Justice

aje on May 1, 2023

A particular emphasis is placed on the concept of justice, and how managers can apply these insights within an organisational setting.

Handouts:

Textbook

Other courses

Further resources
A charming example of passing on a favour is the music video to Clay Walker’s ‘Chain of Love‘:

Here’s Hans Rosling explaining why most of the world is better off than you think:

You can watch the PBS version of ‘Command and Control’ here.

There is a short series of videos where David Schmidtz discusses Equality. You can view them here:

Quiz

Business Economics (BIM)

aje on December 30, 2022

This course will develop student’s capacity for economic analysis and awareness of the insights for management. The focus of the course is on the principles of microeconomics relevant for managerial decision making and the limits of markets, including asymmetric information; monopolies; and ethical frontiers.

📚 Textbook

Evans, Anthony J., 2020 “Economics: A complete guide for business“, London Publishing Partnership

[S] Schotter, A., “Microeconomics: A Modern Approach” South Western (2008, International edition, approx. £60)

🗓️ Content
Note that this course is under construction and course content that hasn’t been delivered yet is subject to change
Topic Lecture content Textbook reading
1. Consumer theory 1a. Incentives Matter* (+)

Evans, A.J., Incentive design, December 2020

1b. Max U (+)

Evans, A.J., “Maximilian Untergrundbahn”, January 2018 

Instructions: Complete the assignment questions

 [E] Ch. 1

[S] Ch. 2, 3, 4
2. Understanding demand 2a. Value creation* (+)

2b. Value creation activity
3. Practical supply decisions 3a. Understanding cost* (+)

3b. Cost curves* (+)

Evans, A.J., “La Marmotte”, January 2012

Instructions: Complete Exhibit 1 and provide suggestions for the two key decisions

 [E] Ch. 2

[S] Ch. 8, 9, 10, 14
4. Real world markets 4a. Auctions (+)

Hild, M., Dwidevy, A., and Raj, A., 2004, “The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe”, Darden Business Publishing

Discussion question: What are the alternatives to auctions?

4b. Market Applications (+)

 [E] Ch. 3

[S] Ch. 15, 21, 22
5. Limits to markets 5a. Markets in everything (+)

“I’ve got debts, please buy my kidneys” The Times September 27th 2009

Discussion question: What are some different ways in which we could allocate kidneys?

5b. Shortage DB
6. Asymmetric information 6a. Adverse selection (+)
Akerlof, G.A., (1970). “The Market for ‘Lemons’: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism”. Quarterly Journal of Economics 84(3):488–500 (£)6b. Signalling* (+)
Spence, M., (1973). “Job Market Signaling”. Quarterly Journal of Economics 87(3):355–374 (£)		 [S] Ch. 23
7. Pricing strategy 7a. Price discrimination

Read the following Twitter thread

Instructions: Verify as much of the information in the case as possible

7b. Price discrimination DB* (+)

 [E] Ch. 4
8. Competition policy and regulation 8a. Competition and the market process* (+)

8b. Capital theory* (+)

 [E] Ch. 5, Ch. 6

[S] Ch. 19
🏅 Assessment

Managerial Economics – ESA, Beirut

aje on October 29, 2022

This course provides an overview of core economic concepts and how they relate to senior executive management. Particular focus will be placed on the theory and practice of internal markets and how organisations have harnessed the knowledge and incentives provided by market mechanisms. Group work will focus on an analysis and assessment of the macro context for a relevant country, looking at monetary and fiscal policy as well as a broader set of social and environmental indicators.

Course textbook:

Course handouts: download here

Instructions for the group report: download here

Additional online course: link here

Pre class activities
All cases need to be read and prepared in advance.
Day 1: Micro
1. Incentives matter* (+)

2. Understanding cost* (+)

3. Auctions (+)

  • Hild, M., Dwidevy, A., and Raj, A., 2004, “The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe”, Darden Business Publishing (£)
  • Discussion question: What are the alternatives to auctions?
  • Textbook: Chapter 3.3

4. Market applications (+)

5. Internal markets (+)

Extra activity: The Dutch flower auction
Day 2: Macro: closed economy
6 & 7. Monetary policy* (+)

  • “The Euro in Crisis: Decision Time at the European Central Bank” Harvard Business School case no. 9-711-049 (£)
  • The ECB During the Crisis, July 2021
  • Textbook reference: Chapter 8.2

8 & 9. Fiscal policy* (+)

10. Macro Policy Workshop (+)

After class you should watch this video and pass this quiz.

