Lifestyles: Benny Lewis, Fluent in 3 months

I recently came across this very interesting website. A guy called Benny Lewis has been travelling non-stop for 9 years and trying to learn different languages from the places that he has travelled to. Interested people can visit http://www.fluentin3months.com/about/

Lewis questions the overly materialistic world (which I agree), and is proud of how his currently nomadic lifestyle. To a certain extent, I am envious of him. I agree that consumerism rarely leads to happier lives, and that attachments to gadgets only bring as much sorrow as they can bring happiness.

Before one concludes that this dude is not into money, do understand that travelling overseas costs money. He did mentioned that he has done several odd jobs in his travels. Interestingly, his efforts to promote his services (skype language consultancy) and products (language hack guides) are but just an Internet business that allows him to travel around the world. In fact, such is a very effective promotion gimmick: to put himself constantly in new environments to prove how his language hacks works! It does help that his blogs are interesting as well. Greater readership, greater possibility of having more business.

What touches me about him is his approach to his life, not settling for a secured job, but rather, looking to explore life to its fullest. To do so, he just needed to choose the correct 'career'. Kudos, Benny Lewis!

Economic Hitman

The book, "Confessions of an Economic Hitmen", got me really intrigued by the use of econometrics, and I have never looked back. This is a cute video version a sinister approach to economic imperialism.

The Language of Econs

Japanese and Korean have strong honorific forms, while English and French have female and male forms. C++ allows us to give computers instructions for certain tasks. Mathematics is just another language with certain structures particular to itself. Economists have chosen the language of mathematics in their pursuit of scientific discovery. They claim the logical structure of mathematics have allowed economics to develop into its current scientific stage. Take for example John Nash and game theory. Nash wasn't even an economist, but game theory is currently so embedded into modern microeconomics that one wonder who the hell understands them other than (well-trained) mathematicians.

I believe certain economic situations require the use of non-mathematics languages, because we are dealing with humans, not particles. Certain issues cannot be described by mathematics without losing its meaning, just like how the poetic styles of ancient Chinese cannot be translate to other languages without losing its literature beauty. Being semi-bilingual, it is obvious to me that certain languages are better suited for certain situations. Or maybe, I am just in-adequate in either language.

Despite my deep passion for economics, I have spent my few months wondering the true meaning of economics. Should I head back to the ivory realms of academic economics, or jump to other fields that work on economic issues, but through the lens of non-mathematicians.

Citing Paul Volcker

"If there is any profession that needs help, its the economic profession. Economists have got too caught up in esoteric mathematical models, and so have financial engineers. What there economists and financial engineers have forgotten is that an economy is not a physical system. Economic life does not follow normal distribution curves, where certain things are only supposed to happen once in 100 years. Economic life is ruled by human beings, who can be very awkward. We need to remember that economics is a social science, if it's a science at all."

Paul Volcker, when he was at a 90-minute dialogue at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.

Love Model

Economists love models. Here, I attempt to set up a simple descriptive model I call the "Love Search" Model.

Let M (for male) be seeking a quality long-term partner (not trashy one-stands). A few assumptions have to be made on M. Assume M only chases single girls of an age close to his. It is also assumed that once an M is attached to a quality girl, she does not re-enter the market. The model postulates that as M ages, his possibility of getting attached decreases, until it becomes zero by the time M reaches a certain age

This, of course, explains not the real world. 

1. The first few assumptions boldly suggest that no "bastards"* exist. But they do, either as thieves of other Ms quality girls, or poor-maintainers of their own that cause quality girls to return to the market. 
2. The probability of M getting hitched need not decrease with age if he is willing to marry ever younger girls, and this is commonly so in the real world.  
3. A wrongful (standard) assumption is the stability of preferences, and this works both from Ms on quality girls and vice versa. 
4. Asymmetical information on the availability of quality girls (and Ms) means Ms may have no access to quality girls at all.

Some advice for the lonely ageing Ms from this model (policy recommendations?). Be a "bastard", chase younger girls, adjust preferences, increase market information. This model could do with more refinement, but I had enough fun. Constructive comments are greatly welcomed.

A world re-known economist

I always found this video clip hilarious, because his textbook was the given text for my banking course during my undergraduate days!