Issue 30, Spring 2006

William A. McEachern, Editor

Odds and Ends

According to the U.S. Labor Department, over the next ten years, jobs for economists are expected to grow more slowly than the average for all occupations, with higher growth for economists in management and consulting positions. The Department's forecast two years earlier called for average growth. One growth area for undergraduate majors is for secondary school economics teachers as the subject becomes increasingly important at that level. In the federal government, the starting salary in 2005 for economists with a bachelor's degree was $24,667; but someone with a top academic record could begin at $30,567 (who says grades don't matter). A master's degree holder started at $37,390, and a Ph.D. at $45,239; previous work experience boosted that to $54,221. Starting salaries were higher in selected geographical areas where the prevailing local pay was higher. The average annual salary for economists employed by the federal government was $89,441 in 2005. For more details, go to http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos055.htm#emply.

Economists assume that the individual is motivated by rational self-interest. But are young people now more self-interested? When the U.S. Army fell short of its recruiting goals, it dropped its ad agency. The new agency changed the campaign slogan from "Be all you can be" to "I am an Army of One." The Army was reportedly trying to connect to a more self-interested generation of young people. One new ad has a young man talking to his father: "It's about what you told me the other day, about doing something for myself—something important."

Economists don't like to muck around in matters of consumer taste, but the preference for Coke versus Pepsi may not be just a matter for the tongue to decide, according to Samuel McClure of Princeton and his colleagues. Brain scans of people tasting the soft drinks reveal that consumers' knowledge of which drink they are tasting affects their preferences and activates memory-related brain regions that recall cultural influences. Thus, say the researchers, they have shown neurologically how a culturally based brand image influences a behavioral choice. See Samuel M. McClure, et al. 2004. "Neural Correlates of Behavioral Preference for Culturally Familiar Drinks" Neuron, 44 (2) October 14, 2004, pages 379-387.

Paul Krugman, in his New York Times get-acquainted interview (available online to Times-Select customers), says in high school he was a big science fiction fan, especially of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. Based on characters in the series, Krugman decided he wanted to be a "psychohistorian" when he grew up. After encountering no such profession, he aimed for history but drifted into economics. His Times columns seem to draw more on political economy.

The list of blogs written by economists is growing. The "Economics Roundtable" at http://www.rtable.net/index/rt/economics/recent/ links to about 120 economic blogs. I found only one of those that focuses primarily on teaching economics (versus economic issues per se). That's "Tim Schilling on Economic Education" from the Chicago Fed at http://education.chicagofedblogs.org/. If you know of other blogs concerned mostly with teaching economics, send me a link and I will pass it along.

Film critic Roger Ebert observes that there exists an ancient tradition that movie characters always live in apartments they could not afford in real life.

Long-time New Yorker writer A.J. Liebling claimed that he "could write better than anyone who could write faster, and faster than anyone who could write better."

Knowledge is one of the few things that can be given to others without reducing the amount you have left. —Thomas Sowell

"Wisdom is in learning what to overlook." —William James

"Everything is political, even the truth." —Paul Krugman

Top