Extra activity: NGDP Masterclass
Day 3: Macro: wider issues
11. International economics (+)

12. Macro risk*

13 & 14. Group preparation and presentations

15. Debrief

Note:

Cases marked with a pound sign (£) are available via the learning platform.

Business Economics – emlyon

aje on September 26, 2022

This course gives participations a coherent view of core economic concepts from the perspective of managers and policymakers. We will look at the principles of microeconomics that are relevant for managerial decisions, including value creation, supply decisions, and the use of markets to allocate scarce resources. Particular techniques involving the interpretation of market data will be explored to provide a useful, practical toolkit.

The course also exposes participations to some of the key frameworks and models in macroeconomic theory, and provides a policy-oriented decision-making context. Newspapers and social media are full of macroeconomic commentary, but many people can feel intimidated by the terms being used and the thinking behind them. Participants will not only understand why certain decisions were made, but formulate their own views on the arguments in favour and against. In doing so, participations will be obliged to think big about the macro policy environment.

Finally, economics is focused on human action and therefore we will look at some key findings from the behavioural economics literature and how they relate to corporate decision making.

Simple, intuitive models applied to stylized managerial examples are studied along with classroom exercises in order to enhance understanding of complex real-world issues. The topics you will learn in this course are essential to formulating management, marketing, and other related business decisions and strategies.

Course textbook:

Course handouts: download here

Assessment instructions: download here

Practice exam: available here

Pre class activities
All cases need to be read and prepared in advance.
Day 1: Micro
1. Value creation* (+)

2. Cost curves* (+)

    • Evans, A.J., “La Marmotte”, January 2012
    • Instructions: Complete Exhibit 1 and provide suggestions for the two key decisions
    • Textbook: Chapter 2.2

3. Auctions (+)

    • Hild, M., Dwidevy, A., and Raj, A., 2004, “The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe”, Darden Business Publishing (£)
    • Discussion question: What are the alternatives to auctions?
    • Textbook: Chapter 3.3

4. Market applications (+)

Extra activity: The Dutch flower auction
Day 2: Macro: closed economy
Before class you should watch this video and pass this quiz.

5 & 6. Monetary policy* (+)

7 & 8. Fiscal policy* (+)

After class you should watch this video and pass this quiz.

Extra activity: NGDP Masterclass

Extra activity: Country profiles
Day 3: Macro: wider issues
9. Macro Policy Workshop (+)

10. International economics (+)

11. Behavioural Economics* (+)

    • “Sun: A CEO’s Last Stand”, Business Week, July 26th 2004 (£)
    • Textbook reading: Chapter 11.1

12. Behavioural Economics (contd.)

Note:

Cases marked with a pound sign (£) are available via Canvas.

Economics – IFBM

aje on August 9, 2022

Course textbook:

Course handouts: download here.

Assessment instructions: download here.

Course schedule

Pre-course activity
Watch this video about Starbucks: https://youtu.be/HAuGP5vJbDI

Watch this video about the class textbook:
Session 1 
1. Value creation* +

Textbook reading: Chapter 1.2
Session 2
2a. Cost curves* +

Evans, A.J., “La Marmotte”, January 2012

Instructions: Complete Exhibit 1 and provide suggestions for the two key decisions

Textbook reading: Chapter 2.3

2b. Auctions +

Hild, M., Dwidevy, A., and Raj, A., 2004, “The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe”, Darden Business Publishing (£)

Discussion question: What are the alternatives to auctions?

Textbook reading: Chapter 3.3

Extra activity: The Dutch flower auction
Session 3
3a. Market applications +

Textbook reading: Chapter 3.2

3b. Adverse selection +

Textbook reading: Chapter 3.4
Session 4
4a. Read through the following Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/anthonyjevans/status/993918866186297349

4b. Price discrimination – Debrief* +

Textbook reading: Chapter 1.3 and Chapter 4.3
Session 5: Online
5a. Group presentations

5b. Debrief

Note: Sessions marked with an asterix (*) have a lecture handout available in advance, which can be downloaded. Cases marked with a pound sign (£) are available via Blackboard. Follow the + links for additional resources.

Extra: Best croissant in Paris (Luis); 48 hours in Paris (TOPJAW)

Social, political, and ethical dimensions of digital transformation

aje on February 7, 2022


Course introduction

This course investigates how digital transformation relates to democracy and governance in an increasingly connected yet potentially polarised world.

There are widespread concerns that social and political divisions are being exacerbated by information technology, and that this is having a profound impact on the capabilities and quality of both global and local institutions. In a similar way to how the advent of the printing press prompted the rise of democracy and the nation state, perhaps digital transformation is contributing to a similar disruption in governance.

