When Economists Misunderstand Biology

“It really does matter: if economists are going to use biology as a model for their discipline, we need them to understand ours, to help improve theirs. But I’m getting ahead of myself …” (more)

[Mike the Mad Biologist, 21 March]

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‘Extraordinarily low’ level of expertise

“The Department of Finance should over the next two years double the number of economists educated to master’s level that it employs, the review of the department’s performance has said …” (more)

[Colm Keena, Irish Times, 2 March]

Need for more economic skills

“@dfarrell_ucd @JaneSuit ironic that call for more econ skills in D.Finance comes same week that PRTLI money for PhD in Econ and Pol parked!” (tweet)

[Colm Harmon, Twitter, 1 March]

New world order – Internationalisation has boosted Europe’s academic clout

“… Until recently European economists tended to teach and publish in their national languages, and cross-border study was relatively rare. But in 1999 European leaders initiated the Bologna process, a series of accords designed to promote uniform academic standards. Degrees and titles are now far more comparable. English-language teaching and publication has spread …” (more)

[Economist, 17 February]

A code of ethics for economists?

“The failings of the economics profession in predicting the Crash of 2008 have been a widely commented upon and criticised. One of the contributing factors to the Crash was tainted ‘advice’ and ‘opinion’ which urged people to borrow money from financial institutions and ‘get on the property ladder’ …” (more)

[Paul Sweeney, progressive-economy@TASC, 25 January]

Why people like economics but not economists

“We are in the midst of a boom in popular economics: books, articles, blogs, public lectures, all followed closely by the general public. Yet this boom in popular economics comes at a time when the general public seems to have lost faith in professional economists – because almost all of us failed to predict, or even warn of, the current economic crisis, the biggest since the Great Depression …” (more)

[Robert J Shiller, Slate, 24 January]

The Economics of Economists’ Ethics

“If they read their own research, economists might disclose conflicts of interest more often …” (more)

[Annie Lowrey, Slate, 5 January]

Academic Economists to Consider Ethics Code

“When the Stanford business professor Darrell Duffie co-wrote a book on how to overhaul Wall Street regulations, he did not mention that he sits on the board of Moody’s, the credit rating agency …” (more)

[Sewell Chan, New York Times, 30 December]

Do they (i.e. economists) know it’s Christmas?

“… When you buy something for yourself, say a €20 book, it must be worth at least that much to you. But if you buy a €20 book for someone else there is no guarantee they value it that highly (after all, why else have they not bought it already). Hence Christmas presents generate a deadweight loss …” (more)

[Kevin Denny, Geary Behavioural Economics Blog, 19 December]

Brendan Walsh on Leaving Cert. Points and University Performance in Economics

“… This paper shows that there is a weak association between Leaving. Cert points-scores and university performance in Economics. The authors recommend that the optimal scoring scheme for entry to university Economics would give more weight to Mathematics …” (more)

[Martin Ryan, Geary Behavioural Economics Blog, 19 November]

Sindo aims its sewer pumps at Morgan Kelly

“Morgan Kelly is under severe attack today by Sindo. Several of its heavy pounders round on him, Liam Collins, Harris etc. They even describe his house, his dog, and he collecting children from school. Also his salary – less than what a lot of TDs earn ! …” (discussion thread)

[Politics.ie, 14 November]

Just who is Morgan Kelly?

“Economics is ‘the dismal science’, and in that once small but self-important profession Professor Morgan Kelly is Dr Doom. The author of the cryptically titled academic paper On the Likely Extent of Falls in Irish House Prices in 2006 is now the sage of Ireland’s economic Armageddon …” (more)

[Liam Collins, Independent, 14 November]

We warned you: critics of government proved right

“UCD’s Morgan Kelly was derided for predicting the crash in 2007. Now he, other academics and a number of commentators have been vindicated …” (more)

[Jon Ihle, Sunday Tribune, 10 October]

Case Studies Final Year Economics

“David Madden and myself have been working on a final year single honours option that is intended to provide direct experience of research and policy analysis. I posted before on aspects of it, including getting the students to participate in journal clubs and present to the class on key ideas from the papers and so on …” (more)

[Liam Delaney, Geary Behavioural Economics Blog, 5 October]

Behavioural Economics and Literary Criticism

“I had an interesting email from a student constructively criticising me for dismissing the value of studying English literature for understanding behavioural economics. The context is a class where some of the students have joint majors – the value of studying political science, law and philosophy for studying behavioural economics is very obvious …” (more)

[Liam Delaney, Geary Behavioural Economics Blog, 2 October]

Psychology Students and Economics

“I will be giving talks again this term to psychology students on behavioural economics. I have given a number of talks before about the potential role of psychology graduates in the modern economy. Some of this material is relatively obvious to people who have studied behavioural economics …” (more)

[Liam Delaney, Geary Behavioural Economics Blog, 15 September]

Economics Students 2010

“… Taking students seriously to me means trying to intellectually engage with those of them with good ideas rather than just nodding sympathetically when they whinge about courseloads. College should be a practice swing at thinking big ideas, a chance to do them as a set of rehearsals before the real thing starts …” (more)

[Liam Delaney, Geary Behavioural Economics Blog, 10 September]

Ten Books from Student Days

“We have talked a lot about the increasing debate about undergraduate admissions and have at various times talked about teaching and research infrastructures. One can sometimes forget that one of the best things about coming to university is to have a space for three or four years where you can think and read and have lots of people around you who are doing the same …” (more)

[Liam Delaney, Geary Behavioural Economics Blog, 28 August]

Department of Finance run by arts graduates

“More senior staff in the Department of Finance have degrees in general arts than in economics and finance, the Sunday Tribune can reveal. Seventy-six staff at the government’s most key department have either degrees or masters degrees in arts, while just 75 hold degrees or masters degrees in economics or finance …” (more)

[Martin Frawley, Sunday Tribune, 27 June]

Stephen Kinsella talks Economics

“We’ve broken this recording into 3 parts at 20 minutes each. Author and University of Limerick lecturer Stephen Kinsella gives us his insight into Economics and the role of the economist in Irish Society …” (video)

[Irish Debate, 8 June]