
Nobel Laureatte In Economics 2006 Winner Edmund S. Phelps for his analysis of intertemporal tradeoffs in macroeconomic policy(first 3 paragraphs)
"My appointment was in the Cowles Foundation, so I had reduced teaching – a course load of 2 and 1, the same as now. A word about my teaching might be in order. In the first few years I worked as hard as needed to attain what I thought was a level of acceptability. I was amazed to hear Paul Steiger, the managing editor of the Wall Street Journal for the past couple of decades, say that I was the best teacher he had in Yale economics and was the reason he changed his major to economics. I may have exceeded my optimum level of effort. I was also surprised when Uwe Reinhart, the Princeton public policy economist, told me he keeps his notes from a graduate course I taught at Yale. My teaching was to decline in the future until I finally created a course to which I became increasingly devoted over the 1990s: a course on the political economy issues that drove many developments in the twentieth century."
"I became restless, though, with the classical character of this growth economics as it had developed at MIT and Yale, with its postulates of perfect information and complete knowledge. Each new technology was instantly and costlessly implemented by producers and consumers, as if there was no need for managers to cope with change. There were not even any decentralized savers or workers in the theory. It was almost like classical physics. I was also guilty. I liked to say, evoking the two laws of thermodynamics, that Bob Solow's result – an increase in the saving rate would increase output per worker – was the First Law of Economic Dynamics; and my golden rule result – it would increase consumption per worker only up to a point and thereafter decrease consumption – was the Second Law. Robert Summers (father of Larry Summers) told a story in his class at Yale of a puzzled student who, after seeing the equations of an economic model, asks the professor, "sir, where are the people in the model?" When a journalist asked me minutes after the announcement of my Nobel what had been the thrust of my work, I remembered that story and answered that I had tried to "put people" into macroeconomics. That was a bit much, since Solow too and others including David Cass had sooner or later put in some people, some consumers at any rate. We were all aware we did not live in a centralized economy. However, the mainstream growth model continued to make the classical postulates of perfect information and complete knowledge."
"There was a story about that work. Shortly before publication I gave a Cowles seminar on my new theme: a good fiscal policy would collect just enough tax revenue so as to cause households to feel as rich as they really were – that is the presumption, at any rate. Jim Tobin was visibly annoyed. He insisted that we cannot understand the effects of fiscal policy without allowing for the role of money in the economy. I probed to see the basis for that belief but did not find any basis, at least none I perceived"
Robert J. Aumann Nobel Laureatte For Economics Winner 2005 having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis(three paragraphs)
"In high school I had an extraordinary teacher of mathematics, Abraham Gansler, who taught me to love the subject. What attracted me most were the axioms, theorems, proofs, and constructions of Euclid 's geometry. So in City College, I decided to "major" in (emphasize) mathematics. I was mainly interested in classical mathematics: complex and real functions, Fourier series, differential geometry, and so on. Most of all, analytic and algebraic number theory, which I read voraciously, largely from the books of Edmund Landau. Number theory fascinated me because (i) the problems are very natural; (ii) they are simple to formulate, a schoolchild can understand them; (iii) the solutions are very difficult and deep, they require years of university study even to begin to fathom; and (iv) the whole subject was absolutely useless, had no practical applications, was a purely intellectual endeavor. The vogue of pure mathematics – the "purer," the better – was at its height in the mid-twentieth century, and, young and impressionable, I was drawn into it."
"After completing a B.S. at "City," I entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for graduate studies. At MIT I became interested in the more modern branches of mathematics, like algebraic topology, to which I was attracted by the excellent lectures of George W. Whitehead. I decided to do a Ph.D. with Whitehead in knot theory, a branch of algebraic topology that deals with the properties of knots (those tied in ropes). Like analytic number theory, knot theory deals with problems that (i) are very natural, have an immediacy that is even greater than that of the distribution of prime numbers or Fermat's last theorem; (ii) are simple to formulate, a schoolchild can understand them; (iii) have solutions that are very difficult and deep; and (iv) the whole subject was absolutely useless."