Such trends are particularly relevant in regimes where statehood was not an internal process, and was adopted either through colonial or international activity. Rising populism and authoritarianism provides the social and political backdrop to our analysis of the broad impact of technology, and we will consider whether pluralist approaches may help to combat some of the emerging threats to liberal democracy.

Assessment

For a good example of a subject matter for the group report I highly recommend reading The Story of VaccineCA. In particular, consider how the following elements coincide: the type of organisation chosen to pursue this objective (initially volunteers but then a Delaware corporation;  the institutional context (i.e. liberal market democracy where sharing such information wasn’t illegal); and the cultural attitude toward problem solving and tech optimism.

 

Prerequisite

Students should have already taken my 6 hour component of the Business Frontier Technologies course. This includes the following content:

Mandatory pre-course readings

For a 50 point quiz to test your knowledge of the pre-readings see here.

Contents

Group workbooks [download here]

  1. Addiction [lecture handouts]
  2. Democracy [lecture handouts]
  3. Ethics [lecture handouts]
  4. Governance [lecture handouts]
  5. Central banks and digital transformation [lecture handouts]
Optional background preparation

To understand some of the context for my construction of this course I recommend:

  • Matthew Perry on BBC Newsnight, (yes, one can make the contrarian and pedantic point that human’s exercise “choice” in every decision we make, but this interview demonstrates the importance of acknowledging the human cost of not being in full/partial/any control of things that are harmful to your well being. Particularly poignant given Perry’s death in 2023).
  • Beware the Jabberwock, This American Life, March 15th 2019 (a single episode that provides a detailed look at the origins of the Sandy Hook conspiracy theory and one parents attempt to fight misinformation. The second half of this episode is an interesting, but less relevant profile and interview with Alex Jones).
  • Four Hours at the Capitol, BBC (a documentary about the storming of the US Capitol building on January 6th 2021)
  • The Coming Storm, BBC Sounds (7 part podcast documentary on the rise of QAnon)
  • Death by Conspiracy, BBC Sounds (an 11 part podcast documentary on Gary Matthews, who died from covid in January 2021 having been drawn to social media claims that it was a hoax. I listened to this as a parallel to The Coming Storm but it strayed too far into covid, media ethics, and psychology for me to incorporate it more fully in this course, which attempts to avoid those areas. I didn’t learn much about conspiracy theories aside from episode 9 which provided a good attempt to understand why our common conception is often misplaced. Ultimately I just found this sad.)
  • Things Fell Apart, BBC Sounds (a documentary that looks at the different origins of the culture wars, which are defined as “the battle for dominance over conflicting values”, or the things we shout about on social media)
  • Command and Control, PBS (a documentary looking at how close we came to a major nuclear accident)
Recommended video

Famous documentaries about Facebook include:

Here is the Brexit movie mentioned in class:

Here are US political strategists talking about micro targeting:

Here is David Rand’s talk on misinformation:

This documentary looks at the Arab spring:

Here is Patri Friedman arguing that we should be able to start new countries as easily as starting a new country:

Recommended audio
  • Can Facebook Survive?, Seriously, August 13th 2019
  • Tyler and Daniel Gross Talk Talent, Conversations with Tyler, Episode 150, May 18th 2022
  • #291 – Jonathan Haidt: The Case Against Social Media, Lex Fridman podcast
  • Chris Blattman on War and Centralized Power, Conversations with Tyler, Episode 149, May 4th 2022 – this is a fascinating interview with a global expert on war (Blattman’s core thesis is that violence occurs when centralised groups have no check on their ability to indulge their narrow preferences). It doesn’t have direct relevance to this course but it is very interesting and touches upon the concept of polycentricity (which is the notion of multiple centres of power).
  • #365 – Sam Harris: Trump, Pandemic, Twitter, Elon, Bret, IDW, Kanye, AI & UFOs, Lex Fridman podcast – a good overview of the ethics of public vs. private conservation (i.e. platforming); the weaponization of social media (i.e. why Harris deleted his Twitter account); the health of democracy and our capacity to deal with social problems such as a potential future pandemic. Also relevant to future AI prospects.
  • #367 – Sam Altman: OpenAI CEO on GPT-4, ChatGPT, and the Future of AI, Lex Fridman podcast – Altman defends OpenAI’s strategy of transparency and iterative progress that gets tested on a wide scale. He believes that AI alignment can keep pace with its capabilities. A good counterexample is nuclear weapons.
  • #371 – Max Tegmark: The Case for Halting AI Development – Lex Fridman podcast – Tegmark claims that AI development is a suicide race not an arms race, and it’s not obvious that other countries, who might have more to lose from cutting edge technology, will continue regardless. The open letter than he organised was specifically intended to deal with the collective action problem whereby AI developers want everyone else to slow down but can’t do so unilaterally.
  • Ep. 126: Stephen Davies – What Is Global Catastrophic Risk?, – Steve Davies defines global catastrophic risk and discusses potential for AI to destroy humanity.
  • Civil society – Paul Aligica on Human freedom and the Third Sector, Mercatus Center – an interview with an academic (one of my PhD committee!) who articulates the importance of polycentric solutions to solve social problems, and the normative importance of respect for individual autonomy and consent. This is particularly relevant for students who are from former communist countries, or those interested in modern forms of indoctrination.
Recommended movie night

