這一次是我主辦,而且我也是講者之一。歡迎參加!Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
The Economics of Time Travel
This is an interesting blog post, and it is certainly entertaining to think through the implications. I love thinking about how this works:If backward time travel is also somehow possible, maybe firms in the future will choose to outsource some of their operations to the past, locating their manufacturing and other services in lower-wage time periods.Just to extend the analysis, if we applied comparative advantage to this analysis, we might think that certain time periods specializing in specific areas of production, which is what I thought initially. However, that might not be the case. The starkest case against this is that we bought wood from the past, and we sold them chain saws. This is reasonable, since we specialize in making chainsaws and our natural resources have depleted, and they have what we find valuable. Sounds good! But wait! The second they start preserving alot of trees, we might not be able to sell them chainsaws. That is if we bought natural resources from them, they would have less natural resources for R&D, which means technological progress might slow down in their time, which has an adverse effect on us. This is worth considering, but I think if we look at the margin, we can still get some trade going.
Thinking about this problem makes me think about technological progress. If we bought technology from the future, and in return, we sell them something (I can't think of anything), wouldn't every time period have the same production technology? In equilibrium, wouldn't technological advancements remain stagnant? As a result, a huge implication in cheap time travel is that the futre=past. The idea of time running, can be ignored.
Another, the implication of time travel is that the idea of uncertainty disappears. This may mean that money will indeed be neutral. However, the disappearance of uncertainty makes me more interested in the game theoretic aspects of competition and cooperation.
Repeated interactions make cooperation possible, whether it is infinite stages or finite stages (only needs a little bit of incomplete info on strategy space). However, the cooperation that appears in finitely repeated games may disappear, if both players knew about the type of strategy they have to work with. The player's type will most definitely reveal itself at the very end of the finite game, where a rational player will choose not to cooperate. As a result, cooperation might not occur in finitely repeated games, if both are rational. Also remember future=past, so the game we are playing in essense is a simultaneous game! So cooperation may never work in this case! Think about the prisoner's dilemma.
Imagine the US and USSR both had time machines, would the balance of terror work in this case? I imagine they would both have to be extremely nice people to avoid a war.
I don't know if I want to see that time machine built, to tell you the truth.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
我阿扁錯了嗎 ? 我 阿扁錯了嗎 ?
If you are going to read this, please read the whole thing! Written by Anonymous奉天承運,皇帝詔曰:
朕自千禧登基以來,挾政權轉移之威,立動搖國本之志,外拒三通,
內裂族群,期能千秋萬世,一統江湖。
無奈吾黨同儕未能同舟共濟,甚且黨同伐異,內鬥內行、外鬥外行,四人幫於是成焉,朕為之疾首!
頃又有三寶丟人於前、十一寇扯腿在後,為撫權力恐怖平衡,朕用心良苦:
宰相輪翻替換,唐、張、游、謝、蘇,除唐卿飛外,竟無一稱職!
惜唐卿非我族類、其心必異,哀哉!
加之內閣大學士遠哲,頭腦漿糊;
禮部尚書唐山,出言污穢;
刑部侍郎定南,不壽早夭;
監察御史岳生,年邁骨軟;
兵部光祿天羽,馬屁成精;
翰林院編修嘉文,尸位食祿;
澎湖金馬等邊關節度使,盡唱反調;
京畿之地九門提督,淪為藍營;
弘文館祭酒總監正勝,三隻小豬;
順耳府舍人志偉,獐頭鼠目;
正處燃眉之急,忽又蹦出一黃口楚子國榮,抱錯大腿信口雌黃。
嗚呼,天亡朕矣!
朕妻珍后,匱乏母儀,惹人生厭,然彼早年因朕成殘,朕愧之久矣。
及暮,彼愛金銀珠寶黃金美鈔,人之常情何能苛責?
事敗,彼拒不出庭,朕能奈何?
公主幸妤,性烈如母,嘗出言無狀,毀皇室形象!
然其尚能剛正自持,一幸也。
賊駙趙奴,攀龍附鳳,品德低劣,手腳骯髒,辱及皇室,朕已不認矣!
太子致中,寡言木訥,呆頭呆腦,不嗜國政,已遠走海外。
較之連逆、郝逆、宋逆、蔣逆等之後人,為父跨刀,克紹箕裘,朕深夜思之,一縷悽然、滿懷蕭瑟。
唉!生子當生孫仲謀!娶妻當娶‧‧‧,朕不願多言矣!
四年前子彈風波,幸賴奇美密醫遮掩在前,復靠昌鈺神探支吾於後,致使包圖龍再世,亦難斷矣!