"For the finale, we flash half a century back. Though writing it up took a little longer, my thesis was essentially complete in October of 1954; I remember standing in the shower and being hit with the mathematical idea that enabled its completion. Fifty years later – almost to the day – at 10:00 pm, the phone in my flat rings. My grandson Yakov Rosen, who is in the second year of medical school, is on the line. "Grandpa," he says, "can I pick your brain? We are studying knots. I don't understand the material, and think that our lecturer does not understand it either. For example, what, exactly, are ‘linking numbers'?" "Why are you studying knots?" I ask. "What do knots have to do with medicine?" "Well," says Yakov, "sometimes the DNA in a cell gets knotted up. Depending on the characteristics of the knot, this may lead to cancer. So, we have to understand knots."
I was completely bowled over. Fifty years later, the "absolutely useless" – the "purest of the pure" – is taught in the second year of medical school, and my grandson is studying it.
Science is exploration – exploration for the sake of exploration, and for nothing else. We must go where our curiosity leads us, we must go where we want to go. And eventually, it is sure to lead us to the beautiful, the important, and the useful."
Finn E. Kydland Nobel Laureate For Economics Winner 2004 for their contributions to dynamic macroeconomics: the time consistency of economic policy and the driving forces behind business cycles(two paragraphs)
"But the most unusual course that first spring was economic fluctuations by Bob Lucas. He started out with basic mathematics, such as Kuhn-Tucker theory and functional equations, interspersed with economic applications. One day, sometime after the midpoint, Bob started setting up a model. In the following class he told us to scrap everything he had said the last time. He started over again, making a simplifying assumption or two, and then, over the course of the next couple of lectures, took the analysis to its conclusion. Later, we realized we had seen his paper "Expectations and the Neutrality of Money," for which he was later to get the Nobel Prize, being developed right there in front of our eyes."
"By the following spring, I had taken a course from Dave Cass who, like Ed Prescott, had arrived in GSIA in time for the 1971-72 academic year. I had had some conversations with him, and among other things told him about one of my findings, that even in the symmetric noncooperative case, the outcome was different when the solution was regarded as a policy rule in a recursive way as opposed to a sequence of decisions for the entire future. Dave asked me to prove it, as this finding went counter to the well-known property in single-player control theory that the solutions in what can be called policy space, on the one hand, and sequence space, on the other, give identical outcomes. Of course, once Dave saw the proof, he bought it right away. Moreover, I argued that the solution in policy space represented a more reasonable equilibrium from an economic standpoint."
Edward C. Prescott Nobel Laureate for Economics Winner 2004 for their contributions to dynamic macroeconomics: the time consistency of economic policy and the driving forces behind business cycles(two paragraphs)
"The second good thing was the teaching of an undergraduate macro course in modern macro. It turned out to influence my subsequent research. In that course I used the neoclassical growth model, which Finn and I used to study business cycles. I also used the same model, but with land as a crucial input to production, to account for the 5,000 years prior to 1800 when there was little or no growth in living standards. One of the students in the class repeatedly asked the question, why use one production function for one period and another one for the other? He was a wise guy, but I liked him. His question was a good one, and was one that the profession should have been asking itself. Gary Hansen and I came up with the answer in our "Malthus to Solow" paper. We permitted both production functions to be used at all times. This unified the models of the two periods and accounted for the long transition commonly referred to as the Industrial Revolution. Economics owes a debt to that student."
"The primary reason I taught this course was that I saw the need to develop material that could be used to teach modern macro. Typically, the material taught in undergraduate macro courses teaches the Keynesian macroeconomics models, which failed, and failed spectacularly, in the 1970s. I wish that I had just a little of the Samuelson genius and could write a great textbook for the teaching of modern macroeconomics. It is needed.
In that course, I wanted the students to use the theory to evaluate policy. Therefore, I made up an exercise in which they had to evaluate whether a consumption tax or an income tax is a better way to finance a transfer payment. The model economy that they used is basically the one that Finn and I use in our study of business cycles, but without technology shocks. The students came to me and said there had to be something wrong - they could not find any income tax rate that finances the transfer. I was sure they were wrong and did the exercise myself. They were right, there was none. This is when I realized the quantitative importance of the tax system for output and employment. This was the topic of my American Economic Association's 2002 Richard Ely Lecture and subsequent work establishing that tax rates account for most of the huge differences in labor supply across the major advanced industrial countries and for the large change in European labor supply over time."
