William Baumol Econ 490 fall 2017

Within the context of risk and uncertainty, the major you choose, activities you participate in, and amount of debt accumulated are all ingredients that are supposed to come together to bring you a source of income. For some it's exclusively fulfilling work or a high income, and the more optimistic people are shooting for both. Go to a good school, get good grades, get a good job. Regardless of what is fueling a person's decision to go to college, this is the basic outline they're following. Well, I guess the "good" isn't a given. But if they're going to school, grades will follow, and the previous two factor will influence the number and types of opportunities they have in terms of work. Making sure everything is all done well will reduce uncertainty of opportunities.  My decision to attend U of I was based primarily off the school's reputation. My thinking was that when I graduate I'd have a name brand that could signal a decent level of qual...

Each of the prompts have encouraged the development of their own theme (organizational  restructuring, transfer pricing, incentives, teamwork), and after reflecting on these posts, it's helped me become more observant in recognizing organizational issues. That's probably due to the fact that they all asked about some change or conflict. While times of conflict or challenge are more fun to explore and they offer more to learn from, they can also be forgotten if they aren't brought up again.  These past weeks in this course have introduced me to the challenge organizations face in aligning preferences while addressing organizational objectives.  These prompts made me rethink of events of conflict and challenge. So at a more personal level, these prompts all promoted the theme of self-reflection. Looking at the prompts in this way, they've helped in further developing or revising any previously learned lessons, perhaps due to changes in perspective.  The click...

Meet Dave. He's a soon to be college freshman, on the hunt for the school he'll call home for the next four years. A visit was scheduled to tour the University of Illinois, and he's driving towards the campus right now. While he's sure the tour will be great, he's also really looking forward to visiting his brother, who's currently a senior. As he drives down the highway, he passes the sign that says he's approaching his destination. Peering down the road, he see's what looks like might be a great wall of some sort. Needing to resolve this mystery, he puts the pedal to the metal and races towards it. He hits a bump and the information packet that the University sent him fell from the dash and the contents spilled everywhere. Maintaining his speed, he reaches down to pick up what fell, when he sees what looks like a role of cash money protruding from the information packet. He picks them up and unravels the roll with one hand, and is surprised to see the ...