An Excel-Based Approach For Teaching Markowitz’S Portfolio Optimization Theory,
2026
Rollins College
An Excel-Based Approach For Teaching Markowitz’S Portfolio Optimization Theory
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
This paper presents a simple method for teaching the Markowitz Portfolio Optimization topic. The use of Microsoft Excel or Corel Quattro Pro enables students and investors who do not possess a great deal of mathematical and programming expertise to identify meanvariance efficient portfolios which consist of more than two assets. Through this hands-on learning experience, students achieve a deeper understanding of the theory. The exercise also gives the students an eye opening lesson on the practical usability of spreadsheets.
Through The Lens Of Life: Teaching Principles Of Economics With Humans Of New York,
2026
Rollins College
Through The Lens Of Life: Teaching Principles Of Economics With Humans Of New York
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
Stories create a direct and powerful connection between students and the course material, increasing their level of attention, bringing abstract economic concepts to life, and refining critical thinking skills. Humans of New York is a project that chronicles stories of ordinary New Yorkers. It provides an opportunity to connect students with illustrations and personal accounts of economics in the real world. This can reduce the abstract nature of theory and give students concrete examples of economic terms and concepts; in a way that reflects their own environment, culture, or experiences. We highlight these stories and show how to incorporate them …
Keynesbiscuit, Marketariat, And The Fool In The Shower: Metaphors For Teaching Policy Lags In Macroeconomics Principles,
2026
Rollins College
Keynesbiscuit, Marketariat, And The Fool In The Shower: Metaphors For Teaching Policy Lags In Macroeconomics Principles
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
Principles of macroeconomics textbooks devote a great deal of space to countercyclical fiscal policy, but generally provide only scant coverage to factors that make its application difficult in the real world. In fact economists are generally skeptical of the ability of fiscal policy to smooth the business cycle because of the policy-lag problem. This paper provides a metaphor—a horserace between active policy and the selfcorrecting mechanism—that can help students move into the higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy of learning (analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating) with respect to fiscal policy. The metaphor can be extended to include discretionary monetary policy as well.
Beyond Grades: Using Incentives To Motivate Students,
2026
Rollins College
Beyond Grades: Using Incentives To Motivate Students
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
Economists study how incentives motivate human behavior. However, besides grades, professors do not frequently employ incentives to motivate students in the classroom. This may be because expenses associated with classroom incentives often remain unreimbursed or because other implementation costs are high. In this paper, we demonstrate methods educators can use to motivate student behavior while minimizing costs. We identify a range of options that include: incentives appropriate for large sections, an effective monetary incentive system suitable for smaller classes, tips for using an assortment of non-monetary incentives, and methods for leveraging social capital to motivate student learning and engagement.
A Pedagogical Note On The Dynamics Of Capital Market Efficiency For The Introductory Finance Course,
2026
Rollins College
A Pedagogical Note On The Dynamics Of Capital Market Efficiency For The Introductory Finance Course
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
Introductory finance textbooks commonly address capital market efficiency from a largely static perspective with little or no attention to the dynamics that bring the price of a security into equality with its intrinsic value. This note offers a simple pedagogy to illustrate the process by which capital market efficiency will return a stock’s price to equal its true value and simultaneously bring the expected rate of return on the stock into equality with the market’s required return.
Portfolio Optimization Incorporating The Capital Allocation Line: A Comprehensive Undergraduate Investments Course Project,
2026
Rollins College
Portfolio Optimization Incorporating The Capital Allocation Line: A Comprehensive Undergraduate Investments Course Project
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
This paper covers a project in which beginning investment students collect price and dividend data and calculate various returns for five companies, a fund and the stock market. After forming a portfolio they calculate risk measures, determine Jenson’s alpha, Sharpe and Treynor values and the return based on the Capital Asset Pricing Model. The students calculate two-stock frontiers and a frontier comprised of potentially all five stocks, incorporate the Capital Allocation Line (CAL) and determine the optimal portfolio. Finally, they calculate dollar amounts to invest in the riskless asset and risky stocks to accomplish dominant points on the CAL and …
Using Bloomberg Terminal In Corporate Finance Courses,
2026
Rollins College
Using Bloomberg Terminal In Corporate Finance Courses
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
In this paper, we explore the use of the Bloomberg Professional data service in teaching corporate finance subjects. Integrating the Bloomberg service with teaching enables corporate finance faculty to improve teaching effectiveness and helps business schools meet the Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) standards. Following essential corporate finance topics outlined in frequently adapted textbooks, we present detailed information on how to collect useful information and data from Bloomberg to assist the teaching of these topics.
