Author Archives: jim luke

jim luke 9:40 pm on May 1, 2016  

We’re entering the final week Assuming you have…

We’re entering the final week. Assuming you have already completed your Book Review Project and the Midterm II (from last week’s Unit 7), you have 2 things left:

Final Exam

The final exam is 80 points. It is made up of 6 MC questions on the book reviews (2 pts each) + 14 MC questions re-covering material already covered in Quiz 2 and the two midterms (each of the 14 MC/TF ques are 2 pts). That’s 40 pts in objective questions. Then there are 5 open ended questions asking you to reflect on certain issues – I’m looking for a 2-3 paragraphs, not long essay answers.

The final exam is submitted once. There is no enforced time limit. D2L might say 120 mins is recommended, but you can ignore that. You should be able to open the final exam, work on part of it, save your work, and come back to it later. If it doesn’t allow you to return to your saved work, let me know ASAP. That is my intent. It’s kind of an online open-book exam.

If you want to study for it first, go back and review quiz 2, midterm I, midterm II, and read the student book project reviews.

Making 3 specific posts on the compsys16.econproph.net website. Specifically, one to identify your 1-3 “Best” posts for me from the semester – the ones you think are most thoughtful; A post reflecting on this course’s experimental design (don’t be afraid to be critical, I’m a big boy); and finally, a self-reflective post on what you’ve learned this semester.

jim luke 12:12 am on March 6, 2016  

Hi folks I’m hoping to catch up on…

Hi folks! I’m hoping to catch up on Spring Break so we don’t have any more delays during the rest of the term. Revised assignment instructions for Unit 4 are posted now. More important, all the information you need to get started on your big book review/project is now available. Point your browser to the “Book Review Project” tab on the menu above.
jim

jim luke 2:08 am on February 11, 2016  

Unit 3 readings and assignments are up A…

Unit 3 readings and assignments are up. A couple days late, but it shouldn’t be a problem. There’s no quiz due in unit 3. Instead unit 3 and unit 4 questions on readings will be combined into a short “midterm” that will be open in D2L Feb 22 through Mar 13.
jim

jim luke 3:46 am on January 27, 2016  

Hi all Unit 2 assignments are now posted…

Hi all. Unit 2 assignments are now posted under the “Assignments” item in the menu above and the Unit 2 required readings (besides the Maddison book) are also posted under the “Readings” tab in the menu. How’s that for a logical place to put them?

jim luke 6:51 pm on January 21, 2016
Tags: site issues   

Logging IN – UPDATED

Thanks to alert Alex, it came to my attention that the login link on the right on the homepage wasn’t working. So I replaced it. It should be working much better now (and be more intutive, too).

jim luke 9:59 pm on January 13, 2016  

Unit 1 Readings – Jim’s Guide

Economics and economic systems are very important to me. I’ve always been fascinated by them. At the same time, part of my motivation for studying economics has always been to try to understand better how society can improve the living standards of all it’s people. This is much the same motivation that has always driven the greatest economists such as Adam Smith, John Maynard Keynes, and even Karl Marx. I hope I can help you to better understand the economic system in which you live as well as those in which others live. If we all become more knowledgeable, there’s a chance we might improve things.

A spectrum of political-economic ideologies ranging from extreme Individualism-Liberalism on one end to Communalism/socialism on the other end. In between are Libertarian-Anarchism, American Conserviatives, American Liberals,

Fig 1: Political-Economic systems/ideologies arranged in a spectrum.

Perhaps my greatest hope for the course is that you learn to think critically and deeper about economic systems and related issues. People feel strongly about their economic system and how their government should relate to it. Unfortunately, ideology, politics and slogans are too often used as substitutes for critical thinking and analysis. Too often people resort to simplistic and emotional labels. They act as if there’s only 2 or 3 systems called socialism, communism, or capitalism as illustrated in figures 1 or 2 shown here.

Worse yet, they classify these simplistic labels as either “good” or “evil”. The world isn’t that simple. People aren’t that simple. And no economy is that simple. No economic system is exactly like another. Yes, there are patterns, but there’s not just 2 or 3 systems, good and bad. Further, there’s strengths and weaknesses in each system. Facts are stubborn things. There’s room for disagreement, particularly in this course. But it needs to be informed and thoughtful disagreement, not simplistic sloganeering.

a typical categorization of economic systems into 4 types: Traditional, Command, Market, and Mixed economies

FIg 2: a typical categorization of economic systems

What Are We Studying? Continue reading →

jim luke 11:14 pm on January 12, 2016  

Welcome to ECON 260, Comparative Economic Systems

Hello and Welcome to ECON 260 – Comparative Economic Systems for Spring 2016. I’m Jim. James-Luke-mini
The first thing you should do is to read and study the syllabus (yes, there will actually be a quiz on it – of sorts). You can find the syllabus at https://jimluke.com/lcc/syllabi/syllabus-econ-260-macro-online-spring-2016-crns-50414-full-16-wk/

Right now (Tuesday evening), I’m still a bit behind. This site is very close to ready but still some polishing to be done. Sometime tomorrow (Weds, Jan 13) you’ll receive an email to your LCC school email address – the Gmail based email that ends with @mail.lcc.edu, not your D2L “email” messaging. This email will have both your logon credentials to log on to this site and make your own posts just like this one. It’s how we’ll do the whole course.
Also coming tomorrow are detailed reading assignments and instructions for how to complete unit 1. Unit 1 isn’t due until end of Sunday, Jan 24, so you still have plenty of time even though I’m a little delayed here.
jim