Bazinganomics: Economics of The Big Bang Theory

url:http://www.bazinganomics.com The website is designed to provide instructors with clips, explanations, and lesson plans related to economics concepts from TV’s 2nd most watched broadcast show of the 2014-2015 season, CBS’s The Big Bang Theory. The site contains approximately 100 clips. As the show continues to air (currently signed through the 2016-2017 season) the authors plan to increase the number of clips and lesson plans

Legally Irrelevant Factors in Judicial Decision-making: Battle Deaths and the Imposition of the Death Penalty in Nazi Germany

We study the effect of legally irrelevant events on the sentencing outcomes of around 2,500 individual defendants, heard before the People's Court in Nazi Germany. Our analysis exploits exogeneous variation in battle deaths and estimates their effect on the likelihood of receiving the death penalty. According to our results, higher German fatalities on the battlefield systematically increased the chances of receiving the death penalty. We show that decisions by experienced judges were less affected by battle deaths, while judges who were more ideologically committed to the regime were more likely to impose the death penalty in response to hearing news of higher German fatalities. Our results are not driven by particular types of offenses or defendants, time periods, or changes in arrest patterns and are robust to the use of major bombing raids of German cities instead of battle deaths. We also find some evidence that victories of the German national soccer team decreased the chances of capital punishment

Lesson Plans for Teaching Economics with The Big Bang Theory

Using examples in the classroom from current and past television shows and movies is becoming increasingly common. Being able to relate ideas back to a popular clip or episode allows the instructor to reach students in ways the traditional lecture cannot. Building on the work of Tierney, Mateer, Smith, Wooten, and Geerling (2016), this paper introduces five lesson plans tied to clips from The Big Bang Theory that can be used in high school (9-12) economics courses

Legally Irrelevant Factors in Judicial Decision-making: Battle Deaths and the Imposition of the Death Penalty in Nazi Germany

We study the effect of legally irrelevant events on the sentencing outcomes of around 2,500 individual defendants, heard before the People's Court in Nazi Germany. Our analysis exploits exogeneous variation in battle deaths and estimates their effect on the likelihood of receiving the death penalty. According to our results, higher German fatalities on the battlefield systematically increased the chances of receiving the death penalty. We show that decisions by experienced judges were less affected by battle deaths, while judges who were more ideologically committed to the regime were more likely to impose the death penalty in response to hearing news of higher German fatalities. Our results are not driven by particular types of offenses or defendants, time periods, or changes in arrest patterns and are robust to the use of major bombing raids of German cities instead of battle deaths. We also find some evidence that victories of the German national soccer team decreased the chances of capital punishment

Behavioral economics in film : insights for educators

Behavioral economics is an increasingly prominent field within economics and we review the case for its incorporation into undergraduate Economics curricula. We argue that behavioral findings can inform the teaching template itself and (economics) education policy more generally. The pedagogical and behavioral literature informs us that learners are more likely to recall economic content when it is presented as a narrative than when it is couched in abstract models. Film is one of the most evolved forms of story-telling, and its use (along with other media) enables learners to master a concept more quickly. This paper presents a database of 30 short film and media scenes and three detailed lesson plans that may be used as jumping-off points for instructors who wish to incorporate behavioral economics concepts alongside the rational-agent model of economic behavior.peer-reviewe

Evaluating Robert Frank’s ‘Economic Naturalist’ Writing Assignment

This paper begins by asking a fundamental question: why do students who take Economics at an introductory level often leave the subject without understanding even the most basic economic principles? The superficial answer seems to be that courses try to cover too many concepts at the expense of mastering the important threshold concepts. Another issue is the way Economics is taught and assessed. I will evaluate an alternative pedagogical device pioneered by Robert Frank: ‘The Economic Naturalist Writing Assignment’, in which students are asked to pose an interesting question about some pattern of events or behaviour they have personally observed (a real life event) and to use basic economic principles to solve the question in no more than 500 words. In addition to being a useful means for teaching economics at an undergraduate level, this writing assignment has practical benefits for teaching economics through real world examples and/or to students who are non-specialists. I will conclude with a series of questions (and answers) posed by students when I piloted this writing assignment in a new subject of mine in 2010.economic education, multimedia, student engagement, Robert Frank, everyday economics, pedagogy EDIRC Provider-Institution: RePEc:edi:smlatau

Using Multimedia to Teach Economics

This article examines the pedagogical benefits of using multimedia in the teaching of economics at an undergraduate level, then provides an example from my own teaching to serve as a reference for lecturers interested in creating an interactive learning environment, which prompts genuine two-way discussion in the classroom and produces better learning outcomes for students. The final section ties in the use of multimedia with broader debates among economists about the appropriate level of government intervention in the economy. The paper concludes by arguing that the use of multimedia has strong pedagogical advantages in stimulating greater student engagement and helping to rectify the image of economics in the wider community. Lecturers interested in using multimedia in their teaching will find an extensive list of web resources at the end of this paper.economic education, multimedia, student engagement, everyday economics, pedagogy EDIRC Provider-Institution: RePEc:edi:smlatau

A Hedonic Model of Player Wage Determination from the Indian Premier League Auction#

A range of cross-sectional models are estimated with a view to establishing the factors that determine the valuation of professional athletes in a highly-specialised sport, with an application to crickets Indian Premier League (IPL). We distinguish between personal characteristic and playing ability factors, and with respect to the former, between ability in different forms of the sport. We find a number of interpretable variables that have explanatory power over auction values, while decomposition according to batting and bowling specialisations produces very different results depending on the use of either Test or One-Day International (ODI) variables. There is also possible evidence of inefficient bidding, insofar that overbidding was somewhat correlated with players with higher realised values.Demand for Sport, Cricket, Auctions, Cross-section Models, Labour Demand EDIRC Provider-Institution: RePEc:edi:smlatau