Economics Commons^™

Economic Outlook Of Battle Creek: Challenges And Opportunities, Iryna V. Lendel, Chloe Wieber, Sevrin Williams, Gerrit Anderson

Upjohn Institute Technical Reports

This report by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research examines labor market dynamics in Battle Creek, finding that roughly 75 percent of jobs in the city are held by workers who live outside the city limits, with significant skill mismatches between city residents and local employer needs. This mismatch helps explain persistently low wages, elevated poverty rates, and high reliance on public assistance among city residents despite a strong manufacturing base and growing logistics, food processing, and machining sectors. Limited housing supply, inadequate public transportation, and childcare shortages further restrict residents’ access to employment. The report underscores the urgency …

Some Potential Issues With A Student Managed Investment Program At Small Liberal Arts Colleges: The Berry College Experience

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

This paper focuses on potential issues with student managed investment funds (SMIFs) with emphasis on small liberal arts colleges. A potential solution to alleviate some of these issues is proposed (a policy portfolio) and implemented. The initial results are presented and the subsequent influence of these results on club behavior is discussed.

Operating A Student-Managed Investment Fund In A Small Class Setting

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

The student managed investment fund (SMIF) at Midwestern State University was founded in 2010 and offers students an experiential learning opportunity. This article discusses its operational structure, investment policies, and strategies. It also discusses efforts to motivate students to run the SMIF as a productive team.

A Student Fund In A One-Hour Lab

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

First-hand experiences considering relevant research are used to examine the benefits and difficulties in implementing a studentmanaged investment fund through a repeatable one-hour lab format at a small regional state university. Implementing a student-managed fund in a lab format with fewer hours than a regular course reduces demands on faculty teaching load as well as on available hours in a student’s academic program. The multi-semester approach allows a stepwise progression of learning over multiple semesters, but its major difficulty is managing the mix of student skill levels.

Dave Ramsey’S Personal Finance: A Primer And Critique

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

Author and radio host Dave Ramsey advises millions of people on personal finance. Starting from the assumption that people are not good at maximizing their own utility, he recommends a rules-based approach that often directly contradicts conventional instruction in personal finance. This article shows how Ramsey’s recommendations follow from his behavioral assumptions and highlights some of his specific recommendations about financial products and services that are at odds with traditional personal finance. After making these contrasts, the article outlines implications for educators who, whether they agree with Ramsey’s approach or not, should understand the strengths and limitations of his approach.

Priming Effects Of Instructor-Expressed Judgments Of The Difficulty Of Quantitative Material On Student Performance And Perceptions

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

We investigate whether instructors teaching quantitative material can influence student performance through priming, a psychological phenomenon wherein exposure to a stimulus can influence memory and behavior. We first examine whether instructors can influence performance by priming students with statements stating that a quantitative problem has “Advanced” or “Basic” difficulty. We then investigate effects of priming on perceived difficulty. Priming does not affect performance but does affect perceptions. Compared to no priming, Basic priming reduces perceived difficulty, while Advanced priming increases female students’ perceived difficulty. Male students view Basic problems to be easier, but do not see Advanced problems as harder.

Traditional, Online, Or Flipped Classes–Which Do Students Prefer?

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

This paper describes the creation of a flipped classroom based on experimentation, student feedback, and an instructor’s impressions about learning outcomes. Based on 601 student responses to a survey administered between 2014 and 2018 to lower and upper level economics classes at a four-year public university, this paper finds that the majority of students preferred flipped to traditional as well as to 100% online classes. Other results indicate that students preferred watching lecture videos to reading textbooks or attending in-class lectures, and preferred weekly-structured assignments over dailystructured assignments. However, findings indicate mixed student preferences with respect to flipped mastery.