Robert F. Engle III Nobel Laureate For Economics Winner 2003 for for methods of analyzing economic time series with time-varying volatility (ARCH)(3 paragraphs)
"My mother says that my father truly enjoyed having a son. My two years younger twin sisters felt that he didn't quite know how to enjoy them. But, I wasn't aware of those things then. So many of my childhood memories involve him. All the excursions into science were shaped by his knowledge and enthusiasm. As a Ph.D. chemist at Dupont, he also had access to many materials. So when my friend, Peter Hotz, and I decided to build and shoot off rockets, my Dad supplied different chemicals and a notebook. With each rocket we built, he would help us construct an explosive recipe. We had to write down the ingredients measuring carefully. He taught us to vary one ingredient at a time and then measure the effects. We recorded everything neatly. By the time he was finished, we had learned the scientific method and we had learned the math of measuring the distance that each rocket traveled. Of course, we also varied the rocket design. It was the way science should be done, passionately and carefully."
"I worked in Professor Watt Webb's lab doing low temperature physics and studied quantum mechanics from Nobel Laureate Hans Bethe. Watt Webb was a great advisor with lots of insight and creativity and the study of super-conductivity was certainly exciting. However by mid-year, I realized that I did not want to spend the rest of my life as a physicist. Physics wasn't what I expected, or maybe, what I expected was what I realized I did not want anymore. Working in the bowels of a building on projects that interested very few people in the world held less interest for me. After agonizing over these feelings and talking to my friends, I approached Alfred Kahn, chairman of the Economics department at Cornell. I asked if his department would be interested in considering me for their Ph.D. program. Serendipitously, he said that an NDEA fellowship had just become available because the intended recipient had turned it down. He offered it to me but said that I needed to make an immediate decision or they would offer it to someone else. My head spinning, I accepted the offer. Now, I had to tell my father and Professor Webb. Both were supportive but with heavy hearts. My father had trained me to be a scientist and now I was leaving for one of those "soft" science fields. At that point, neither he nor I realized how important all that scientific training would be in my contributions to economics."
"I loved economics. I attacked it with an energy that I had lost. I took undergraduate classes to make up my deficits in knowledge while I finished my Masters in Physics on using nuclear magnetic resonance to study the performance of a high temperature-superconducting magnet. Intriguingly, both superconductivity and NMR, now named MRI, were awarded Nobel prizes this year! In fact the superconductivity lab next to Webb's had been honored by the prize in 1996 and they were in the audience this year"
Vernon L. Smith Nobel Larueate For Economics Winner 2002 for having established laboratory experiments as a tool in empirical economic analysis, especially in the study of alternative market mechanisms(one paragraph)
"But let me backtrack to 1952. Many generations of Harvard graduate students had been exposed to E. H. Chamberlin's beginning graduate course in Monopolistic Competition. On the first day he would set the stage for the semester using a classroom demonstration experiment showing that competitive price theory was an unrealistic idealization of the real world. He gave half the class buyer reservation values, and the other half seller reservation costs. The value/cost environment was like Bohm-Bawerk's (1884/1959, book III, pp 207-235; 432-436) representation of supply and demand in a horse market with multiple buyers and sellers in two-sided competition - perhaps Chamberlin's source of inspiration. I knew Bohm-Bawerk because of Dick Howey's course, but I did not pick up on this similarity until much later. Chamberlin, unlike Bohm-Bawerk's description, had the buyers and sellers circulate, form pairs, and bargain over a bilateral trade; if successful the price was posted on the blackboard; if not successful, each would seek a new trading partner. This continued until the market was closed. The prices in sequence were volatile and failed to support the equilibrium prediction. Chamberlin used this first-day exercise to set the stage for his theory of monopolistic competition. I decided to use the same value/cost setup but changed the institution. Secondly, I decided to repeat the experiment for several trading periods to allow the traders to obtain experience and to adapt over time, as in Marshall's conception of the dynamics of competition. For the institution, I reasoned that if you were going to show that the competitive model did not work, then you should choose a more competitive trading procedure, so that when the competitive model failed to predict the outcomes, you would have a stronger case than had been made by Chamberlin. I went to the Purdue Library and found a book by Lefler, The Stock Market (1951), giving details on the bid/ask double auction used in the stock and commodity Exchanges. In January 1956 I carried out my plan. To my amazement the experimental market converged 'quickly' to near the predicted equilibrium price and exchange volume, although there were 'only' 22 buyers and sellers, none of whom had any information on supply and demand except their own private cost or value. I thought perhaps that it was an accident of symmetry in the buyer and seller surpluses. I shot that idea down with an experiment later using a design in which the seller surplus was much greater than that of the buyers. Thus did I seem to have stumbled upon an engine for testing ideas inside and outside traditional economic theory."