此朕唯一堪足告慰於天者。
然朕之副舵秀蓮,極為難纏,斯時立朕身旁,知之甚詳,雖略遭魚池之殃,然早已無礙。
朕數度軟硬兼施欲杜其悠悠之口,然此刁婦視朕如無物,幾聲『嘿嘿嘿』,令朕如芒在背、毛骨悚然。
年前紅衫軍蟻聚於通衢,壞綱常、毀法紀、欺人心、凋經濟,朕恨之切齒!
其奪權之心可誅矣!
斯時也,朕懼通勤金鑾殿早朝,禍國者尤此為甚!
主其事者竟為本黨遺棄多年之敝屣,口口聲聲以創黨理想等言詞挑戰於朕,哼!
緣木求魚,目無國 君,朕對其惡之亟矣!
昔毛匪澤東大行之夕,病塌側呼小平告之曰: 『吾將去矣,惟黨內同志猶有不願隨君步伐而行者,吾憂之!』 小平曰:『東哥勿憂!凡不欲隨吾步伐者,吾令其隨你而行!』
嗚呼!朕亦將退矣,惟願隨朕而行者,疑僅蕭愛卿美琴一人耳,悲呼!
噫!吁!唏!
中原鼎沸、民不聊生,眾卿誤國,東倒西歪惟西瓜大邊是靠,彼等猶死不認錯,一意欲朕承擔,眾卿良心何在乎?公平乎?
昔杜卿正勝之先人曾云:『滅六國者,六國也,非秦也;族秦者,秦也,非天下也。』
此言繆矣!繆之極矣!
害朕者,眾卿也,非朕也;族朕者,天下也,非朕自己也!
嗟夫!
每念及此,思之悽哽,吾何罪之有、吾何罪之有?
(我阿扁錯了嗎 ? 我 阿扁錯了嗎 ?)欽此!」
Friday, March 28, 2008
Low Probability Event
P[我挑到A given A漂亮]=0.01
P[A不理我]=1
P[我去胖達喝飲料 given 我喜歡Starbucks!]= 0.005
P[有女生跟我一起喝飲料女生(denote as B)]=0.25 (我沒有故意 inflate 這個機率)
P[A在那個時候在胖達消費] <1
P[B認識A] < 0.5
=> max prob of all this happening = 0.0000001875
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
最牛逼博士論文
1、最牛逼博士論文就是在還沒答辯之前已經發表在最好的期刊上,而且鑒於論文很長,該期刊必須像小說一樣連載。實例:張五常博士論文《佃農理論》,當年在JLE上連載四期。
2、最牛逼博士論文答辯就是答辯人一直在挑戰答辯委員會成員,直到問的這些教授們緊張到恍惚以為自己才是答辯人。實例:薩繆爾森的博士論文答辯結束後,答辯委員會成員之一的熊彼特(上世紀最偉大的經濟學家之一)轉過頭去問另一位成員里昂剔夫(諾獎得主):“瓦西裡,我們通過了麼?”
3、最牛逼投稿論文就是讓編輯滿世界都找不到一個能看懂這篇論文的匿名審稿人,最後只能發表,根本不需要修改的。實例:SIMS1971年發表在《數理統計年鑒》上的論文《無窮維參數空間中的分佈滯後估計》。SIMS寫完這篇論文後沒投經濟學雜誌,因為他顯然知道沒人看的懂。於是投給了最牛逼的數理統計雜誌,結果編輯死活找不到審稿人,最後好不容易湊合拉來一個,審稿報告是這麼寫的:“我真的不明白這篇論文在說什麼,但是我檢驗了其中的幾個定理,好像是對的。所以我猜應該發表。”
Friday, March 21, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
一橋大學
校內:
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Day 2: Gibbons Lecture - Agency Theory in Organizations
However, with the concept of non-contractibles creeping into economics, we are provided with a new option in modeling agency problems. While moral hazard is a serious and authentic problem inside firms, we can not help but wonder how much managers or firm owners think about risks when drawing contracts. Instead, an agency problem can arise simply because the principal is paying for the wrong things. For example, let us assume that a firm is concerned with its output quantity and quality. However, quality is not contractible. As a result, the firm contracts solely on quantity, then the worker is provided with full incentives to boost quantity, all the while ignoring the products’ quality. This is the so called ‘getting what you pay for problem.’ In short, the principal can not align the interests of the agents with their own, simply because the things the principal care about can not be included in the contract. We shall call contracts of these types ‘formal contracts.’ Their key feature is that the firms choose to contract on objective and measurable aspects which are verifiable in court, but often a misalignment of interests arise. Such multi-task models where only a portion of those tasks are contractible were developed by Holmstrom and Milgrom (1991) and Baker (2002).