Using Cluster Analysis In Financial Services: A Teaching Case

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

A teaching case appropriate for students in finance, analytics, or related areas is presented for applying cluster analysis to the financial services industry. Based on a real case (modified for confidentiality), it presents students with a real-life scenario where cluster analysis is the appropriate tool to use for addressing a business problem. A credit marketing problem is presented, and incorporates the idea of predictive modeling within clusters. A top-down approach is taken to teach cluster analysis, with the business application and interpretation of results presented first, followed by the algorithm and other details.

Editor's Note

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

No abstract provided.

Teaching Margin Trading And Financial Leverage Together

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

Margin trading and financial leverage are typically taught separately from each other. In this study, we present a pedagogical approach with a dual focus on margin trading and financial leverage. We borrow the insights and tools from financial leverage in a corporate setting and apply them to margin trading as a special case of financing an investment using debt and equity. In addition to producing a simple and intuitive formula for performance calculations on a margin trade, our approach offers the benefit of improving students' understanding of how margin trading and financial leverage operate in general.

Excel Templates For Illustrating Tvm Calculations And A Financial Calculator With Associated Excel Functions

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

Time value of money calculations are illustrated through developing a timeline with cash flow graphics in Excel. The graphic is readily adjustable to different scenarios making it useful for multiple time value of money topics (e.g., NPV, MIRR, etc.). Further, a second graphic illustrates a financial calculator that also provides the associated Excel functions. Both graphics can be used in the live or virtual classroom and as a resource for students outside of the classroom.

Teaching Foreign Exchange Rates: A Primer

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

Given the importance of foreign exchange in introductory economics courses, this paper aims at providing a full and intuitive teaching of foreign exchange. First, there is a review of how the major current introductory texts offer somewhat inadequate treatment of the topic. Then, international transactions within a balance of payments framework are explained. Importantly, the market equilibrium exchange rate between the dollar and the euro is concurrently derived. Finally, the paper introduces, within a comparative static framework, changes in exchange rates from changes in major macroeconomic variables: the GDP of trading partners, domestic price level, and real interest rates.

The Cost Of Underperforming Investments

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

Underperforming investments change a firm's equity value, cost of equity, capital structure and cost of capital. We show how to correctly adjust the cost of capital and correctly value a firm with underperforming investments. The correct equity estimate equates the equity value derived from the Economic Profit Model with the equity used to estimate the WACC. We demonstrate how underperforming investments can reduce equity value even though earnings may increase. We confirm our results with the Residual Earnings Model and show that our approach for valuing a company with underperforming investments also works well with investments that increase equity value.

Advancing The Introduction To Both Narratives Of Aggregate Output: A New Model

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

There are two prominent theoretical perspectives on the determination of aggregate output: The general equilibrium perspective and the reactive, circular flow perspective that relates economic activity instigating further activity. The former replaced the latter as the dominant view within macroeconomics over 30 years ago, but the lack of general equilibrium models (i.e., dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models) suitable for undergraduates has kept such models out of the undergraduate curriculum. This paper presents a model that captures both narratives within the same model environment that makes their fundamental theoretical differences manifestly clear in a way that is accessible to undergraduates.

Teaching The Causes Of Great Depression To College Students: Evidence From History, Economics, And Economic History Textbooks

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

We survey the treatment of the Depression in college-level textbooks for courses in US history and economics. History textbooks emphasis on inequality, the stock market crash, and underconsumption as the primary causes does not reflect the consensus of economic historians. Introductory economics textbooks use the Great Depression as an example to illustrate macroeconomic concepts in ways aligned with the research consensus, which emphasizes declining aggregate demand and issues related to monetary policy and the financial system. History textbooks could be improved by focusing more on bank failures, the actions of the Federal Reserve, monetary deflation, and declines in autonomous spending.

Are Banks "Ripping Off' The Consumer When It Comes To Mortgages?

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

In this pedagogical paper, we answer two questions: If someone has a fixed-rate mortgage and pays it off after only a few years, is the bank "ripping off' the consumer because of the low equity; and when is the interest portion of a mortgage payment exactly equal to the principal portion? The mathematics inherent to a fixed-rate mortgage dictate that a greater portion of interest is paid in the early years. To find the exact point in time when the interest and principal payments are exactly equal requires examining this question using continuous function mathematics.