This is not massively related to this course, but I really enjoyed watching Top Gun: Maverick (you may need to watch the original Top Gun first to get the full benefit). It reminded me of how Rocky IV contrasted American individualism, authenticity, and heart against superior Soviet technology. I saw Maverick as a rumination on automation, and the continued role for human emotion, and decision making that is instinctive, impulsive, and emotive, and how that gets managed. The subtext is that unmanned drones and algorithms are the future. In the film, US technology is deemed inferior but it is all about who is in the plane and not the plane itself. Traditional pilots needs to eat, sleep and piss but remain the driving force of future success, and whatever is is that ensures a future is worth achieving.

Here’s an absorbing and fascinating explanation of how the Mach 10 scene resembles a perfect pop song:

The best 3 movies related to AI and our conception of reality (in my opinion) are:

 

Recommended activity
Further academic reading
Student reflections

Priyanka Dalotra (LinkedIn)

On design
Resources for the public sector

If you wish to work in the public sector I recommend the following resources:

Recommended books

The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series contains a number of titles that are relevant for this course. I particularly recommend:

Further recommendations

The Economist’s overview of effective altruism

Topics in Economics (MIM)

aje on December 18, 2021


The course introduces students to several important and contemporary issues that relate to economics. Having already covered the key insights from Micro and Macroeconomics, this advanced course goes deeper into the frontiers of the discipline. Students will challenge their understanding of complex and controversial issues and develop their perspective on how to become managers of the future.

🏅 Assessment
  • 40% Group report (instructions here)
  • 60% Final exam (MCQ) (practice exam to follow)
🗓️ Content
Topic Before During After
1. Prosperity Activity: Global conditions quiz

 Lecture handouts
2. Growth Watch “Growth is like an iPhone”

 Lecture handouts
3. Macro models Lecture handouts
4. Sustainability
  • n/a
 Lecture handouts
  • n/a
5. & 6. Inequality Activity: Thinking about wealth

Watch: “$456,000 Squid Game In Real Life!” Mr Beast

Watch the full movie Parasite (2019), Bong Joon Ho

  • Saez, E., and Zucman, G., 2020, “The Rise of Income and Wealth Inequality in America: Evidence from Distributional Macroeconomic Accounts” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 34(4):3-26
  • Kopczuk, W., and Zwick, E., 2020, “Business Incomes at the Top” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 34(4):27-51,
 Lecture handouts
7. Stagnation Activity: Transformative Innovations

Watch “Steve Jobs – iPhone Introduction in 2007” (the first 17 minutes is fine)

 Lecture handouts
8. Progress Watch the full movie The Greatest Showman (2017), Michael Gracey

 Lecture handouts

I thought it went without saying that economic growth is good, that America is a phenomenally rich country, and that capitalism is the reason why. But now I’m not so sure. So in this course, I say it. 

Other lectures that could be added:

  • The Solow model, and how it relates to growth theory
  • Macro Trends – an overview of global growth prospects and a survey of the key challenges facing policymakers
  • The evolution of money: gold, fiat and crypto
  • Central banks and digital transformation
  • Nuclear power – we could have had it all

Problem Solving and Decision Making

aje on October 19, 2021

 

How can I improve my team effectiveness when facing complex business problems?

Problem Solving and Decision Making is an intensive managerial programme that has been shown to be an enjoyable and successful way to improve team performance and productivity. The course provides practical skills and a management mindset rather than simply transfer knowledge. Participants are taken through the full problem-solving and decision-making cycle: from breaking down the issue, to prioritising and writing the action plan. They also practice communicating their proposal, an important and often overlooked aspect of the decision-making process. The course focuses mostly on experiential, proactive and practical learning: participants engage in individual and team problem-solving and decision-making, and receive constructive feedback to build on personal strengths and address limitations.

Resources:

For more on the Pyramid Principle:

For more on the 7-38-55 rule see:

For more on problem solving, see:

Background materials

For more about Toyota listen to:

For an introduction to the Tylenol murders listen to: