DailyDad

Looking for a Summer Job

Greg Mankiw — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 02:36:00 -0800

An ec 10 student emails me a question:

Dear Professor Mankiw,
I am interested in doing some economics-related research this summer. It seems difficult for a freshman with only a semester of Ec-10 to get an internship in this area, but I wanted to see if you had an ideas or knew of any places I should look
Thanks for your time,
[name withheld]

Yes, it is hard for a freshman to land a good research-related job. But it is not impossible. When I was a freshman, I managed to get a summer job as a research assistant to Princeton professor Harvey Rosen mainly because, I suspect, I knew enough Fortran programming to be useful in his research project. Harvey is a great economist and an all-round terrific human being, and I learned a lot working for him.

The main difficulty for freshmen is that you are competing with more advanced students for research assistant jobs. Given the work that I do, I tend not to hire a lot of student assistants, and when I do, they are usually grad students.

Other professors have different styles and larger demands. Sometimes job postings can be found at the undergraduate office in the economics department, but the only way to know for sure if professors are hiring is to email them or knock on their doors to ask. As you are searching, don't forget that you can find good economists not only in the economics department but also at other parts of the university such as the business school and the Kennedy school of government.

In addition, for students interested in economic policy, there are internship programs at policy organizations such as the CEA, CBO, Fed, and NY Fed, and policy think tanks such as AEI, Brookings, Cato, and Heritage. This is the time of year when students should start applying.

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Save Money and Time by Attending College Overseas

NA — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 09:19:00 -0700

Smart Money has a piece that says you can save time and money by attending college overseas. The summary:

International tuition fees at top universities in the U.K. and Canada trim anywhere from a quarter to half the price of tuition at U.S. private universities and come neck-and-neck with tuition paid by out-of-state students. And, in many cases, these undergraduate programs are significantly shorter, saving students both time and money.

Here's one example of a person saving time and money by studying overseas:

Next year, Christopher Schuller, a native of Nashville, Tenn., will complete his law degree at Oxford University, and he'll qualify to take the New York State Bar exam. Assuming he passes, he'll become a practicing attorney at age 22. Schuller didn't skip grades in high school or overload on his college coursework. Instead, he chose to attend college in England where most undergraduate programs — including law school — are three years long and where students begin their major on the very first day of classes.

In addition to skipping four years of traditional undergrad education, Schuller saved big bucks. Tuition for U.S. students at Oxford costs about $20,000 per year — or $60,000 to get a law degree. If Schuller had attended the University of Chicago, which was his first choice in the U.S., he'd pay more than $93,000 for an undergraduate degree, and then have to pay for a three-year J.D. to boot.

Now, of course, college aid, scholarships, etc. play a part in this:

Only a few scholarships are available for international students. Almost all U.S. federal loans can be used to pay for tuition in another country.

So, if you're paying the entire bill yourself or if you're going to an expansive school in the U.S. with little assistance, studying overseas may be an option that can save you a good amount of money.

Anyone tried this?

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Checklist: What Your Child Should Know About Money Before Moving Out

NA — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 03:08:00 -0700

I'm currently on vacation. This post has been written courtesy of Chief Family Officer, one of the blogs I regularly read. Enjoy!

Before you children move out or go off to college, they should know the following things about money:

How credit cards work. They should understand how credit card issuers make money, what an interest rate is, and the value of paying off balances in full each cycle.

How to balance a checkbook. They may prefer doing this online, but the bottom line is that they need to know how to keep track of the money in their checking accounts so they don't overdraw their funds.

What the deductions on their paychecks are. They should understand that although they may be getting paid $10 per hour, they will not be depositing that full amount into their bank account - rather, some of their earnings will disappear into voids known as FICA, Medicare, and federal and state tax coffers.

What a Roth IRA is and why they should invest in one.

How to live beneath their means and why it's important.

The importance of an emergency fund.

Health insurance basics like what a copay is and the importance of finding out whether their doctor is in-network before they choose a health plan.

What an index fund is.

To ask for help if there's something they don't understand.

Students: Save Money at School

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Gina Trapani — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 09:00:00 -0700

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Time And School Performance

George Borjas — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 03:00:00 -0700

Two new NBER working papers emphasize--in very different ways--the importance of spending time "on the job" as an input in school performance. The first, by Todd and Ralph Stinebrickner, is entitled "The Causal Effect of Studying on Academic Performance." Here is the paper's basic result:

...An increase in study-effort of one hour per day (an increase of approximately .67 of a standard deviation in our sample) is estimated to have the same effect on grades as a 5.21 point increase in ACT scores...In addition, the reduced form effect of being assigned a roommate with a video game is estimated to have the same effect on grades as a 3.88 point decrease in ACT scores...

