Re-birth of the Phillips Machine
The Guardian today carries a piece on the restoration of the famous Phillips Machine. I would love to be able to take my students to see this in action. Does anyone know if this is possible?
“It is 2 metres (7ft) tall, 1.5 metres wide and a metre deep. It runs on water and most of the time it is screened off at the back of a lecture room in Cambridge. But when the nine members of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee announce their latest decision on interest rates today they will owe a debt of gratitude to the computer built in a garage in south Croydon by Bill Phillips - an engineer turned economist from New Zealand - almost 60 years ago.”
Economics Conference - 27th June
This event is selling out fast so I would encourage anyone intending to join us on the 27th June at the British Library to contact Sharon Curtis as possible to secure places - even if they are provisional at this stage.
There is one change to the published speaker schedule. Unfortunately Jim O’Neill (Goldman Sachs) is unable to attend. However, we are delighted that John Micklethwait, the Editor of The Economist, has agreed to step in. John is a tremendous speaker, so the day still promises to be a highlight of our year.
Booking information for the conference can be found here:
Developments in the housing market
A selection of recent newspaper articles on the developments in the UK housing market
House price falls won’t send the UK into a recession
David Miles (a brilliant housing market economist)
Britain’s biggest homebuilder halts new projects
The Guardian
IMF gives bleak warning on dangers of global recession
The Times
UK housing slump fears overplayed
Financial Times
UK house prices will fall almost 20pc in next two years
Daily Telegraph
Submitting your essay for the RES competition
A steady flow of essays is already arriving as students gear up to meet the RES Economics essay competition deadline on the 12th of May. There are plenty of interesting titles and ideas being put under the microscope!
read more...»Congratulations to Tiffin Girls School
Tiffin Girls’ School are celebrating their win in the 2008 Bank of England / The Times TwoPointZero competition. Many congratulations from everyone at Tutor2u. Read all about their triumph here
Flair for economics
1st: The Tiffin Girls’ School, Kingston-upon-Thames.
Nancy Chen, Georgia O’Donnell, Neshma Shah, Teresa Song
2nd: Loreto College, Coleraine, Co Londonderry
3rd: Leeds Grammar School, West Yorkshire
Other finallists: Peter Symonds College, Winchester, Hampshire; Tonbridge School, Tonbridge, Kent; Wolverhampton Girls’ High School, Wolverhampton
Now the attention switches to the Royal Economic Society’s Young Economist of the Year competition, there are just under two months to go before entries must be submitted for judging.
Dan Ariely in London on the 17th
Thanks to Arthur Ma for pointing out that Dan Ariely, the author of ”Predictably Irrational” is in London next Monday to talk about his book. Details below.
Behavioural Economics: Common Mistakes in Daily Decisions
Date: Monday 17 March 2008
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue: Old Theatre, Old Building, LSE
Speaker: Professor Dan Ariely
Chair: Professor Lawrence Phillips
Why do smart people make irrational decisions every day? Why do we repeatedly make the same mistakes when we make our selections? How do our expectations influence our actual opinions and decisions? The answers, as revealed by behavioural economist Professor Dan Ariely of MIT, will surprise you.
Modelling the Economics of Love
Valentine’s Day came and went and I have to admit that the day passed by without a great deal of activity! So much so that I ended up going for three jogs in one day .... something I haven’t done for several years! The phenomenal growth of demand for and supply of speed dating services is generating plenty of interest among economists who now have some rather interesting data to observe about people’s preference and behaviour on speed dates. Tim Harford wrote a super piece on this last year and some of his findings also make their way into The Logic of Life. Over at Marginal Revolution, Tyler Cowen wrote about the economics of dating last year - his new book ‘Discover your Inner Economist’ is well worth catching hold of.
But perhaps the most brazen attempt to model the economics of love and turn it all into a full cost-benefit analysis can be found here at Solve Dating!
