“If [bailout terms are] properly implemented, the taxpayers should leave the negotiating table pleased with the deal they achieved, and everybody else should leave battered, comforted only by the knowledge that, had they not made those concessions, things would have been even worse.”

Econbrowser (via), interpreting the appetite for bailouts as a signal that the bailouts aren’t serving the public interest. Two explanations:  The optimistic view is that joint gains are possible here.  The pessimistic view is that this is a sign of regulatory capture.

Link: “May his devotion towards his alma mater not pass into oblivion”

Robert Sutherland was the first black graduate of Queen’s University, who went on to become the first black law student at Osgoode Hall.  He bequeathed his entire estate to Queen’s, and in so doing saved the unviersity from financial collapse in the late 1800s.  His gravestone bears the quotation above, written by Principal George Monro Grant.  So why won’t the university board honour this historic alumnus by naming its decade-old Policy Studies building after him?

Addendum

In the Globe’s comments section, Queen’s alum Allan Martel writes:

“I am a Queen’s alumnus and, since this turns on money rather than decency and common sense, I will put up $1,000 to have the building named after Sutherland who is clearly a very worthy candidate probably passed over without a thought in earlier times.

I suggest that the students contact alumni (perhaps through the obnoxiously aggressive alumni office) to raise the necessary funds to make this happen. There are probably thousands of us out there who are both ashamed and embarassed by this action (or inaction) on the part of Queen’s.

Let me be perfectly clear here, the amount of dollars that should be required, in my view, is less then one cent. But is it costs me more to put this right, I’m certainly prepared to do it.”

Link: Test Subjects Who Call the Scientist Mom or Dad

The NYT interviews a handful of psychologists, neurologists and linguists who use their own children as research participants.  Cognitive scientist Gedeon Deák apparently describes his kids as a “convenience sample” in his REB submissions.  A bit of a misnomer for a participant you have to house, feed and educate for the better part of two decades.

“This is customer satisfaction….It doesn’t have to do with tenure, promotion, status. It has to do with students’ having the opportunity to recognize good teachers and reward them with some money.”

— Michael D. McKinney, Texas A&M Chancellor, on a scheme to award faculty bonuses based on their performance on TAMU student course evaluations.

It’s interesting that the chatter on the topic has focused on whether this approach accurately identifies ‘good’ teachers, rather than the even more interesting question of whether simply doling out financial rewards for good teaching will have any of the desired effects (rewarding good teaching, promoting good teaching, etc.)

Link: Data Analysts Captivated by R’s Power

R gets ink in the Old Grey Lady.  “Slow news day”, says C-Mac, who sent me the link.

“But in general, [economist Wendy Stock of MSU-Bozeman] said, she was struck by how little her study was able to explain. Most of the variation in time-to-degree, she said, must be related to factors that can’t easily be measured, like students’ motivation and creativity, and faculty members’ mentorship styles.”

Ah, economists.  Motivation, creativity and mentorship as ‘unmeasurables’.  But, of course, it is an interesting and important question (at least, to me):  What would it take to speed the overall pace of Ph.D. completion?

Alltop’s search result seems strangely apt.

Link: In Praise of Simple Competence

Bob Sutton, quoting March, sings the praises of simple, unglamourous competence in bureaucratic routines.  It’s a reminder of how illusory the distinction between in-role and extra-role behaviour can be.

“Frankly, the greatest threat facing American attendees of a meeting in Toronto may be their return home.”

Some members of the American Political Science Association, reading a little too far into news reports of Human Rights Commission hearings, worried that their academic freedom or free speech might be trampled while attending the 2009 APSA meetings in Toronto.  The Canadian Association of University Teachers responded with a very clear FAQ about speech protections in Canada that closed with the snide commentary above, noting that Homeland Security goons now have the ability to copy and snoop through the entire contents of your laptop hard drive for shits and giggles national security.

Daniel Kahneman, on what it takes to be a successful researcher:

“What you learn, in the course of a career, is not to ask questions that are so big that there are no answers to them.  You look for questions that can be answered, but you look for questions that have a twist to them.”

(via)