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Quotes:
What's the difference between Transport [Economics] 1 and 2? [Other student: Nothing]
[Starting the first lecture after the mid-semester break] So let's begin. I guess you guys are all happy to see me. [Audience: No] No?
[Student: Sir, this week is week 7] I consider this week week 8... is this too difficult for you? [Student 2: Yes]
[On how extreme 'rational expectations' is as an assumption] A lot of econs students don't have the right models, and even a lot of lecturers are not sur eif the models they have are correct.
[On William Phillips] I remember from Wikipedia he was also a crocodile hunter, so he was an early day Steve Irwin.
That's the end of the history of Macroeconomic thought talk. We're not going to move into the SP-DG model yet. Instead we're gonna take a 10 minute break. *Cries of relief from audience*
I see you guys have had a good break. 10 minutes. But we have work to do! Wait a minute, that's Saruman (???)
[On making snide remarks about 'Beautiful Voice'] After I went back I got 6 pimples. It's really karma... after bitching about him.
The effect of attendence on score in the final exam. That is what I am very interested in finding. If I find out I will let you know... if you find a good IV [Instrumental Variable], please let me know.
Engin reminds me of NJ. Dark and gloomy. Hot and humid. [Me: Everything is gray]
The difference between formal logic and informal logic. Informal logic you can do while you're in T-shirt and jeans.
[On the argument from authority] According to John Lennon, lowering interest rates at this time will not affect economic growth.
[Student: You look like you're going on Safari, game hunting]... [Me: Do I look like I'm going on safari?] You look like Steve Irwin. You need a baby.
It's not surprising that the majority of Australian tourists on Bali are against the death penalty for drug trafficking... Most of the Australian tourists on Bali would probably get hanged... Who cares what those Australian tourists on Bali say? They're all high anyway. Most of what they say is false. *Student asks him to uncover notes on the visualiser* You can't see anything? Are you Australian?
It's okay, I don't have anything against Australian tourists. If I teach a class in Australia I'll make fun of you guys.
[On what happens when 2 circular arguments collide] I can imagine 2 people arguing: is the Bible the word of God or the Quran? 'The Bible is the word of God' 'Prove it' 'It's in there: "The Bible is the word of God"' 'No, the Quran is the word of God' Tch tch tch...
And zen I do the F-test (then)
dependable variable (dependent)
the ward test (Wald)
In order to solve for this optimal waste. (weight)
[On girls singing in Chatterbox] Really, USP has all the [Me: Weirdos] No, bourgeoisie... Where do you find people who do opera?
By the way. How did you guys do on your test? [Student: Are we supposed to get it back?] You're supposed to lah, after I've marked them.
This is just a discussion. It will not come out in the exam unless he teaches it in the lecture. But for the lack of anything better to do, unless you have any questions...
[On Tag Hauer] Who cares right? It's Maria Sharapova. Whether it's false or true it's Maria Sharapova.
God is omnipotent and omnibenevolent. So why is there evil in this world? An earthquake in Afghanistan is evil... George Bush is evil. *Whispers* *** *** *** is evil!
[On the argument from ignorance] I don't know that X. Therefore X, or not X. I don't know... anything. I don't know anything. I can't think of any examples.
You're arguing that God operates on a different logical plane. That is arguing ad hoc - why?!... [Student: The others argue that the god does not have a different logic from humans] If you say that you don't know that God uses a different form of logic, that's the argument from ignorance... There is no reason to think that God has different logic from humans. The burden of proof is on you... The common way of putting it is 'You don't understand God'
Hume has a problem with induction. When you want to justify induction, you use induction.
It's easy to draw in God in all these informal fallacies. People always use informal fallacies.
Just now we did the design thing and then we realised that the iPod has the worst design. [Me: So why is it so popular?] We have no idea... It's confusing. It's not user friendly lah. I didn't even know how to turn it off. [Me: I thought Macs are supposed to be good for idiots.] Only the computer lah. The iPod is horrible.
It doesn't matter what I say about you, because some day you will be getting a lot of chickes... girls like financial analysts (!@#$)
[Me: Intelligence doesn't matter. You also won't be happy] Check out IMH [Me: They're very intelligent meh?] No, they're very happy. [Student 2: All the crazy people I know are unhappy. They're lucid enough to know... They're all intelligent]
Are you going to quote me? [Me: Is there something to quote?] Everytime you whip out that piece of paper I freak out.
