Academic Ambiance

Instead of buying her a dozen of roses, opt for buying her three roses four separate times.

(Thanks to the economic notion of diminishing sensitivity, which was the inspiration behind this rule.)

This morning’s job report numbers are downright hideous. Only 18,000 jobs were created last month. Furthermore, the workweek and wages have slightly fallen. Also, remember how bad the jobs report in May was? After revisions, the news is even worse: it turns out that only 25,000 jobs were created in May—originally BLS reported 54,000+. The household survey tells an even gloomier story with employment falling 445,000 last month.

I’ll leave you with a thought by Justin Wolfers on this morning’s report:

Bottom line: If the headline numbers have you worried, you aren’t worried enough.

Limit the always and the nevers.

If you’ve followed my blog, you’ve probably become familiar with Justin Wolfers as he is one of my favorite economists. The first time I heard Professor Wolfers speak was at Harvard this past spring break where he presented his paper SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING, INCOME, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH. The video posted below is a talk related to this paper and is very insightful. Here’s what economist Tyler Cowen had to say about the video:

Excellent talk on happiness by Justin Wolfers. Robert Frank and discussion which follow are also good but Wolfers is outstanding.

A couple of things I learned. The flat happiness line in the United States over time is often contrasted with rising GDP per capita to assert a paradox. The paradox goes away once you take into account that median earnings haven’t risen (ala TGS).

Wolfers also shows that income matters not just for happiness but for a large number of correlates, inputs and outputs of happiness. Compared to people in poorer countries, people in richer countries, for example, more often say their food tastes good, they report less pain and they smile more.

I really enjoyed watching Harvard’s commencement speech by Amy Poehler.

My favorite parts were the Outkast line and this one:

“This is what I want to say: When you feel scared, hold someone’s hand and look into their eyes. And when you feel brave, do the same thing. You are all here because you are smart and you are brave. If you add kindness, and the ability to change a tire, you almost make up the perfect person.”

To view a larger a version click here. 

It it’s obvious, there’s no point in stating it.

Spousonomics.com asks Harvard economist Alvin Roth a few questions on marriage. This is my favorite response:

2. What’s the upside of being married to an economist? The downside?

The upside? You mean, aside from the fact that we’re hot? I guess we also have job security, as long as the economy keeps generating puzzles and questions we can’t answer.

The downside? Sounds like a good research question for someone…

Read the rest of the article here.