The Last Excel Homework on the Shapiro-Stiglitz Model Is Now Available

You can find it here.  Apart from the economics, one wrinkle in it is the use of Comments (little red triangles in the upper right corner of some cells).  To access the comment simply mouse over the cell with the red triangle without clicking on it.

This homework is due Wednesday December 4.  If you have questions on it please post as a comment to this post.

Principal-Agent Excel Homework

The homework is now available.  It is due the evening of November 6.  We will go over it in class the next day.

If you have questions about this homework you can post them as comments to this post.

If you find typos, please let me know about them.  I proofed it once, but I usually take longer to make these.  In this case, I wanted to make it available too you.

And if you finds errors, I'm sure I would have heard from you anyway, without the reminder.

Don't read this until you finish the homework on bargaining.

It gives the background under which that assignment was written.

Lanny on Learning Technology: The Diffeq From Hell via kwout

This was after the rotator cuff repair, but before the infection had manifest.  I was on pretty good pain killers.  I don't think it impaired my thinking.  The most notable effect for me on my mental state was when dreaming.  But perhaps the drugs impacted my judgment in ways that were harder for me to detect.  I am more lyrical in this post that I typically am and there was a lot of narrative in that Excel workbook, more so than the prior homework.  

I'm pleased to say that I'm off the drugs now and just use over the counter stuff, even if that means the writing is a bit less colorful. 

The Excel Homework on Bargaining

You can put questions about the homework as comments to this post.  Note that there is extensive discussion in this homework that precedes the login part.  Also note that while the math of the complete information part is not that hard, the math of the incomplete information part is much more difficult.  So what I expect you to get out of the incomplete information part is to see the results, but not to be able to derive them.  Of course, if you are mathematically inclined, go for it.

One other word about interpreting the model as it pertains to realistic bargaining situations you are apt to encounter in the near future, such as bargaining with a potential future employer about salary.  With the latter there is a market.  Yhe bargaining happens because you as a job candidate are not a perfect substitute for somebody else who might fill the position and the job you are bargaining about is not a perfect substitute for other possible jobs you might take.  There is no bargaining in the perfect substitutes case.  The market entirely determines the price in that case.  The bargaining happens in the imperfect substitutes case, which leaves wiggle room for some negotiation.

You can interpret the model as focusing on only the wiggle room.  Alternatively, it is about the buying and selling of a one-off thing, like a piece of art work.

The homework due 9/25 is now available.

The homework is aimed at getting you familiar with the model of expected utility and how risk preference is embedded in the utility function.  It offers a prelude to what we will be doing next.

The homework is due on Wednesday 9/25 at 11 PM.

Coordination Failures and Coordination Mechanisms - Due Wednesday 9/18

Some folks have already started the next Excel assignment.  If you have any questions on it, please post them as comments to this post.  And if you haven't yet watched the Excel Tutorial video, I strongly suggest that you watch it and view it full screen

The First Excel Homework Is Due This Wednesday (September 4) at 11 PM

This homework should be review of efficiency concepts you learned in intermediate microeconomics.  It is there as a refresher and to make sure that you are functionally able to do the homework.

There are three worksheets.  You must do each of them.  The first worksheet asks for you to input your NetID and then select your alias.  If you get all the responses correct (which is the expectation) then on the third worksheet you will get a code to use to get credit for the homework.  There is a link given.  Follow the instructions.

If you are having trouble with any of the questions, you can make a query as a comment to this post.  If you've already created your Blogger identity using your alias, you can ask your question that way after you've logged in.   Otherwise, anonymous comments are accepted.