Financial Literacy In The Community College Classroom: A Curriculum Intervention Study,
2026
Rollins College
Financial Literacy In The Community College Classroom: A Curriculum Intervention Study
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
Urban Community College asked the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis to develop a financial literacy curriculum unit for its New Student Course. The unit was taught in 62 randomly selected sections, with 31 of those serving as the control group. We evaluated the effectiveness of the unit based on student pre-test and post-test scores. We found that student pre-test scores, academic ability, teacher experience, and participation in the unit were statistically significant predictors of student post-test scores. On average, students taught the financial literacy curriculum unit scored about 7 percentage points higher than students who were not.
Honor Codes And Perceptions Of Cheating,
2026
Rollins College
Honor Codes And Perceptions Of Cheating
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
To reduce cheating and strengthen honor codes, penalties for violations and enforcement have been enhanced, but the outcomes of those actions are uncertain and academic dishonesty remains a concern. Research affirms widespread cheating and no clear remedy exists. We analyze how a change in an honor code can impact academic dishonesty. We find an increased awareness and vigilance to prevent cheating by students may lead to a reduction in cheating through an increase in the certainty of punishment. Moving from an honor policy toward a traditional honor code is only one step in creating a culture of honesty.
What Cosmo Kramer Can Teach Us About Optimal Stopping Times,
2026
Rollins College
What Cosmo Kramer Can Teach Us About Optimal Stopping Times
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
The real option literature on investment provides insights into firms’ decisions to enter and exit markets. This literature emphasizes the role of fixed costs of entry, the salvage value of exit, and uncertainty. A major implication of this literature is that it is often optimal to wait. Nonetheless, since the overwhelming majority of this literature uses models with uncertainty, students are often unclear as to the role of each of these components in determining the value of the option to wait. In this paper, I explain the role of uncertainty and costs/salvage value by considering the question: “When is it …
Shifts In Supply And Demand And The Corresponding Changes In Equilibrium Price And Quantity: Explaining The Process,
2026
Rollins College
Shifts In Supply And Demand And The Corresponding Changes In Equilibrium Price And Quantity: Explaining The Process
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
Most textbooks are incomplete or potentially confusing in their treatment of the dynamic process resulting from a change in demand or a change in supply. While they are not incorrect in their comparative statics results, they can leave students unclear about the process involved. The authors suggest an approach that addresses the deficiency.
Teaching Collective Action Problems Without Contextual Bias: The Red/Green Simulation,
2026
Rollins College
Teaching Collective Action Problems Without Contextual Bias: The Red/Green Simulation
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
Collective action problems are at the heart of many economic issues. Often, students have trouble comprehending how society ends up with a less than optimal outcome, and may incorrectly assume that someone must want the outcome that occurs. Correcting this error is made difficult by the biases that students bring to these issues. The Red/Green simulation demonstrates the tension between self-interest and the social good in a context-free manner allowing students to see that these sub-optimal outcomes may not be desired by anyone, but instead can result from unhealthy systems of incentives.
Presenting Economic Sanctions In The Classroom: The Case Of Iran,
2026
Rollins College
Presenting Economic Sanctions In The Classroom: The Case Of Iran
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
The Iran Deal’ ended long standing sanctions levied against Iran by the United States, European Union and United Nations in 2015 for dismantling its nuclear program. This paper presents an approach to teaching economic models of sanctions, and applies it in the context of lifting Iranian sanctions. We start with a simple production possibilities frontier approach to analyzing sanctions, followed by welfare analysis of import and export restrictions on US and Iranian economies. The paper provides a presentation and links to useful resources that can be used by instructors teaching undergraduate courses in introductory economics, intermediate microeconomics and international economics.
