Glenn Hubbard Econ 490 fall 2017

When reflecting on my own experiences, I can come up with an example that exemplifies a triangle arrangement. During my time at the University of Illinois, one job that I have had is an Academic Tutor for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics. In this role, I believe I had two principals for whom I acted, and thus was a part of a triangle relationship. One principal was the student with whom I was working at a given time. The student had reserved a section of time in which to use my assistance to complete homework assignments, review course topics, and prepare for exams and it was my job to assist them in the best way that I could. Yet, I had a second principal - my supervisor, the tutor coordinator, and the Academic Arm of the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics that he represented. In this relationship, I had to conform to certain time constraints to maintain the budget for tutoring services, as well as abide by various NCAA and school regulations. Fortunately, there weren...

My favorite TV show of all-time is Greg Daniels' "The Office," (the U.S. version, as opposed to the less successful U.K. version). While the series is a "mockumentary" and is intended to humor its audience, there are numerous relevant examples of group conflict in the workplace present. The episode that I will focus on is called "Michael Scott Paper Company" and is the 23rd episode of the 5th season of the show, in case you would like to view it. I will provide a brief synopsis of the series up to the point in the timeline that this specific episode takes place. Michael Scott (portrayed by Steve Carell) is the regional manager of the Scranton (Pennsylvania) branch of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, a small regional paper distributor. Michael is deluded, narcissistic, and inappropriate and much of the humor of the series stems from his failed attempts to successfully manage his employees. Michael's antics as a boss create uncomfortable situation...

Each of the three NY Times articles that we read prior to starting this week's blog posts had something to do with an economic principle, such as equality, altruism, and gift exchange. The articles featured experiments or observations of people, often children, to determine how otherwise uninfluenced individuals react to certain situations. I found these articles to be interesting, and the examples to be helpful in better understanding the underlying concepts. I will briefly summarize each article before making a personal connection to some of the topics they covered. The first article, entitled "How to Get Rich to Share the Marbles," discusses the idea that a feeling of collective effort by humans leads to natural sharing of wealth. The author used an example of children playing with a toy that dispenses marbles when a collective effort is used to pull ropes that are holding the marbles back. In this example, one child earns 3 marbles while the other earns only 1. Howe...