First-year students (especially those in my introduction to economics classes) often ask this question. I have a set of stories I tell and statistics I give them, but now I have something else: videos! Our department's video: A new video from the American Economic Association: A career in Economics...it's much more than you think from American Economic Association on Vimeo. If … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2015
Tom Swain and Minnesota since World War II
Trying to understand how Minnesota became “above average” since World War II is one of my intellectual passions. I just finished Citizen Swain: Tales from a Minnesota Life by Tom H. Swain (with Lori Sturdevant) and came away with a much improved understanding on how Minnesotans accomplished this feat. At the center of it was active civic engagement by men and women who moved between the public … [Read more...]
What’s the value of the liberal arts?
Yesterday in Iowa, Senator Marco Rubio joined the discussion about the value of the liberal arts. According to Inside Higher Education, Rubio made the same point in the past: "'So you can decide if it's worth borrowing $50,000 to major in Greek philosophy,' The Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier reported Rubio as saying. 'Because after all, the market for Greek philosophers has been very tight for … [Read more...]