Economics Of The World Beyond The Textbook: Two Methods For Teaching,
2026
Rollins College
Economics Of The World Beyond The Textbook: Two Methods For Teaching
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
Visiting historical sites, local markets, or businesses can help students in an economics class connect abstract ideas to three-dimensional realities. We relate our experience with two types of trips: one focused on regional history and one in which students visited representative businesses. With some guided questions, the students are able to identify the forces of supply and demand at work in their own lives and communities.
Dollars Per Pound Or Pounds Per Dollar? Using The Kumon Method To Increase Student Understanding Of Topics In International Finance,
2026
Rollins College
Dollars Per Pound Or Pounds Per Dollar? Using The Kumon Method To Increase Student Understanding Of Topics In International Finance
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
In this work I use the Kumon method in International Finance to help students become proficient on basic course topics. This lets them achieve a stronger foundation and allows them to focus on more complex course topics without struggling with the basics. Students improve their skills on the basic course topics using the Kumon-type worksheets. The majority agreed that the worksheets helped their overall understanding of International Finance.
What “The Simpsons” Can Teach Us About Sports Economics,
2026
Rollins College
What “The Simpsons” Can Teach Us About Sports Economics
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
This paper provides an insight into the teaching of economics. Using sport and The Simpsons one can do some of the heavy lifting when teaching the subject, as these topics generally engage students and provide ample analogies from which one can explore and discuss key economic concepts. The paper does not seek to provide a deep examination of the economics of sport, but merely to illustrate how The Simpsons and sport can be used to teach fundamental economic concepts.
The Influence That Time Costs And Money Costs Have On Work Incentives: An Application Of Childcare Subsidies,
2026
Rollins College
The Influence That Time Costs And Money Costs Have On Work Incentives: An Application Of Childcare Subsidies
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
When deriving an individual's labor supply curve, most labor economics textbooks ignore any monetary or time costs associated with working. However, students realize that this assumption is not realistic, particularly for working parents who have children in daycare. The author presents an analysis of how both monetary and time costs associated with working influences an individual’s reservation wage. Additionally the author compares how the aggregate supply of hours offered within a firm is influenced by that firm adopting a childcare subsidy benefit that either reduces the monetary costs or time costs associated with have a child in daycare.
Using Twitter To Improve Student Writing,
2026
Rollins College
Using Twitter To Improve Student Writing
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
The economics pedagogy literature concerning the use of social media in the classroom is rapidly growing. This paper adds to the literature by providing initial evidence of the potential impact of using Twitter to improve writing about economics. Writing assignments before and after a series of Twitter assignments coupled with prompt feedback are utilized. A Principles of Macroeconomics course and two sections of an Intermediate Microeconomics course from two different institutions are used in the analysis.
Textbook Confessions: Of Failures, Markets, And Government,
2026
Rollins College
Textbook Confessions: Of Failures, Markets, And Government
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
Most undergraduate students come into contact with an economics class only in passing. The textbook will thus be the basis for their economic understanding, and what is included in these books will have a large influence on how they view the workings of the overall economy. Guided by the Council for Economic Education’s Voluntary National Content Standards, we show that most textbooks cover more extensively market failure than government failure, or even the government role as protector of property rights. We believe a more balanced approach provides an accurate view of the role government should play in a vibrant economy.
Helping Students Crack Annuity, Perpetuity, Bond, And Stock Valuation Formulas,
2026
Rollins College
Helping Students Crack Annuity, Perpetuity, Bond, And Stock Valuation Formulas
Journal of Economics and Finance Education
Mainstream finance textbooks present valuation formulas of annuities, perpetuities, stocks, and bonds, but the texts seldom explain the story behind them, leaving students in the dark about why these formulas work. The aim of this paper is to illuminate the black box of these formulas, thus helping finance instructors and students truly understand them. Starting from the basic valuation principle, we can reach each of these seemingly daunting formulas via a few simple algebraic steps. When students reach their “Ah-ha” moment at the end of each derivation, it motivates them and subsequently boosts their interest and confidence in learning Finance.