There is a solution to non-contractibles though. Continuing our example of quantity and quality, a firm can promise in advance to award the worker a bonus if he also produces high quality output. Since quality is not verifiable outside of the relationship, the principal has an incentive to back out of his initial promise. However, a contract such as this could be sustained in the long-run, where the worker chooses to produce high quality output and the principal pays a bonus in every period. In other words, such ‘relational contracts’ are strongly dependent on the likelihood of the principal and agent’s continuous cooperation. If the likelihood of continuous cooperation is high, then a relational contract is much more likely to be sustained. The concept of relational contract was formally introduced by Bull (1987) and then further advanced by Levin (2003).
As you can see, I did not summarize the models that Gibbons introduced. I have written them down somewhere though.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Day 2: Gibbons Lecture - Introduction
Before 1937, firms have long been treated as a black box in economics. Economists were well aware of the differences between a firm and a person. People consumed, firms produced. People maximized utility, while firms maximized profits. The standard theory in economics laid foundations, so that economists can build models representing intricate details in their interactions, between people, between firms, or between people and firms. However, the literature on firms ends there. There were no investigations on the interactions within firms, or on contracts. Economists didn’t even ask why there were firms in the first place! Firms looked like ordinary ‘individuals’, except they produce instead of consume, and maximized profits instead of maximizing utility. That changed until Coase’s seminal paper in 1937.
Coase asked a simple question, which would send a ripple through economics. I say ripple, because it would take a little more than 30 years before his ideas caught fire. He asked why were there firms to begin with? In a world where Adam Smith’s invisible hand automatically guided resource allocation to their most optimal use, it seemed curious that some (or most) production had to be conducted within a firm. Why not just organize production within the market? Coase offered us a simple, yet intriguing answer to this question, so intriguing was the answer that it took more than 30 years for economists to take a serious consideration in Coase’s ideas. Coase told us that using the market entails a cost, he called a ‘the cost of using the market.’ It would be 30 years later, when Stiglitz named this cost ‘transaction cost.’
It didn’t take long after the 1960’s for transaction cost economics to catch a momentous boost in economic literature. Economists such as Oliver Williamson, Benjamin Klein directed their research towards finding formalizable theories of the firm. It would not take long after that for economists to finally study the interaction within firms, thanks to the advent of game theory, agency problems could be analyzed and optimal incentive contracts could be formulated. However, something was missing. Our theories seemed so alien to real managers in real firms that every working economists knew that the field is still in search for a realistic theory of the firm. In this chapter, we will discuss the classical agency problem framed in terms of the incentive – insurance tradeoff, and the new method in explaining agency problems, non - contractibles.
Also, in this chapter, we will discuss the existing theories on the boundary of the firm. This area is budding with research literature, which started with Oliver Williamson and Benjamin Klein, later advanced by Gene Grossman, Oliver Hart, and John Moore. We will discuss the similarities and the differences surrounding their theories, and briefly discuss the empirical work.
1.1 What are Firms?
Firm behavior can not be dissected until we can fully appreciate the complex relationship inside firms. Economists used to share the view that firms are ‘clean,’ ‘well organized,’ ‘powerful’ production entities. Decision and its relevant information will be gathered, analyzed, processed and finally utilized to their utmost value, producing output that can fully capture the firm’s underlying potential and maximize profits without any complications. However, this view of firms and organizations is wrong.
The description we gave above can certainly describe a single person. On the other hand firms are made of numerous employees, managers and owners. In other words, there are political games that go on inside firms. These potentially damaging behaviors inside and between firms will determine the boundary of firms, and the incentive contracts inside firms. Agency theory equips us with the knowledge to tackle and explain a wide ranging phenomenon exhibited by firms. But before we move on to the agency problem, we have to answer this question: If there are dirty politics and inefficient behavior within firms, why are there firms in the first place?
Coase introduced to us the concept of transaction costs. If transaction costs are high, the market system fails to allocate resources efficiently. In other words, the price system fails, as transaction difficulty rises. As a result, firms exist because operation with in an organization, in some cases, is less costly than operating in the market system. So even though empirical evidence shows us that firms are ‘systematically stupid,’ performing worse than markets efficiency wise, we could be merely witnessing a case of selection bias.