Gary S.Becker Nobel Laureate For Economics Winner 1992 for having extended the domain of microeconomic analysis to a wide range of human behaviour and interaction, including nonmarket behaviour(one paragraph)
"I began to lose interest in economics during my senior (third) year because it did not seem to deal with important social problems. I contemplated transferring to sociology, but found that subject too difficult. Fortunately, I decided to go to the University of Chicago for graduate work in economics. My first encounter in 1951 with Milton Friedman's course on microeconomics renewed my excitement about economics. He emphasized that economic theory was not a game played by clever academicians, but was a powerful tool to analyze the real world. His course was filled with insights both into the structure of economic theory and its application to practical and significant questions. That course and subsequent contacts with Friedman had a profound effect on the direction taken by my research."
These quotes I got from these Nobel Laureate For Economics Winners inspired me a lot.
That is why we don't have these kind of lecturers who will 'whip' us into loving and applying economics in real world. In reality, I used my brain to apply economics on real world issues.
I toyed an idea whether Mark Harris was doing any research. Haha, I have doubt but nevertheless, he is fantastic lecturer in his own merit. DMS Microeconomics and Macroeconomics didn't inspire me to learn further but UOL Microeconomics lecturer, Mark Harris did. I pushed myself hard to learn more and more theories. Very interesting and insightful. Best of all, he doesn't need powerpoint slides to show. All he do is to teach by drawing diagrams or talk in simple terms or get participants to understand the concepts(game theory and oligopoly:Bertand Equilibrium). In DMS, i got lecturers who read off from the powerpoints most of the time. Not so enriching lessons! But then at least i met James Kwan and Patrick. These two guys are excellent lecturers. I am looking forward to join James Kwan's UOL Financial Reporting next year if i pass all 4 subjects. I also wish that Mark Harris teach Macroeconomics but the chance of it is zero!
Louis told me during Mick's wedding that he was good at hand-on type studies.
Let me use simple analogy. To Louis' friend and himself, just think of Louis. What soccer skill is he weak at?NONE in my humblest opinion. It is like one or two specialities but the rest are normal or average.
Likewise in academic studies, you can only inspired to do something that is not hand-on if only you are taught by excellent lecturer, say Mark Harris' calibre. How do you identify?
In Mark Harris' lectures, he will ask one of us in the class. It was about differentation. On the whiteboard, he wrote du/dx(if i recall correctly). He asked someone in class what D is. If somone can't answer, he will ask another person who is next that someone. If no answer, next person...It goes on until someone say Delta.
He said ,"Yeah, what does delta means?". Once again, another question by him presented to us. A minute passed by until someone finally said that it is 'change in'
Mark Harris confirmed it and explained once again. It is great explaination especially for those who knew too little. Like myself, I never had formal learning on calculus and yet i only had freaking two months to pass my bridging mathematics course. If not for this lesson, I will never know. With this, my idea on mathematics to quantify some things flow and i furiously wrote all over with much practice. OH I LOVE IT!
During the tutorial questions about game theory, Mark Harris ask someone in our class. He/she told the answer. He said ,"Don't tell me the answer. Just tell me what you would do with it." Another fantastic method.
For essay tutorial questions, he will ask someone until someone give the answer in the simplest form. He will not stop if the answer is given in complicated one although it is correct. It is a way to make us understand better and give an idea what we should write. Obviously the mantra to approach the essay question is to write what you say in simple form.
Last Thursday, after end of the lesson, I saw a burly tanned guy walking down and striking a chat with Melvin. I didn't overhear but from what i saw, it is bloody obvious. He need Melvin to help him about understanding or teaching Micreconomics. But hey, both of them don't know each other well. It was the first time. Booo...
Melvin don't feel like sharing his mobile number with him from what i see both behaviours. Haha, I feel that Melvin is doing the right thing. Never Never Never teach if he is too lazy to study!
