Macro Quips and Quotes

Yeah, yeah, there's a macro mid-term coming up next week AND a stats mid-term. Guess I'm getting saturated trying to study statistics and macro at the same time, so I decided to blog. I think that Finance 602, Macroeconomics and the Global Economic Environment, is a great class. Abel adds a sense of humor and fun to his lecture style that I have been enjoying. I also like the last 30 minutes of each class that he spends on a current policy topic, which makes macro relevant. This could be a really boring subject if all he talked about was GDP/GNP, PVLR, Tobin's Q, inflation, and business cycles, but he has managed to make it entertaining and lively. I know not everyone would agree with me given the folks I see napping in the back of the class (and no, I won't expose you despite the many mobile phone pics that have been taken...).

The evidence? Here's some quotes from Abel:

• "I know and you know that when "accounting" is in the title of something it's boring. Poor Lambert, he had to teach a whole term of it."
• "Ken's a good friend of mine. I'll take some opportunities for random shots at micro along the way."
• "I don't think you should do algebra in public."
• "Let's not get into a fishing contest because I can fish better than you."
• "On the final exam, there's this question about Turkey..."
• "Final goods and value added is an abuse of both words for Mc Donald's."
• "The budget curve is the domain of the accountants. The indifference curve is the domain of the psychiatrists."
• "Tau is the greek god of taxes."
• "Obstructed view seating is worth mentioning to the powers that be."
• "There's no quiet way to open a beer."
• "The Social Security Trust Fund is not correct. You definitely don't want to trust them."
• "There are five ways to say that there's a current account surplus. In the Eskimo language, there are 35 ways to say the word "snow"."
• "Poor Mexico...so far from God and so close to the United States."
• "A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose your job."
• "This data is published by the business cycle dating commitee. When Bill Clinton heard about it, he wanted to get on it."

Hope you enjoyed the quotes. Now it's time to get back to studying for stats and macro....

-Chairman P