From the graph above, we can see that the firms we observe, operate in an environment where the transaction difficulty is greater than While the markets we observe, operate in an environment where the transaction difficulty is less than . More interestingly, we would find the markets operating on a higher efficiency level than the markets. But this is in no means evidence against the effectiveness of firms or organizations in general. Theory suggests a difficulty in comparing these two in an empirical setting since we would encounter a selection bias problem. To sum it up, firms deal with hard problems that the markets couldn’t handle. We are now ready to discuss the workings inside a firm.As you can see, I'm trying to organize my summary into maybe a small book.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Day 4: Moving Around
Senso-ji Temple (浅草寺)
我們第一站到 Asakusa Station,去淺草寺。首先跟各位介紹一下日本的宗教信仰。日本有兩種盛行的宗教: "佛教" 及 "Shinto (神道)"。淺草寺是佛教的,而我星期天去的明治神宮是神道的。當初,唐朝我們中國人將佛教引入日本,引起當時的日本人熱烈的迴響。原因很簡單,日本的神道沒有講關於人死後的事情 (after-life)。然而,佛教裡的 after-life 描繪得相當清楚,所以最後日本將兩個叫互相結合。因此你在路上隨便抓一個日本人問他是什麼教,90%會跟你講神道,而85%會跟你講佛教,所以很多是兩者都信的。然而,還是有許多不同處。例如,一般的佛教的廟會拜神像,但是神道多半會拜大自然,因此明治神宮的周圍的樹木就是人工林。
我和 Shin Kishimoto。
我和 Ryo Kawasaki。
個位有沒有發現,這有五層,每一層代表了日本深受佛教影響的五個元素: 地,風,火,水,空。
我抽了籤,上面寫 "凶"。最差的籤。奇怪的事我當時籤筒怎麼倒都倒不出籤,後來到初 "83" 一看這張紙條寫的,我趕緊去買護身符。希望運是可以改善。期實,把籤綁在那裏應該就可以將壞運給留在那。(最後得知: 淺草寺有60%是最壞的籤)
話說這個煙可以治病,你希望變聰明就讓煙薰一下頭。照理來講,煙是要花錢買的,但是他有嚴重的 free rider 問題,所以我猛薰免費的煙。(記住,我剛剛才抽到一張說我會病一整年的籤)
這裡可以清洗你的靈魂。先用右手將瓢子裡的水洗左手,再用左手洗右手,最後再用水清洗嘴。很多人喝下去了,我沒有,但是現在回想抽到那籤後,應該喝下去的。
在 Asakusa 站外面,可以看到 Asahi 飲料的公司總部:

當時設計是讓那金黃色的東西站立的,但是因為擔心會有安全問題,所以現在看起來像 "金子"。
我們還去了 Akihabara,但是因為星期三 Cosplay 那一些人還沒有出沒,所以沒有特別好玩。我們到是有去一家咖啡館,裡面的服務生都打扮成傭人,裙子很短,女生也蠻可愛的。不好意思,我沒照相。我星期天又去了一次 Akihabara,照了一些 cosplay 的。
Tokyo Tower (東京鐵塔)
很多人說,日本人很會模仿跟抄襲,東京鐵塔是一個很好的例子。他看起來就像巴黎的 Eiffel Tower,那是因為他的靈感就是從那裏來的。而他又比 Eiffel Tower 更高,又更輕。他們真的鰻會模仿的,但是最後弄得比你好。他是橘白相間的是因為飛安的考量。
Day 3: Ominous Meeting
我星期二晚上,在上野逛街,走到一個小巷裡,小巷似乎很多小館可以吃東西,但是更引起我注意的事一群穿著黑色的大衣及西裝,髮型挺酷的,站在小巷的兩旁,每走四步就有一個。他們也是我第一次發現日本人在街上吐痰。我走一走發現,跟我一起走進巷子裡的人都不見了,所以我也就趕快轉到另一個地方。過不久後,我就發現一群警察往那邊跑。
我回到房間問我的日本朋友,那一些人是誰? 他說極有可能是 Yakuza。
才第三天就看到日本世界有名的黑幫。
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Day 1: Arrival

Saturday, March 01, 2008
Friday, February 29, 2008
Level-k Thinking: New modeling possibilities?
Consider a game where everyone in a classroom picks a number between 0 and 100. The person closest to half the average wins.使用 Level-k 來 model 不外乎就是讓均衡符合實際的狀況。但是他有一個很強的假設,level-2 的 player 一定要假設他認為其他的 player 是 level-1 或更低,他不能認為有其他 player 是 level-3 或以上的。因為若他認為有人是 level-3,則理性的他,就不再是 level-2 了。
Obviously, picking a number over 50 would be silly. Based on this, picking a number over 25 would be silly. Similarly, picking a number over 12.5 would be silly. Continuing this line of thought, picking any number other than 0 would be silly. These thoughts show the level of thinking of those involved, from level-1 to level-infinity.
