Baylor students can be quite proud to know that the Hankamer School’s Department of Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate recently placed 15th out of 444 institutions for teaching quality, according to researchers from Western Kentucky University who conducted a study of finance programs. For more information concerning this study, see http://www.baylor.edu/business/index.php?id=38093.
Category Archives: Miscellaneous
Baylor University's Finance Department Ranked 15th for Teaching Quality
Baylor students can be quite proud to know that the Hankamer School’s Department of Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate recently placed 15th out of 444 institutions for teaching quality, according to researchers from Western Kentucky University who conducted a study of finance programs. For more information concerning this study, see http://www.baylor.edu/business/index.php?id=38093.
Relevance versus Rigor – student perspectives on the value of academic research
Baylor University has recently been reclassified by the Carnegie Foundation as a ‘Research University’. In view of this development, I found the Financial Times article entitled “Relevance versus Rigour” quite interesting. This article provides two former MBA students’ perspectives on how they value (or don’t value) academic research. The antagonist in this story (i.e., the “anti-research” person) is a recent graduate from the one-year MBA program at the Smurfitt school at University College Dublin. The protagonist (i.e., the “pro-research” person) is a recent graduate from NYU’s Stern School of Business.
Not surprisingly, I share the views of the protagonist in this article. My own experience as an educator is that my active involvement in research significantly enhances my teaching. Although I certainly don’t expect my undergraduate and MBA students at Baylor to necessarily appreciate or particularly care about the various intricacies and subtleties associated with research methodology, I do expect them to be curious about the way the world works and how the application of science and logic can enhance their knowledge and understanding. When all is said and done, the most important benefit that I can provide my students is to train them how to think critically. A critical thinker is skilled at discerning what the relevant questions are, and in knowing how to find innovative solutions to problems that often may be ill-defined.
Fooled by Randomness quote
I really like the following quote from Fooled by Randomness (pp. 55-56): “Things are always obvious after the fact… It has to do with the way that our mind handles historical information. When you look at the past, the past will always be deterministic, since only one single observation took place.”
This describes well a common error that is made all too often, by the news media in particular. News reporting often involves studying risky phenomena after the fact; i.e., after a disaster has already occurred. Journalists are highly susceptible to this particular aspect of being fooled by randomness. Often their analysis only makes sense if one had the luxury of perfect foresight.
Creative Economics
The Fall 2005 issue of Baylor Magazine is now in print and available on the web. I am featured in an article entitled “Creative Economics”. For a proper context, also read the article “Seats of Honor”.
Welcome
With the kind help of my good friends and colleagues Martin Grace and Grant McInnes, I have created this blog for the purpose of posting information related to various topics that interest me. Access to Grant’s blog is restricted, but I highly recommend Marty’s blog, aka “RiskProf“. Marty likes to blog about the topics related to the economic analysis of law, particularly in areas such as tort reform and liability.