Author: Matthew Clemente

Freakonomics on College, Fake Diplomas, and the Value of Real Ones

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Freakonomics on College, Fake Diplomas, and the Value of Real Ones

The Freakonomics Radio Podcast, recently re-ran an episode titled, “Freakonomics Goes to College: Part 1.”  Here is description of the podcast:

The gist: what is the true value these days of a college education?

(You can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed, listen via the media player above, or read the transcript below.)

As you can tell from the title, this is the first episode of a two-parter. There is so much to say about college that we could have done ten episodes on the topic, but we held ourselves back to two.

The key guests in this first episode are, in order of appearance:

+ Allen Ezell, a former FBI agent who co-authored the book Degree Mills: The Billion-dollar Industry That Has Sold over a Million Fake Diplomas.

+ Karl Rove, the former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff for President George W. Bush. Rove, it turns out, is not a college graduate. He is, however, a published author — of Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight.

+ David Card, an economist at Berkeley who has done a lot of research and writing on the value of education.

Bubbles and Economic Theory

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Bubbles and Economic Theory

Recently, the NPR’s Planet Money Podcast spoke with two of the three economists who won the 2013 Nobel Memorial Prize: Eugene Fama and Robert Shiller. Fama and Shiller are an odd combination as they represent very different philosophical positions in the study of economics.  Shiller is a proponent of behavior economics, whereas Fama ascribes to an efficient-market theory.  This episode which discusses economic bubbles is an example of this debate. As the Planet Money team explain, “Shiller is probably the most famous analyst of bubbles; Fama is probably the most famous skeptic of bubbles.”

Here is a description and excerpt from the interview: 

On today’s show, we talk to two of the three guys who won this year’s Nobel Memorial Prize in economics: Eugene Fama and Robert Shiller.

As we and everybody else pointed out when the award was announced, these two are a bit of an odd couple. Shiller is probably the most famous analyst of bubbles; Fama is probably the most famous skeptic of bubbles.

 

Here are a few quotes from our conversations with Fama and Shiller.

Fama:

The word “bubble” drives me nuts, frankly, because I don’t think there’s anything in the statistical evidence that says anybody can reliably predict when prices go down. So if you interpret the word “bubble” to mean I can predict when prices are going to go down, you can’t do it. …

I believe markets work. And if markets work those things shouldn’t be predictable. If I can predict that housing prices will go down, if the market’s working properly, they should go down now … If the market’s working properly the information should be in the prices.

In other words, Fama says, if stock prices get too high, then people should sell stocks, and the price should fall. Presto, no bubble.

But Shiller himself has predicted the two great bubbles of our time. As he told us:

You can have a fairly high degree of confidence. That’s what I felt in the stock market in late 1990s. I wrote the first edition of my book, “Irrational Exuberance,” then, because… and I was rushing to get it out. I told my publisher, Princeton, “Please get this out! Because I want this book out before the crash, not after.” And then again I felt that in the 2000s with housing bubble.

Fama:

So, what happens each time is the media goes in and finds somebody who predicted it. That person get’s anointed. You don’t go back and look at past predictions and see is this just luck.

So, was Shiller one of those people who was anointed by the media?

Oh yes. …

What would prove it to you that there were bubbles?

Empirical evidence.

Such as?

Well, that you could show me that you can predict when these things turn in some reliable way.

So what is your challenge to Robert Shiller? He should predict the next bubble?

[laugh] Right. Well, I don’t know. Not just the next one. You know, statistically reliability means more than two, really.

The next 10?

Well, the next 10 would be really convincing. Yeah then I’d be convinced.

We asked Shiller what he thought about this:

Fama says he would believe there were bubbles if you could predict ten of them in a row.

Yeah, but I don’t live that long. You know, these big bubbles are rare events that play out over years. They can go a long time.

If you lived long enough, do you think you could make good on Gene Fama’s request that you predict 10 bubbles in a row?

If I lived long enough, yeah.

You do think you could?

Uh. I think so. Yeah. I’m not the most self confident person.

Sunday Funday: “Shawshank” Star Tim Robbins Teaches Acting in Prison

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Sunday Funday: “Shawshank” Star Tim Robbins Teaches Acting in Prison

Several weeks ago, CBS News Sunday Morning ran a story about a prison acting program run by actor Tim Robbins, best known for his role as a prisoner in The Shawshank Redemption. 

Here is an excerpt from the story:

The inmates at this medium security prison in Norco, Calif., are serving time for crimes ranging from possession of marijuana to murder.

One of their coaches is Academy Award-winning actor Tim Robbins.

“It creates this place, particularly important in prison, where people can step outside of what’s expected of them and try to explore new emotions, create new realities, create new truths for themselves,” Robbins said.

The project, now in its seventh year, is funded by The Actors’ Gang, which Robbins and some acting friends founded in 1981.

For more public policy related video/audio, be sure to check out the SLACE Archive.

Sunday Funday: “Shawshank” Star Tim Robbins Teaches Acting in Prison

/ Matthew Clemente / Leave a comment

Sunday Funday: “Shawshank” Star Tim Robbins Teaches Acting in Prison

Sunday Funday: “Shawshank” Star Tim Robbins Teaches Acting in Prison

Several weeks ago, CBS News Sunday Morning ran a story about a prison acting program run by actor Tim Robbins, best known for his role as a prisoner in The Shawshank Redemption. 

Here is an excerpt from the story: 

The inmates at this medium security prison in Norco, Calif., are serving time for crimes ranging from possession of marijuana to murder.

One of their coaches is Academy Award-winning actor Tim Robbins.

“It creates this place, particularly important in prison, where people can step outside of what’s expected of them and try to explore new emotions, create new realities, create new truths for themselves,” Robbins said.

The project, now in its seventh year, is funded by The Actors’ Gang, which Robbins and some acting friends founded in 1981.

“Pornography: What Do We Know?”

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“Pornography: What Do We Know?”

That was the question being examined on the BBC’s Analysis radio programme. Here is a description of the show: 

What do we really know about the effects of pornography? 

Public debate has become increasingly dominated by an emotive, polarised argument between those who say it is harmful and those who say it can be liberating. Jo Fidgen puts the moral positions to one side and investigates what the evidence tells us. She explores the limitations of the research that’s been carried out and asks whether we need to update our understanding of pornography. She hears from users of pornography about how and why they use it and researchers reveal what they have learnt about our private pornographic habits. 

With pornography becoming increasingly easy to access online, and as policy-makers, parents and teachers discuss how to deal with this, it’s a debate that will have far-reaching implications on education and how we use the internet. 

Producer: Helena Merriman 

Interviewees: 

Professor Neil Malamuth – University of California 
Dr Miranda Horvath – Middlesex University 
Dr Ogi Ogas – Author of A Billion Wicked Thoughts 
Professor Roger Scruton – Conservative philosopher and Author of Sexual Desire: A Philosophical Investigation 
Professor Gail Dines – Wheelock College, Boston.