Level-k thinking analyzes such games. In actual experiments, players never pick 0, which would be suggested by a Nash equilibrium. Instead, they utilize many different levels of thinking.
所以為了讓結果更符合實際狀況,level-k thinking 使用了同樣不合理的假設。
Good Book: The Logic of Life - Uncovering the New Economics of Everything
Does this mean that rational choice theory is as much use as flat earth theory? No. It's more like a perfectly spherical earth theory. The earth isn't a perfect sphere, as anyone who has climbed Mount Everest will tell you. But it's nearly a sphere, and for many purposes, the simplification that the earth is spherical will do nicely.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
歐巴馬的經濟智囊團
Like Bill Clinton in 1992, Obama's campaign boasts a cadre of credentialed achievers. Intellectually, however, the Obamanauts couldn't be more different. Clinton delighted in surrounding himself with big-think public intellectuals--like economics commentator Robert Reich and political philosopher Bill Galston. You'd be hard-pressed to find a political philosopher in Obama's inner wonk-dom. His is dominated by a group of first-rate economists, beginning with Goolsbee, one of the profession's most respected tax experts. A Harvard economist named Jeff Liebman has been influential in helping Obama think through budget and retirement issues; another, David Cutler, helped shape his views on health care. Goolsbee, in particular, is an almost unprecedented figure in Democratic politics: an academic economist with a top campaign position and the candidate's ear.
Friday, February 22, 2008
可以從台灣身上學的寶貴經驗
我個人認為Obama四平八穩,有領導者的風範,而Clinton的表現也非常有風度,雖然落後但是仍然很有風度 (不像台灣的政治人物)。但是很顯然的Clinton很想強調自己的健保提案比Obama的更好。而觀察家竟然一致同意,Clinton的確在健保上勝Obama。
But it was by no means a poor performance for Clinton, and she did successfully draw some contrasts with Obama on his health care stance — an issue in which she holds the upper hand. Obama's plan could leave many uninsured, and Clinton effectively stressed this point in one of her strongest moments of the debate. She immediately put Obama on the defensive about his own plan and proved she understands this issue through and through.
????!!!!!!
這太可笑了! Clinton的健保是一個mandante。也就是所有的人都要購買健保,不購買者會被罰錢的! 但是Obama是降低價格好讓大家都有機會享有健保。一個是有選擇餘地的,另一個是被逼迫的,你要哪一種!?
Clinton的政策不只違反經濟sense,也違反了美國建國的精神!
只是一場選舉
This election is certainly important. But based on the historical record, it isn’t likely to result in a major swing in economic policy. Fundamentally, democracy is not a finely tuned mechanism that can be used to direct economic policy as a lever might lift a pulley. The connection between what voters want, or think they want, and what ultimately happens in the economy, is far less direct.這是在講美國的選舉。但是廣義而言這也可以當成今年所有面臨抉擇的選民所必須面對的事實,其實,你今年選誰對你的影響其實是有限的。
.....THAT might sound pessimistic, but it’s not. Many Americans will be living longer, finding new sources of learning and recreation, creating more rewarding jobs, striking up new loves and friendships, and, yes, earning more money. Just don’t expect most of these gains to come out of the voting booth or, for that matter, Washington.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Pedal to the Metal: What happens when signals change
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
What Every Economics Lecture Should be Like
I brought in a very high-priced call girl to guest lecture at my undergraduate
Economics of Crime class.
那堂課的評價呢?:
The next day, I asked my students whether they liked the lecture. More than one-third of them said it was the single best lecture they had attended in their
four years of college. I had to agree with them.
話說那一堂課有一些有趣的對話:
One of his research subjects is a former computer programmer who charges $300 an hour as a high-end call girl. Levitt asked her if she was happy when her “client line” rang on her Palm Pilot. She told him that she wasn’t happy, but indifferent. He told her that meant she was not charging enough for her services. Later,Levitt offered to pay her the hourly rate she charged clients if she would come speak to his economics class. He was surprised, however,when one of the students asked the prostitute what she charged and she replied, “$400 an hour.” The student then asked her how she had determined that rate. “She turned to me,” Levitt recalled, “flashed me this huge smile and said, ‘Well, I was talking with Professor Levitt and he convinced me that my services were worth more than I was previously charging.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
研究生的態度
By grad school, students know the drill cold: read assignments, hear lectures, do homework, and spit it all back on the exam. Problem is, just then the game changes from grades to papers; few will care about your grades, compared to your research papers, written and published. A research paper is not a term paper, and can't be dashed off the weekend before it is due. A research paper does not offer a broad overview; it says something specific and new, even if minor, that fits in a context of other research papers.