It is really crazy to criticize Zoe Tay for not attending MC King's funeral. Loads of rubbish.
End of this month, i will show you a few pictures of textbooks i read and own. You shall see.
Resident Evil Extinction(Hollywood Movie 2007)
Synopsis:
Years after the Raccoon City disaster, Alice is on her own; aware that she has become a liability and could endanger those around her, she is struggling to survive and bring down the Umbrella Corporation led by the sinister Albert Wesker and head researcher Dr. Isaacs. Meanwhile, traveling through the Nevada Desert and the ruins of Las Vegas, Carlos Olivera, L.J., and new survivors K-Mart, Claire Redfield, and Nurse Betty must fight to survive extinction against hordes of zombies, killer crows and the most terrifying creatures created as a result of the deadly T-Virus that has killed millions
Opinion:
I never played this game before. So, I may not have any slightest idea whether Resident Evil fans like it or not. So far, it is pretty decent with careful storyline. Actions fight are nothing fantanstic. The finale fight seem like Dooom 3 somehow. Overall, it is pretty ordinary movie.
Rating:5/10
Death Sentence(Hollywood Movie 2007)
Synopsis:
When a family falls victim to a vicious attack perpetrated as a gang initiation ritual, the vengeful father vows to track down each person involved in the crime in Saw director James Wan and screenwriter Ian Jeffers feature adaptation of author Brian Garfield's original novel. Aisha Tyler co-stars as the sympathetic homicide detective who questions her pledge to assist Bacon's character after suspecting that he may have turned to murder as a means of exacting his revenge
Opinion:
Not your ordinary movie!It take unique point of view of a victim of the murder. Obviously, it was already child game whereby you kill, so their 'brothers' of the gang will kill back as well. Result?All DEAD!
Rating:6/10
Bonuses:1)Learn from this lesson.
Nancy Drew(Hollywood Movie 2007)
Synopsis:
This movie is about Nancy Drew going to Los Angeles California with her father, who was going there on business. While she was there she happened upon a mystery that involved a murdered movie actress, and her daughter. Nancy found out her her daughter was, when nobody even knew that the actress had any kids, and the actress's daughter inherited all of the actress's money. At the end of the movie, once they got back home, Ned and Nancy kissed for what I think was their first actual kiss, and right after their quick kiss Nancy's father told her that she had a call from some people in Germany, who were talking about the Loch Ness Monster
Opinion:
I used to read 'Nancy Drew' storybooks when i was in primary school. Nowadays a lot of firms want to maximise any possible profit on any established 'brand'. Maybe, there will be 'Hardy Boys' Movie one day? The movie is nothing fantastic. You are better off reading 'Nancy Drew' storybooks in the library.
Rating:5/10
Yeu woo bi(Yobi, The Five Tailed Fox)(Korean Animation Movie 2007)
Synopsis:
Teacher Kang takes his students to a school that sits at the base of a hill where Yobi lives, a five tailed fox who can turn into any form. Kang and his students are there to train at a special center for honing their mental abilities. While the students test their courage at night, Yobi encounters the dream-catcher Hwang Geum-ie. Yobi develops an interest in Geum-ie, and decides to join the students to stay closer to him. Living like a human being is fun, until she comes across the fox hunter. Rescued by a mysterious shadow, Yobi now faces the inevitable – by taking Geum-ie's spirit that will make her a real human being.
Opinion:
Oh my god, it is really nice animation. It is quite unique love story. It need not to be particular and yet there is a joy to talk each other. It implies that someone appreciate what you are. Go and watch it. I guarantee you that you will like this story.
Rating:7/10
Bonuses:1)Yobi is quite cute to watch at 2)Watch out the scene where Yobi and Geum-ie fell into the river which in turn teleport them to the heaven.
The Last of the Mohicans(Hollywood Movie 1992)
Synopsis:
British and French troops do battle in colonial America, with aid from various native American war parties. The British troops enlist the help of local colonial militia men, who are reluctant to leave their homes undefended. A budding romance between a British officer's daughter and an independent man who was reared as a Mohawk complicates things for the British officer, as the adopted Mohawk pursues his own agenda despite the wrath of different people on both sides of the conflict
Opinion:
Wah, I finally saw this movie. Not too bad. It is quite meaningful story. As usual jealous people will lie on the fact in keep their ego up just because they were snubbed for something. Sigh.