Did you say 'Screwed Up Girl'?... I completely agree with that... She thinks she is a cupcake... Before you talk about pure love I want to talk about screwed up stuff first.
Didn't you use to date her too?... What's her appeal to guys? [Student: It's not her appeal I'm questioning. It's her taste in guys] *everyone laughs*
Why didn't you tell me? [Student: I don't want to bother people.] I need these issues to channel into my work! [Me: I love these inter-female dynamics.]
[On How Girls Waste Time] Is that how guys waste time? [Me: Not all guys do that] Only screwed up guys.
[Student to someone else on my interview: Are you actually doing any reading?] No. I've been reading the same sentence for 5 minutes.
[On someone] I think every arts student who has taken a class with him before is scared of him. [Me: I've taken a class with him before.] I think every arts girl who has taken a class with him before is scared of him.
Strange. I had the impression I had more students. What happened to everyone? All doing problem set? The haze? Gastric flu? (Is everyone doing the)
[On handing up the problem set only in soft copy] NUS is not going to graduate students who are afraid of IT. So get used to it.
[On the Lucas critique] Lucas says that is naive. That was not a nice thing to say to other macroeconomists and policy makers. (said that was)
The Keynesian philosophy of childcare is that you should respond when the baby cries... New Classical philosophy is: do not respond. Wow, that's harsh... It [The Keynesian perspective] is naive because it takes the baby's propensity to cry as an exogenous parameter. Babies are smarter than we think... If you don't respond, the baby will adjust her propensity to cry and she will stop crying. That's the George Akerlof homely example. (George Akerlof's)
[On time inconsistency] A third example is exams. I want you guys to study hard, so I announce that there will be an exam. Once you have studied hard, I am tempted to cancel the exam so you guys don't feel so stressed. I'm a caring person. Actually I don't wan tot mark exam scripts.
[On underidentified model - 0 IVs, 1 endogenous variable] You are laughing at my idea. But a lot of people out there use an endogenous variable to find the causal estimator... Still people claim that attendence has [a] causal effect on grases... That is where Mark Twain accuse people of using statistics to lie (accuses)
[On the Hausman test for endogeneity] It is very simple and straightforward and an example of how you can become a famous econometrician and have your name included in the your-name test in an Econometrics textbook... He replaced the plus with minus. Being famous is so simple, so if you want to try, try. Unfortunately I haven't been able to make a contribution yet.
There was an introduction in garbage incinerator (of a)
[On the difference-in-difference estimator] Clementi and Orchard. A garbage incinerator is built suddenly in NUS.
[Instructor: These are the elements of an academic essay...] *Sotto voce* Isn't it interesting he only teaches it after it's [the essay's] due?
99% of the students and the staff I was teaching during my time in Engineering didn't know the difference between an introduction and a conclusion.
Engineers have lots of workshops on public speaking skills.
In the States they can do what they want. They haven't seen the sea. Some of them don't know who the President of the USA is... They still use pounds... I don't want to say anything bad about the US because the Minister Mentor is in the US. After he comes back I will tell you more.
[On a joke] A vulgar and male Chauvinistic episode. My apologies to the girls, and empathy with the boys but I think they are
[Instructor on student going to the toilet: You're going at the wrong time because I am going to talk about the exam paper.] It's ok. It's quite urgent.
[On the test] 2 years ago I gave them a fork, a table fork, and asked them to estimate the volume and surface area of the fork. As a bonus they got to take the fork hom.
I have given you boxes. I am not going to read what is outside the boxes. If your handwriting is too large, too bad.
[Student: Civil law is where there're no criminals. Criminal law is where there're criminals... Civil law is when there's a family dispute. And criminal law is when the husband kills the wife.] This is what will happen if you don't answer properly. *brandishes hair shaving tool* I took a course in hairdressing, so I know how to use it.
[On patenting Singaporean inventions here] Actually it's a jailable offence to patent it elsewhere.
If you pay a composition fine you're not a criminal, but if you pay a normal fine you're a criminal.
[On a random name chooser MATLAB program] *** [Student: You've already called me.] They like to hear your voice. [Student 2: Even the computer knows]
[Instructor: What does a patent achieve?] Wait ah. *flips notes*