看到這一句很感動! 因為上一學期的實變把我搞瘋了,不但被當 (人生第一次被當) 也影響到我其他科目的表現,因為花太多時間在那上面導致我很多經濟的課都是臨時抱佛腳。
結論: 用心在研究上是研究生的職責!
Good Economics vs. Bad Economics
我想最近大家可能都忙著想一些新鮮的題目,試圖尋找自己的經濟見解。但是,若你像我,時常胡思亂想,將一堆學過的東西串在一起,最後發現整個邏輯很勉強,甚至到最後連自己都無法說服時,你可能就是一開始就是錯的。所以有沒有什麼方法可以一開始就檢視自己的理論是不是對的呢?Sunday, December 09, 2007
Jp-Tw Contract Theory Conference
昨天學到相當多的東西,大部分在於如何問問題。昨天許多問題與建議我覺得都非常好。我也覺得我應該加強這一點,參加了那麼多研討會,總覺得自己得直覺反應不夠快,但是有再進步,畢竟我也發現許多提出來的問題,也是我心中的疑問。
但是重頭戲在晚上! 我帶著我朋友,邱哲良,一起跟他們吃飯。一到餐館發現,有四張桌仔,而有人問起: "哪一張是主桌?" 我就看到服務小姐,指著窗旁角落的桌子。而我也看到周嗣文,蔡崇聖,周瑞賢,我們清大的老師都坐在那裡,我也有一股衝動想坐在那裡,但是聽說是主桌就自己找了一桌坐。沒有想到,盡然有兩個日本人跑來跟我們坐,所以我就展現我的熱情開始跟做我左邊的日本人聊天。我問他叫什麼名子,他就把他的名牌秀出來給我看,我一看到我就知道我做錯桌子了,上面寫著 Hiroshi Osano,是這一次的 oraganizer 之一,正當我心中開始有一股涼意時,我看到陳恭平老師也跑來,坐在Osano的旁邊,那時是我這冬季以來第一次感到寒冷。但是,沒有關係,因為其他坐在那一桌的台灣同胞,都以為我們是日本人,所以陳恭平老師還用英文到酒給我喝,我也喝了,身子也暖起來了。最後發現我會中文,才知道我只是一個台灣的小毛頭。
整個晚餐氣份很好,那一些日本人很好聊,他們對台灣的吃的很有興趣,而我也對日本的文化有一點興趣,昨天聊了很多有關皇室的事情,因為作在邱哲良旁的Shinsuke Kambe在皇室成立的大學教書。他們也對我的手機感到興趣,他們覺得太小了! 很好玩!
後來我的老師又帶大家去喝酒,我也就跟著去了,最後喝的醉醺醺的,不知東南西北,只好跟著邱哲良到他的家去過夜。以後不能喝太多酒!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Nobel Prize in Economics 2007
這是我 之前 (現在??) 很有興趣的領域,機制設計。這領域數學能力要有一定的基礎,頭腦要非常清楚。
我今年初有去聽 Eric Maskin 在台大舉辦兩天的講習,教導大家基本的機制設計的觀念。他給我應向非常深刻,他用淺顯易懂的例子就將我在論文上看不懂的東西給解釋清楚了! 超強!
所以說,我也是有被諾貝爾獎得主教過的人。
More on this later this week.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
悲亢的詩 (北島)
卑鄙是卑鄙者的通行證,
高尚是高尚者的墓誌銘。
看吧,在那鍍金的天空中,
飄滿了死者彎曲的倒影。
冰川紀過去了,
為什麼到處都是冰淩?
好望角發現了,
為什麼死海裏千帆相競?
我來到這個世界上,
只帶著紙、繩索和身影,
為了在審判之前,宣讀那些被判決的聲音:
告訴你吧,世界
我-不-相-信!
縱使你腳下有一千名挑戰者,
那就把我算作第一千零一名。
我不相信天是藍的;
我不相信雷的回聲;
我不相信夢是假的;
我不相信死無報應。
如果海洋註定要決堤,
就讓所有的苦水都注入我心中;
如果陸地註定要上升,
就讓人類重新選擇生存的峰頂。
新的轉機和閃閃星斗,
正在綴滿沒有遮攔的天空,
那是五千年的象形文字,
那是未來人們凝視的眼睛。
Sunday, September 30, 2007
The Conflict between an Economist and an Economic Man
我長期以來都覺得經濟學裡的模型將人假設的太"聰明"。但是,經濟學家又認為當這一些人表現的不"聰明"的話就表示他不"理性"。所以理性到底是什麼? 而經濟學家又真得很理性嗎? 下面的故事是 Harry Markowitz (1990年諾貝爾獎得主,CAPM的始祖) 在做投資時的趣事:所以若這麼天才的經濟學家都無法依照他自己所創的模型做投資決定,我們憑什麼認為現在的經濟學沒有什麼 "重大" 的問題。我個人認為經濟學有很嚴重的問題,需要更新的方法解決。實驗 anyone?