Rating:7/10
Bonuses:1)You get to know more about America history. 2)a moral story: it doesn't matter who you are.
Warlords(Hong Kong Movie 2007)
Synopsis:
The nineteenth century was an era of conflict: the Franco-Prussian War and the establishment of the German Empire in Europe; the Civil War in America; the Meiji Restoration in Japan; the Opium War in China followed by the Taiping Rebellion in Nanjing… all critical events that shaped the world today. At times of chaos, heroes are born yet innocence is forever lost…
It’s the mid-19th century, one of the darkest periods of Chinese history. The country is suffering under the rule of the corrupt Manchus who invaded China from the North and established the country’s last imperial dynasty, the Qing. Natural disasters are wreaking havoc in the countryside, and in the midst of this chaos, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, one of the strongest rebel groups ever to rise up in China, is overrunning the country and staging battles with the Qing army threatening the Dragon throne.
When Ma first met the rough-and-ready bandit, Cao Erhu (starring Andy Lau) and his trusted Lieutenant Zhang Wenxiang (starring Takeshi Kaneshiro), he had not an inkling that they will forever change his life. Cao, the dark and charismatic leader of a band of bandits, bonded with the dark Ma when this stranger saved his life. At Zhang’s urging, the three swear blood brotherhood. Ma had a dream – he wants to rid China of both the rebels and the corrupt Qing officials. Ma convinces Cao and Zhang on this noble quest and the trio soon engages in many dangerous battles and win. With the help of Cao and his men, Ma manages to squelch the rebels and rises through the ranks. Success has the power to corrupt – Ma soon became obsessed with power.
Cao and Zhang return to their native village, and Cao reunites for an evening with his beautiful wife, Lian (starring Xu Jinglei). But when she and Ma look at each other for the first time, the chemistry is overwhelming; and the seed of betrayal is sown. Ma must remove the one obstacle standing between him and the loyalty of the bandit-soldiers and the beautiful Lian.
Opinion:
Fwah, i saw the trailer of this movie when i watched Hero Movie in cinema. From there, it remind me of few chinese war scenes i always loved to see.
I managed to watch this movie with Kok Wai at Cathay Causeway Point. It is more than war. It is really sad story. I sypathise that things will never go their way because of this man who was very ambitious to restore China. In the end you see that it is fat hope! Excellent story!Excellent acting!It did bring out past china war melodies in my head. Today, Jiangsu is now one of the richest states in China. I found it out when I was researching on China market for marketing project during my DMS diploma course.
Rating:8/10
Bonuses:1)3 big stars:Andy Lau, Takashi Kaneshiro, Jet Li 2)meaningful story 3)it teach you what you should watch out for each time you make any move
蒼き伝説 シュート!(Aoki Densetsu Shoot!)(Japanese Anime Serial 1993)
Synopsis:
The story revolves around a boy named Toshihiko Tanaka, who has just started at Kakegawa High School in order to play soccer with his idol, Yoshiharu Kubo. Toshi's friends are noy interested in playing soccer again this year until he convinces them to join the team. Soon, the team is entered into the All-Japan High School Championship.
Opinion:
Great Animation!Kubo was fantastic character in this show bringing out the beauty of soccer. That is what it should be like. Be original and show out-of-the-box kind of dribbling. Make opponents who are trying to stop you from advancing towards goal HELPLESS. That is what I have been talking about for a long time. Sadly people think that current big stars are the ones with wonderful dribbling skill. So far Maradona is the cloest person to the one I am trying to say. After him, it will be Ronaldo of old(when he was playing for Barcelona) and Johann Cryuff. Although many stars right now you see in TV can dribble but not that close. Please spare me when you are saying that Christiano Ronaldo is one of them. I think not! Just modest fine dribbler and nothing else.
Kubo was great man. He died right away after scoring the important goal to awake many people. And also, he discover that Toshi can shoot better with his left than his preferred right leg! How did he do it? Just mere look when he was doing short dash up and down. *thumb up*
Rating:7/10
Bonuses:1)Kubo's magic, 2)Toshi's left power shot
Tony Del Piero wrote and posted at at 1:26 am