Teachers' Knowledge And Attitudes About The Fed

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

A survey of teachers in the Fed's twelfth district investigates knowledge about how the central bank influences the economy. Focusing on teachers from different content areas, we find that teacher knowledge, for the most part, varies as expected given different teaching disciplines. Teachers are more aware of the Fed's goal of price stability than full employment and score relatively high on questions relating to current events. As well, teachers with more knowledge were more likely to have positive attitudes about the job the Fed was doing. We recommend improving Fed communications to improve economic education for teachers and the public.

Robust Analysis: An Investments Class Project On A Shoestring

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

We propose an investments class project to help students recognize ways to evaluate the robustness of an analytical result and understand the importance of performing such an evaluation. In the first part of the project, students derive basic results for naïve diversification. Then they apply four methods for evaluating the robustness of their initial conclusions: simple replication, an alternative market proxy in the single-index market model, an alternative asset pricing model (the FamaFrench Three-factor Model), and results from another historical period.

Know Math Or Take A Bath On A Finance Final Exam

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

Math is central to finance education, yet three-quarters of this sample of 159 introductory finance students lack critical quantitative skills on the first day of class, leading to overall underperformance. By utilizing criterion-referenced mathematics pretest items and matching applied finance posttest items, we find that students with substandard math skills rarely catch-up in the quantitative aspects of introductory finance. Indeed, the pretest determines a significant proportion of final exam performance, with the average student gaining a meager 5% between pretest and posttest. We discuss curricular implications of these findings and research-based approaches to facilitate course readiness.

Teaching The Economics And Convergence Of The Binomial And The Black-Scholes Option Pricing Formulas

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

This paper simplifies the economics of option pricing formulas by clarifying how the no-arbitrage principle ensures that a risk-neutral valuation relationship (based on risk-neutral probabilities) exists between an option and its underlying asset. A spreadsheet exercise shows how binomial probabilities and prices numerically converge to Black-Scholes probabilities and prices, and further numerical analysis reveals how the histogram of terminal stock returns in the multi-period binomial tree converges in probability to the normal distribution. Recommendations for teaching option pricing and convergence include the use of a hypothetical case study of a graduating student’s comparison of competing salary offers.

A Vba Solution To Modern Portfolio Theory

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

The purpose of this article is to provide finance instructors an example of how to teach students to integrate Visual Basic for Application (VBA) into a modern portfolio theory application. Using tactical asset allocation as an example, we show how to teach students to use Excel to (1) collect refreshable data, (2) organize the data into input, (3) construct an efficient frontier, and (4) use VBA to automate the process. Our step-bystep methodology is intuitive and can be used for teaching how to integrate VBA into other dynamic and integrative financial models.

Teaching The Quantity Theory Of Money: A Simple Classroom Game

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

This paper presents a classroom exercise that helps students understand the quantity theory of money and the implied relationship between money supply growth and inflation. In addition, the role and meaning of velocity is highlighted. The activity is easily implemented and only requires paper, pencil, and a spreadsheet to record data generated by the students. One major advantage of this game is that the outcome will almost always support the theoretical implications of the quantity equation. This is opposed to other simulations, which can sometimes differ dramatically from the model's prediction.

Evaluating An Online Capital Budgeting Simulation Game In An Mba Financial Management Course

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

In this paper, the instructor introduces and evaluates an online capital budgeting simulation game in an MBA financial management course at an AACSB accredited school. A survey method is utilized to assess students’ opinions about the game. The survey results indicate that the majority of students felt that the simulation game helped them learn financial management knowledge better, preferred this game approach, and would recommend it for future finance courses. A statistical analysis is conducted to assess the effectiveness of the simulation game on students’ learning. The statistical result indicates that the simulation game significantly improved students’ learning outcomes.