Note to self: remind my three teenage children that every hour of homework has a sizable economic value AND to stay away from friends who own a Wii, an Xbox 360, or a PS3. (Ooops, I think we have at least one of those things in our living room; must dispose of it immediately.)

The other paper, by Raegen Miller, Richard Murnane, and John Willett, is entitled "Do Teacher Absences Impact Student Achievement? Longitudinal Evidence from One Urban School District." Here is the abstract:

Rates of employee absences and the effects of absences on productivity are topics of conversation in many organizations in many countries. One reason is that high rates of employee absence may signal weak management and poor labor-management relations. A second reason is that reducing rates of employee absence may be an effective way to improve productivity. This paper reports the results of a study of employee absences in education, a large, labor-intensive industry. Policymakers' concern with teacher absence rests on three premises: (1) that a significant portion of teachers' absences is discretionary, (2) that teachers' absences have a nontrivial impact on productivity, and (3) that feasible policy changes could reduce rates of absence among teachers...We employ a methodology that accounts for time-invariant differences among teachers in skill and motivation. We find large variation in adjusted teacher absence rates among schools. We estimate that each 10 days of teacher absences reduce students' mathematics achievement by 3.3 percent of a standard deviation.

My wife, who is an elementary school teacher, tells me that some of the absences are easily predictable. The teachers' union contract often allows teachers to "bank" sick and personal days, and some teachers begin to repeatedly use these saved days as retirement approaches. A good question: would it be cost-effective for school districts to let the teachers cash out their sick and personal days?

Back To School: Find Cheap Textbooks

Gina Trapani — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 06:30:39 -0700

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10 Ways to Remove Clutter from Your Life

Dumb Little Man — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 02:59:00 -0700

Our lives tend to accumulate clutter in every corner: on our desks, in our drawers, on our shelves at home, in our closets, on our computer -- you name it, and clutter finds a way to fill every available space.

But having a simple, uncluttered life is possible, with some very simple methods.

Devote a little of your time to tossing clutter from your life, and keeping things relatively clutter-free, and you'll be rewarded with much more pleasing living spaces, with a less stressful life, and with better organization and productivity. Clutter weighs us down, distracts us, brings chaos into our lives.

Let's look at some ways to kick it out ... for good.

Your desk. If your desk is covered in paper and other clutter, clear it off to create a pleasing work environment. The steps here are the basic decluttering steps we'll follow for many of the other steps below:
- Clear everything off. Take everything off your desk and put it in a pile on the floor. Clear out the drawers too, if you have time. The only things that should be on your desk now are the computer, phone and other similar equipment.
- Clean. Wipe down your desk, and clean your drawers if you're decluttering them too. It's good to start with clean surfaces.
- Sort. OK, here's the meat of the process: sort through your stuff, one pile at a time. Toss out or route as much as possible, so that what you're left with is a relatively small amount of stuff. If you won't be using it again in the near future, or if you can access it on the computer, toss it out.
- Designate homes. Now you get to place everything back in your desk. Set up a simple alphabetical filing system, with one folder for each project or client. Have drawers for your office supplies and other stuff. With less stuff to organize, it shouldn't be too hard. Be sure to have a place designated for everything, and keep things in those places. Sometimes it helps to label, so you don't forget.
- Leave flat surfaces clear. Don't put stuff on top of your desk. Have an inbox for all incoming papers, and then sort them each day and either toss, delegate, do them immediately, or file all documents, so nothing remains on top of your desk. The only thing that should be on your desk is your computer, phone, inbox, perhaps a family photo, and the documents you're working on right now.
Files. If you decluttered your files in the above step, you can skip this, although you should declutter not only your work files but your home files as well. Keep a simple alphabetical system, and try to fit everything in one drawer. It's good to take out all your files, and purge what you don't need. Many times that can be half of your files or more. Get rid of as much as possible -- most times, we keep copies of stuff we'll never need again. When you're done purging, you should have a minimum of files, and it shouldn't be hard to keep organized.

Information. In today's digital world, there are tons of ways that information comes into our lives -- and it can be overwhelming. It's information clutter -- we get too much of it. Instead, set certain times of the day when you check email, your RSS feeds, or various forums or other things you read daily. Reduce the number of things you read each day -- purge your RSS feeds of stuff that doesn't give you value, reduce your consumption of news and television, get rid of magazine subscriptions. Keep information to a bare minimum, and only check it at certain times of the day instead of letting it rule your life.

Computer. Purge your computer files, getting rid of stuff you don't need. Clear your desktop of icons -- they slow your computer down, create visual clutter, and are an inefficient way to access files, programs or folders. Set up hotkeys with AutoHotKey or similar programs. With online search tools (such as that in Gmail) and programs such as Google Desktop, you don't need to keep your files in a complex array of directories and subdirectories -- just archive, and search later. Purge old, unneeded files at least every month or two.

