Classes resumed at Dartmouth this week. I'm teaching two sections of Economics 36, a mid-level course designed to give students mastery of the basics of diversification, hedging, and corporate finance. It's an interesting time to be immersed in that material. The students were only mildly amused when I suggested that the higher demand for turnaround specialists might be enough to offset the lower demand for investment analysts.
Outside the classroom, the Rockefeller Center, where I am the director, has jumped into the term with some interesting public lectures. Last evening, we had the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Montgomery McFate to speak about the "Human Terrain System" in Iraq and Afghanistan. More students should see the value of careful social science research in challenging situations like counterinsurgency. They shouldn't be (and weren't) shielded from a discussion of the ethical issues that arise in these situations. You can read about her presentation here.
Watch her, along with Sarah Sewall, on Charlie Rose here:
I loved Econ 36 when I took
I loved Econ 36 when I took it at Dartmouth, but given the recent situation I would think that demand will be dulled somewhat.
Now could be a great time to take refuge in that reliable sanctuary, business school.
I also loved Econ 36
... still refer to my notes periodically.
When you walk them team through option pricing theory, it might be interesting as a conceptual exercise to have them think about financial company equity AND debt sitting on top of the "government put".
I also don't remember there being all too much discussion about the impact of credit/counterparty risk in the hedging discussion. That's certainly relevant for the decision to help AIG.
And, on a personal level, I don't think I was ever smart enough to figure out how the section on first- and second-order stochastic dominance ever plugged back into the course (other than as a discussion about the risk/return utility curves). But I hear these Dartmouth kids are much smarter these days, so maybe they get it.
And now they're gone
I have found over time that I can get the students to learn more if I try to teach them less. So stochastic dominance and derivatives other than options have been jettisoned in favor of a slower, more deliberate pace.
It is no disrespect to the current students to say that they appear to me to be no smarter or better prepared intellectually for Dartmouth than those of a decade ago.
Thanks for reading the blog and your kind comments. You should drop me an e-mail to let me know how you are doing.