"There is a story in the book about Harry Markowitz,” Mr. Zweig said the other day. He was referring to Harry M. Markowitz, the renowned economist who shared a Nobel for helping found modern portfolio theory — and proving the importance of diversification. It’s a story that says everything about how most of us act when it comes to investing. Mr. Markowitz was then working at the RAND Corporation and trying to figure out how to allocate his retirement account. He knew what he should do: “I should have computed the historical co-variances of the asset classes and drawn an efficient frontier.” (That’s efficient-market talk for draining as much risk as possible out of his portfolio.)
But, he said, “I visualized my grief if the stock market went way up and I wasn’t in it — or if it went way down and I was completely in it. So I split my contributions 50/50 between stocks and bonds.” As Mr. Zweig notes dryly, Mr. Markowitz had proved “incapable of applying” his breakthrough theory to his own money. Economists in his day believed powerfully in the concept of “economic man”— the theory that people always acted in their own best self-interest. Yet Mr. Markowitz, famous economist though he was, was clearly not an example of economic man.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Economics Nobel Predictor 2007: Part 1
九月快結束了! 而十月中,就要公布諾貝爾經濟學獎的得主。有哪一些人有機會得呢?Thomson Scientific 預測今年這幾位經濟學家有機會:
Elhanan Helpman Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade Harvard University Cambridge, Mass., USA Emeritus Professor Department of
Economics Tel Aviv University, Israel
-and-
Gene M. Grossman Jacob Viner Professor of International Economics Princeton University Princeton, N.J., USA Professor, Department of Economics Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs Princeton, N.J., USA
For their contributions to international trade and economic growth.
Robert B. Wilson Adams Distinguished Professor of Management Emeritus Stanford Graduate School of Business Stanford University Stanford, Calif., USA
-and-
Paul R. Milgrom Shirley and Leonard Ely Professor of Humanities, Department of Economics Stanford University Stanford, Calif., USA
For their work, both theoretical and practical, on the mechanism of auctions.
Jean Tirole Scientific Director, Institute of Industrial Economics University of Social Sciences Toulouse, France Affiliated research member of CERAS Paris, France For his research in industrial organization and regulation.
我認為這幾位經濟學家都應得獎,但是應該不是今年得。例如,Jean Tirole 在 industrial organization 跟 contract theory 上有卓越的貢獻,但是論得獎還早了一點。而 Milgrom 與 Wilson 若要拿獎,很難不包含 Krebs 跟 Roberts,號稱 "The gang of four." Helpman 也一樣,講到 international trade,很難想像 Bhagwati 還沒有拿到,所以 Helpman 可能還太早 (不然就是一起得)。
從今天起我每幾天,都會介紹一位我認為有機會得獎的經濟學家。
Monday, September 24, 2007
排隊理論: Part 1 of 2
為何大家要排隊?Sunday, September 23, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
左右腦
Thursday, September 20, 2007
The Essential Math
Saturday, September 08, 2007
More Sex $969
結帳時,條碼一刷,螢幕卻顯示: MORE SEX $969。That is pretty cheap!
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Profile of Robert Barro
It would have been difficult to predict this outcome [of his success in economics] from the title of Barro's first publication in 1970: "The Crystal Structure of a Dimeric Cobalt Compound Containing a Chloro Bridge."
為何Barro沒有繼續研究物理呢?
"Feynman was a great inspiration, but what he taught was often way above my head. It made me realize I wouldn't be close to the top in those fields."
我國中時也非常迷物理,也是被Feynman的書吸引住了。當時我看了他的自傳 Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman, 至近對我的影響仍然很大,因為是那ㄧ本書讓我對學者的印像改觀。後來在師大附中唸高中時,才發現物理=霧裡。我雖然成績在班上不錯,但是我知道若我繼續追隨當物理學家的夢,我對人類知識的貢獻是非常有限的。我的目標一直是想要有一點貢獻。
A Great Loss: Luciano Pavarotti passes away at the age of 71
The News......what appears to have been a normal childhood with a typical interest in sports — in Pavarotti's case soccer above all — he graduated from the Schola Magistrale and faced the dilemma of a career choice. He was interested in pursuing a career as a professional soccer player, but his mother convinced him to train as a teacher. He subsequently taught in an elementary school for two years but finally allowed his interest in music to win out.