Closets. Use the same method for your closets as you did with your desk: clear everything out, clean it out, sort (and toss or donate as much as possible), and designate homes for what you decided to keep. Keep only what you love and use often. I recommend keeping your closet floor clear -- it makes everything look nicer. If tackling the entire closet is too intimidating, it can be helpful to just tackle one area of your closet a day, until it's done. It's also useful to go through your wardrobe, and donate everything you haven't worn in 6 months -- it greatly simplifies your closet.

Rooms. Are the rooms in your house too cluttered? A few rules about simplifying a room: first, start with anything that's stacked on the floors; then work to the flat surfaces (tables, shelves, countertops, the tops of dressers, etc.) and clear them completely if possible; then do the larger stuff like furniture and other things that clutter the room; and finally tackle drawers and cabinets and closets. As much as possible, keep floors clear and all flat surfaces. Sort through everything in piles as in the first step above, tossing and donating as much as possible. Organize everything else in drawers and closets and cabinets, out of sight but still neat and uncluttered. Tackle one room at a time, going for a clean, uncluttered, simple, minimalist look in all cases. It can be helpful to continually edit a room once you're done decluttering -- you can always find little ways to make a room simpler.

Drawers. The way to declutter a drawer is the same as outlined above: empty everything out, clean the drawer, sort through the pile of stuff from the drawer (purging as much as possible) and organizing the few things left. Keep like things together -- a drawer for office supplies should only be for office supplies. Avoid having a junk drawer -- everything should have a designated place. Go through one drawer at a time -- don't jump from one drawer to another.

Commitments. Aside from physical clutter, our lives are often way too cluttered by the things we need to do -- at work, at home, in our civic or religious lives, with our hobbies, with friends and family, etc. Go through each area of your life, and write down every commitment you have -- from things you've volunteered or agreed to do on a regular basis, to meetings and sports games and other things you do every month or week. It can be overwhelming. Now examine each one, and decide if it truly gives you joy and value in your life, and whether it's worth the time you commit to it. It can be useful to just choose a few of the commitments that your really love doing. Get rid of all the rest. Just call people and tell them your schedule is too busy, and you have to decline. Learn to say no! One by one, eliminate the commitments in your life that don't give you value, and you'll have more time to do the stuff that's really important to you -- stuff for yourself, or your loved ones.

Routines. It is extremely useful to examine your daily and weekly routines. Often, we don't have any set routines, and we tackle our chores, regular tasks, and obligations haphazardly. This leads to chaotic days and weeks, and often a drop in productivity. It's better to batch like tasks together -- do all your errands at once, for example, or all your laundry at once instead of throughout the week. Write down all of your weekly and daily obligations, chores, tasks, etc. and plan out a weekly and daily routine. Post it up where you can see it and try to follow it, at least for a week. It could bring some calmness and simplicity to your life that hadn't been there before. Be sure to schedule time for decluttering in your weekly routine!

Systems. Once you've purged clutter from your life, it will inevitably start to creep back in. To keep from having a cluttered life again, you need to set up systems that will keep the clutter to a minimum. Examine how you do things, how things come into your life, and see if you can create a simple system for everything: chores, laundry, paperwork, email, RSS feeds, yardwork, errands, work projects, filing. And then write down your systems, step by step, and try to follow them. If your systems are set up right, you will continually purge clutter you don't need. For example, a system for paperwork might look like this:
- All incoming papers go in inbox.
- At the end of each day, inbox is processed.
- Rules for processing: toss, route, file, do, or write on to-do list to do later and put it in "action file".
- Process to empty, leaving no papers in inbox or on desk. Clear desk of any working papers.

Written for Dumb Little Man by Leo Babauta

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Mental Accounting for Dummies

Alex Tabarrok — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 04:20:00 -0700

The Bank of America's Keep the Change program freaks me out. Every time you make a charge with your B of A debit card it rounds the figure up to the nearest whole amount and transfers the change to your checking account.* Commercials for this service are all over the television and radio - tagline: "you don't even have to think about saving" - and every time I see one I feel the gulf between me and the rest of humanity widening (MR readers excepted of course).

Look, I can understand Ulysses tying himself to the mast, I can understand locking the refrigerator and I can understand Christmas accounts but I will never understand how anyone can increase their savings by taking money from one account and putting it into another. I think I will write a book, I will call it Mental Accounting for Dummies:

The secret to saving more money is simple. In your right hand is money for spending. In your left hand is money for savings. Now take some money from your right hand and put it into your left hand. Tada! Wasn't that easy?

Millions have signed up for Keep the Change and the program has been written up by Business Week as "a radically different product that broke the paradigm." Sigh.

* n.b. It is true that B of A tops up the amount transferred but this part of the program, the only part that makes any sense, is hardly advertised at all.

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