Filling Up on the Best Tacos in the DC/Baltimore Corridor

Defeated from a 3 hour wait to get my cruise control fixed at my car dealership and being told I needed to come back in a few days, I realized that R&R Taqueria, better known as Gas Station Tacos, was only minutes away. I had been meaning to go there since Tyler Cowen raved about R&R a few months ago then they were featured in the Wall Street Journal.

Cowen is a big proponent of looking for tasty authentic cuisine in locations where the rent in cheap, and a corner of a gas station seems to fit that description.

R&R is located at 7894 Washington Blvd,Elkridge,MD

Is Using a Free Textbook a Good Idea?

I will no longer be using Greg Mankiw's favorite textbook in my class, which I used myself as a first year college student 13 years ago and have used in every principles class since. I'm switching to Libby Rittenberg and Timothy Tregarthen Principles of Macroeconomics, which is published by Flatworld Knowledge. The main reason for the switch was that the new book is free online* (here is the free textbook). Of course if you want to print it or a paper copy it will cost you, but it will be cheaper than any other Principles text as a new book and close in price to used books.

The other change is I'll no longer be using Aplia, which is an online homework system. I liked a lot of things about it, they made things really easy for the professor. With Aplia and an electronic copy of Mankiw my students paid $80 a semester. I will now be doing home work through blackboard, which loses some of the nice graphing features of Aplia, but is also free. I can also use homework questions from Flatworld that I can import into blackboard.

So the question is with 70 students a semester at $80 each is this switch worth the $5,600 a semester (or about one student's tuition at Towson).

Will the students be better off? With money we could design an experiment where I use different books in my sections, then compare test scores controlling for student characteristics. If either publisher is willing to fund this experiment let me know. We would then have to estimate if the difference in learning if in fact Mankiw/Aplia are better is worth $80 per student, which would be hard.

Instead I think it will take a semester or two to see how students feel about the textbook and judge how they do on the exams, where I write all of the questions. I get no monetary benefit by switching and I have had to spend sometime switching my syllabus and will spend a fair amount of time getting used to the new homework system.

Over the semester I'll be going back to compare my new book to the old one and possibly a couple of other major textbooks.



* Opportunity Costs of free textbook not included.

Strasburg Fever and Prospects Influence on Attendance

Shameless Self Promotion Alert, but here is an article about my work with Tom Rhoads on minor league prospects' influence on attendance. Thanks to Ben Cohen for the great write up.

Professors Using Linkedin Could Lead to Productivity Gains

I have been trying to keep in touch with my former students, so I joined linkedin. My main goal was to find alumni I could put current students seeking jobs with in touch. Finding a job is costly (it takes time) and by developing a network these cost can be reduced. Economic research (like this paper) also suggests that by developing a network the best workers can be matched up to the right job, improving productivity of both the worker and employer. Recently I helped an employer find someone to hire I had worked with both are happy and there appear to be productivity gains on both sides. Plus I get bonus good feeling utility!

So far I think linkedin could work well. I have already found former students working for Congress and in Yemen who I hadn't been in touch with since graduation. So if you are a former student or not here is my linkedin page

One Man's Tale of Deportation and Trillion-Dollar Bills on the Sidewalk

Before you read my post today on immigration, go read Dani Zamora's story of being deported. Dani is still in Mexico and trying to get back to the US. Dani graduated from Grinnell College in 2008 and is currently applying for MFA programs in the US. He is a friend of a friend, but as a Grinnellian, I consider him part of my extended family. Again, read his account. I'm not sure at this point what can be done to support Dani (unless you know a good immigration lawyer), but as I have more info I will pass it on.

Dani is not alone many people throughout the world could see significant improvements in their lives by migrating to richer countries. In a new paper by Michael Clemens in Journal of Economic Perspectives, he cites research showing by lowering barrier to immigration World GDP could increase by trillions of dollars. Compared to reducing trade or capital barriers which are substantially smaller. The paper is well worth a read and is accessible to even those without training in economics.

Bad Signs at the Coffee Shop

i was working on a paper in a new coffee shop that opened blocks from my house. In the hour I was there 4 people came in

1. To sell advertising
2. To sell baked goods
3. To apply for a job, but only to get evidence of doing it for unemployment insurance
4. To ask directions to a different coffee shop.

Cheap Internet for Low Income Families

Comcast is offering $10 a month internet service for low income families. My guess is that the marginal cost of adding one more internet line is close to $10. To verify that families are low income, their children must be enrolled in reduced/free school lunch program. This helps Comcast prevent high income people from enrolling.

Comcast didn't do this out of the kindness of their own heart, instead it was required as part of the governments stipulations for Comcast buying NBC. PC World also has a good rundown of the pros and cons of the merger. To outweigh some of these cons home internet for disadvantage children seems like it could be a public good.