"The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat." - Lily Tomlin

***

Quotes:

[On using notes from a Level 1 module as reference] Go back and look at those notes if you haven't already burnt, buried, destroyed them somewhere.

[On Singapore] In the 90s there was a trade deficit for many years. Not often mentioned in the news.

[On BOP balancing] Maybe, instead, Amazon decides to take the Singapore dollars and buy Singapore exports... 10 packets of chicken rice. Ormaybe they decide they don't like chicken rice and just decide they want their goddamn US dollars... Damn Yankees.

[On statistical discrepancies in the balance of payments] For many years, in Singapore, there were some things that were not published. Trade with Indonesia, for example.

The textbook talks about real exchange rates. It doesn't say anything about fake exchange rates (...)

We're talking about Big Macs here, so they're all the same. It doesn't mean the Big Mac in Japan has sushi inside.

[On marking the growth of a variable] Gordon doesn't use the dot. He uses a triangle. I think he doesn't have the typeset for the dot.

are tr'er lee generate these numbers (arbitrarily)

[On generating simulated data and estimating a model] The true case happens in heaven... In this case we know, but we assume we don't know. When we wake up we don't know... Once you live in this world you are in the general estimation model world... We live as a god in this world, then we wake up and live as a normal person, as an Econometrician.

The example is rather abject (abstract)

If we reject the null hypothesis, we reject homoskedasticity. We hope that we reject [it] so we can learn something new.

You cannot damage these PCs, because they have been tested thoroughly by previous students.

[On whether water is permitted in a lab with a "no food & drinks allowed" sign] [Student: She told me to keep my food. She didn't say anything about my water. So I deduced water was allowed.] I wish you guys would use your deductionfor better purposes in life.

It doesn't matter whether you write it in pen or pencil. It doesn't matter whether you write in pink, red, black... Please don't write the answers on stone tablets. Please don't tattoo the answers onto your buttocks.

The problem is that those who are most likely to get extra credit are those who will least need it.

Memorising the definition of a term given to you is neither necessary nor sufficient.

[On green tea] You can send me an email about whether it's worth drinking, cos if I'm gonna switch from coffee it better be good. 'If I drink it every day for my entire life I will live 1 day longer' won't cut it.

[On the sliminess and intellectual dishonesty of redefinining the English Language to suit your purposes] If I had $10 in my pocket, and someone asked me if I had a dollar, I would say no... It would depend on the context. Suppose you were in a court of law because a legal issue arose over the graduation tickets... 'Do you have 600 graduation tickets?' It would be misleading to say yes [if you had 750]

[On not using the visualiser] I'm worried that it'll be too small. And also you'll see my messy handwriting.

Dare'tch where the confusion comes from (There's)

[Student: Someone went to steal the Mac mouse] Who would want to steal a Mac mouse? There's only one button!

z'year'rho (zero)

There're 2 cases of special validity. They're freaks of nature... Freaks of logic.

[On a female student being unable to open the door] Did you get locked in?... That would be bad. Getting locked with me in this room.

[Me: She said "'something' from Science"] 'I ame from Science'. I didn't know such fine things came from science... *Later* remember i said, 'didn't know there were such fine things in science' turns out she's probably an econ maj, so there really isn't such fine things in science (aren't)

[On investing in 4D] Buy 5 numbers. 'I have diversified my unsystematic risk. Therefore my portfolio is efficient.

[On Financial Economics] If we don't have any maths, we can do everything in 5 minutes. It's so simple.

[Me: What did he say?] 'Where did I get the 8?' [Me: What's so funny about that?] Custom. When the lecturer makes an error you laugh. It's an NUS tradition.

[Me: I wondered if the one coming in was from Science.] It's ok, you don't have a sciencedar. [Me: Sciencedar?] Gaydar, Sciencedar.

If you type in 'What is a bond' in Google, what do you get? Any of you tried? You get James Bond.

[Lecturer: 2 more slides and I'll give you a break.] Aiyah. I thought '2 more slides and I'll let you all go.' ***

[On an 'Investment Education Podcast'] I thought of sending you an email last night, but if I did that, you wouldn't come here, because you [would] already know everything.

Another thing: Will I give these formulas in the exam? [Students: Yes!] No. *Laughs from the audience* Why should I?

[On discounting a 30 year twice-yearly bond] If you have to add 60 terms manually, it might be difficult.

Imperfect capital mobility is something you will do in part of your problem set. *thunder* Wow. Somebody up there doesn't like that idea. This is a strange September... It usually doesn't rain so much in September.

Of course, we're not going to do the other 4 in class, because they will be in your problem set. *Consternation from audience* I do the easy part in class, you do the hard part in your problem set - that's the point.

[On the Mundell-Fleming IS-LM-BP model] It's very nice to teach. You can play around with lots of funny things, and kill your students with it.

[On why he's going to JB] I'm going there to buy underwears. (underwear)

One principle is the smarter you are, the more comfortable your body is (???)

This is why I am against the attendance policy. I am 100% sure there is a positive correlation... between attendance and grades... you have to show me the causal estimator... People tend to be confused between correlation and causation.

female niece (femaleness - femininity)