Arthur Okun - Inventor of the expression "The Invisible Handshake"

We will spend some more time tomorrow talking about implicit contracts.  Your homework gives you one idea - about how such contracts can be self-enforcing.  But it really doesn't tell you much about the nature of the agreement.  The paper linked below (you have access to this if you are on the campus network) talks about implicit contracts between a firm and its employees.  It explains why wages are "rigid" and how the agreement offers a kind of co-insurance.

The Invisible Handshake and the Inflationary Process on JSTOR via kwout

An example of opportunism - pyramid schemes

Since you are to write a blog post about your experience with opportunism this week, I thought the piece excerpted below would be of interest to you.  We will also spend a little time in class tomorrow talking about Ponzi schemes, which are similar.

The Pyramid Scheme Problem - The New York Times via kwout

Excel Homework on the Efficiency Principle

Created by	prof.arvan@gmail.com
Description	This is a deeper look at the Efficiency Principle from taking a strategic approach. Note that this content is not in Chapter 2 of M&R. We are covering it, because it fills in a logical gap to the approach. Excel File: https://uofi.box.com/s/a7llt3qozlev902qaeg5zpee88upuvi6

If you have a question about this homework, please post it as a comment to the post here.  

Does Monitoring Work?

The piece that is excerpted below was republished this afternoon on a listserv that I subscribe to.  It kind of makes you wonder, if professors loathe the evaluations of their students, by analogy shouldn't employees loathe the evaluations of their supervisors?  If not, why not?

At the U of I, there is a requirement that each employee receive an annual performance review.  Later in the course we'll talk about this sort of evaluation - its strengths and its weaknesses.

Since we talked about monitoring in class today as one source of transaction cost, I thought this piece below would be interesting to you.

AAUP committee survey data raise questions on effectiveness of student teaching evaluations | InsideHigherEd via kwout

The U of I makes the grade

The Department of Education released a new Web site giving various pieces of information about college performance.  Illinois does pretty well there.  See below.

Source

Posts On Your Experience In Organizations

I've now read and commented on each post that has come in.  By my count, that is 17 out of 31 possible posts.  If you are one of those who has yet to write this post, if you get it done by tomorrow afternoon I will still read it and comment on it.  Otherwise, you will be out of luck.

And if you were one of those who did get this in on time, do note that I expect you to read my comments and respond to those with a comment of your own.  That is part of our process.  We'll discuss these in class on Monday.  I suspect there are not many of your classes where your experience is brought in to help explain the objects of study.  I hope that makes our class more enjoyable for you.

"Podcast" - Overview of Class Session from Yesterday

Hi - I don't know if this is officially a podcast or not.  But it certainly is an audio recording.  I made it because several people were sick yesterday and missed class.  Also, even for those who were there, I encouraged them not to take notes so we could have more participation in the discussion.  This is meant for them too.

If you do listen to it, I'd be curious to know whether you found it useful or not.  You can indicate that as a comment to this post or if you prefer in an email to me.  Thanks.