Skip to main content

Chapter 19 HMWK

Post three of your "margin notes" from your reading of the chapter to your blog.  Why did you make the comment you made in the margin?  What did you find confusing, useful, or important about the passage you commented on? (I know many of you don't use margin note -- but just what you found interesting and might like more information on. What caught your eye as you read the chapter? Why did it catch your eye?)

The compensating differential was an interesting idea, and I can see why some unattractive jobs that may require one to work in dirty conditions or odd hours may pay highly even if they do not require specialized skills. People respond to incentives, so financial rewards can be used to attract workers to undesirable jobs.

 The signaling view of education sounds like what I have experienced in life. Nobody has ever asked what my GPA was, or how any particular class will help me perform my job, yet having a degree caught their attention. 

 Another thing that caught my attention was the anecdote about how streetcar operators were fighting discrimination laws because the end result was having to "haul around a good deal of empty space" which bit into profit. The flipside is that businesses that do engage in discriminatory practices are usually responding to customer preferences, such as in a restaurant where servers are very visible.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chapter 23 Reflection

I was glad to learn more about how interest rates affect the overall economy, as well as the cues that coincide with decisions to manipulate the interest rate. I ’m most interested in the arguments regarding government funded projects as well as a balanced government budget. On the one hand, I can see how money can trickle down from the government to the people when public projects are implemented. Construction jobs are sustained when bridges need to be built. However, it should be noted that this does not necessarily affect the job security within the industry itself. It’s great if businesses can win contracts, but what actually happens when the project is finished? How much has it actually changed the community itself, or has it just lined the pockets of a few? Also, how does the government decide which projects are most necessary? And in order to fund it, aren’t they raising taxes overall? It seems that when governments attempt to somehow increase public welfare by increasi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chapter 22 Reflection

Inflation and unemployment have an inverse relationship. You can ’t have both become lower at the same time, but policymakers can decide acceptable threshold levels which will then inform which is more of a priority to pursue. It is good that people work at jobs, because then the GDP rises, which improves the nation’s economy as they become more efficient. But you see, a s more people get jobs, their income rises, and then their consumption also increases. Increased consumption means that prices generally rise as the goods go to the highest bidder. Workers in turn will demand higher wages in order to keep up with these rising prices, or inflation. So in the end, as unemployment decreases inflation will increase. I ’m not so sure that there really is a trade-off, as it seems to be more of a feedback cycle rather than something that can be legislated. And this feedback cycle seems to have a historic pattern as well. But overall, neither factor alone totally conveys the quality o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chapter 20 reflection

This chapter talks about how the government's fiscal policy influences aggregate supply and aggregate demand regarding the money supply. The Fed sets the interest rate, and when they make a change it impacts the opportunity cost people face when deciding whether to spend or save money. This in turn affects how much money is supplied and demanded within the economy. The government can make choices about the purchases it makes or taxes it imposes, and this in turn affects many people's paychecks. Overall, it influences people's consumer spending. Pessimism and optimism can cause people to change their demand for money, and on a large scale certain repeated actions can trigger a recession or inflation. Both the Fed and the government use their policies to attempt to stabilize these fluctuations.
Post a Comment
Read more