Argentina Ma Program, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes,

• Master's Program in Economic Development at Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) [Program document]. Includes sections on the curriculum, faculty list, courses and faculty pairings, and the international advisory board, listing Anwar Shaikh, PhD, as a member.

Academic Correspondence, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A., PhD. (n.d.). Handwritten note regarding a review copy of Karl Marx’s theory of history [Handwritten note].

• Schroeder, S. (n.d.). Envelope addressed to Anwar Shaikh, PhD [Envelope].

• Schroeder, S. (2010, December 7). Postcard providing an update on the political economy department at the University of Sydney [Postcard].

• Kaltenberg, M. (n.d.). Thank-you note regarding a recommendation letter and acceptance to SOAS [Note].

• Ed. (2017, September 14). Postcard sent from Alberobello, Italy [Postcard].

• Champion Ward, F. (1982, July 17). Letter regarding retirement and professional relationships [Letter].

• Shaikh, A., PhD. (n.d.). Letter to Cy Gonick evaluating the work of …

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Does Math Confidence Matter? How Student Perceptions Create Barriers To Success In Economics Classes

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

One of the most common obstacles in the economics classroom is facing students’ disinclination to perform tasks requiring basic quantitative skills. Economics, relative to other disciplines, is particularly bridled by this challenge since mastery of economics requires sufficient mathematical proficiency to elicit anxiety and resistance in many students but is not widely regarded as math intensive enough to generate a selection effect of highly quantitative students. This paper attempts to measure undergraduate economics students’ perceptions of their level of “mathiness” or mathematical abilities and anxieties and then identifies the impact of those perceptions on the students’ performance in economics courses.

Clarifying The Meaning Of Noninteger N Values In Annuity Calculations

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

Time value of money problems are integral to finance. We focus attention on the issues raised when a noninteger solution results from solving for the variable N (number of periods) in a time value of money annuity problem. We show that such a numerical solution, while mathematically correct, can deviate from the narrative of the problem. This deviation from the narrative could cause misunderstandings between instructors and their students and practitioners and their clients. We demonstrate how instructors and practitioners can explain the deviation from the narrative in such cases, and how cash flows can be adjusted to avoid missing …

Interest Rate Swap Valuation Since The Financial Crisis: Theory And Practice

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

The financial crisis of 2007-09 revealed the importance of counterparty credit risk in the valuation of non-collateralized interest rate swaps. In theory, these valuations rest on assumed default probabilities and recovery rates. These assumptions, however, should be reflected in the risk-adjusted discount rates of the counterparties. Thus, in practice, swap valuations can be generated by discounting prospective swap settlements using risk-adjusted discount rates, cash flow by cash flow. This article demonstrates this method, discerning risk-adjusted discount rates from data that are readily available on the Bloomberg information system. Critically, if the inputs for the two methodologies are mutually consistent, theory …

On The Value Of Teaching Edgeworth Boxes In Introductory Economics Courses

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

Edgeworth boxes, which illustrate the movement toward equilibrium via trade, are almost universally relegated to intermediate microeconomics courses. I argue for their inclusion in introductory courses as a natural bridge between production / consumption possibility frontiers and supply / demand curves. When presented in an intuitive, graph-based fashion, the Edgeworth box model provides a supplementary illustration (to the Ricardian model) of trade as a Pareto improvement and emphasizes production for the purpose of utility via consumption rather than for its own sake. A course which only includes production as such is, therefore, incomplete.

Face-To-Face Versus Online: A Comparison Of Student Performance In Introduction To Finance Courses

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

This study compares the performance of students taking Introduction to Finance classes in an online versus a face-to-face setting. The study included 995 students. The analysis compared dropout rates, exam scores, final grades, and case study scores. The dropout rates of students in the online classes was more than twice that of students in the face-toface classes. Students in the face-to-face classes received higher scores on their exams, case studies, and higher final grades, but the difference was small, less than the difference between the grade of a B and a B-.