During his years of study Pavarotti held part-time jobs in order to help sustain himself — first as an elementary school teacher and then, when he failed at that, as an insurance salesman.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Fun Facts About CEO and Firm Value
From recent studies: [Firm's Value] slid by about one-fifth, on average, in the two years after the death of a CEO's child, and by about 15% after the death of a spouse. As for an executive's mother-in-law, the old jokes seem to hold: The researchers found that profitability, on average, rose slightly after her demise.
非常有趣!
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
The Existence of Hierarchies
目前大部分的經濟理論都無法完善的解釋公司內部的結構,尤其是謂何會有階層的現象 (老闆,經哩,員工)。有一些公司大到階層超過幾十個!! (我之前有blog過hierarchies)


Sunday, August 26, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Q&A: 台灣英文菜嗎?
今天新聞都在報導最新出爐的 TOEFL 及 IETLTS 的考試成績排名。在那個排名當中,台灣是倒數的。使的大家開始懷疑我們外語教育即能力。台灣是非常注重英文能力的國家,為何成績會這麼差? 但是我要提出的疑問是,光從這個排名就可以斷定我們的英文能力嗎? Forensic Economics

Friday, August 17, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
I have a Question
也就是,之前在資訊科技還未成熟時,要傳達訊息的成本比較高,因此有separating equilibrium的出現,不好的牙醫要打廣告太難了。但是現在,傳達訊息的成本極低,普遍而言(對我來說)都是pooling equilibrium,因此不好的牙醫要做廣告挺容易的,人們無法分出好牙醫跟不好的牙醫了。因此一般的假設是不是錯了?
The Power of Television
Cable and satellite television have grown rapidly throughout the developing world. The availability of cable and satellite television exposes viewers to new information about the outside world, which may affect individual attitudes and behaviors. This paper explores the effect of the introduction of cable television on gender attitudes in rural India. Using a three-year individual-level panel dataset, we find that the introduction of cable television is associated with improvements in women's status. We find significant increases in reported autonomy, decreases in the reported acceptability of beating and decreases in reported son preference. We also find increases in female school enrollment and decreases in fertility (primarily via increased birth spacing). The effects are large, equivalent in some cases to about five years of education in the cross section, and move gender attitudes of individuals in rural areas much closer to those in urban areas. We argue that the results are not driven by pre-existing differential trends. These results have important policy implications, as India and other countries attempt to decrease bias against women.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
唱歌像ABC
很直覺的答案是因為他們在模仿一些歌手。我雖然不了解台灣的音樂家,但是有幾個有名的好像都是從國外回來的,因此唱歌很自然的會有ABC的感覺。但是我覺得這不是原因,因為這樣唱並沒有加分效果,尤其是若一大堆人都這樣唱。
我今天後來在車上聽到費玉清唱的 "秋蟬" 我才想到答案。因為這些歌手國語發音不標準! 若唱腔帶有ABC的味道的話,就可以掩飾咬字不清的毛病,我開始懷疑周杰倫唱個像念經一樣也是這個原因。
ps. 我很看好林柏宏這位參賽者!
台灣的大學會太多嗎?
前一陣子,在報紙上看到台灣從明年開始會少掉10個大學。台灣目前有幾個大學我不清楚,似乎有上百個,這樣會太多嗎?我發現減少大學數目的 argument有兩個是比較常拿出來的:
1. 大學聯考錄取率太高。
2. 跟其他國家比,台灣的大學數目太多。
我不知道台灣的大學是不是太多,但是上面兩個理由不足以說服我。
1. 我爸說錄取率在他們那個年代不到百分之30%,大學也就只有那幾個可以填。但是現在95%的人可以唸大學有什麼不好? 不是越多人受過教育越好嗎? 盡管他以後拿到學位但是工作可能是搬運工,他所獲得的教育在許多其他方面是可以幫他做判斷的。我不認為社會上有高學歷的勞工是不好的現象,我甚至認為是有助於提昇社會的品質。2. 為何每一次探討這類議題台灣都有跟別的國家比較? 台灣的教育市場跟就業市場非常像別的國家的嗎? 別的國家的政策研究結果就適合我們嗎? 這就是屬於統計上external validity的問題。台灣的教育需求可能比其他國家大很多,因此才有這麼多大學阿。而且若大學太多,這些學校會自己想辦法招生。像為何沒有學校想過招大陸的學生來年? 若我們政府同意的話,台灣的大學可能還不夠呢!















