"The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he really is very good, in spite of all the people who say he is very good." - Robert Graves

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Quotes:

belief must satisfy buy's rule (Bayes')

This is Buyer's rule. It's very complicated. In 10 years, each time I learned it I failed... Now I tell you I know. After 10 times, but not before.

Beliefs should be good. They shouldn't be strange... I am a manager. I have a job interview. This guy has a Harvard diploma. His GPA is 4.0... I believe he is weak... We know Harvard, the unergraduates, they don't study very hard.

You know when I was [a] student there was sometimes checking. They check if you are studying. They check if someone is over. They come at 6:30, check your papers. (were checks)

Profit is equally splitted (split)

University cannot completely control me. I sit in my office 7 days a week. No call, no email. This is actually [the] moral hazard problem... The University has [a] good tool to incentivise me. If I do not produce at least 1 paper a year, they will fire me. (calls)

Sunday evening, you come here [to NUS]. People studying on Wi-Fi. *mimes typing*... They kill themselves... In my profession, some people work very hard... By the end of the year they talk strangely and behave strangely... Like me, I work very hard.

This is quite an unusual term. Ball and Romer say it's just a 'convenient normalization'. Whatever that means. It just make the algebra easier.

I want to bring to your attention that this is a beautifull compact equation. Because he [the consumer] is optimising along 3 margins.

That was the initial equilibrium. Now we come to the exciting part.

[Me to someone wearing tights: Don't you feel hot?] My dress is too short. [Me: Wear {a} longer dress lah]

[On the Ball-Romer menu costs model] I don't think their model is artistic, although it is correct. And we're not artists here, we're scientists.

[Me: How come you keep bumping into them?] Because you don't go to places where girls go... Places where they can spend money frivolously.

Gabriel, I decided not to major in Econs anymore. [Me: COngratulations. *shakes her hand*]

[On a KAT-TUN music video] I don't want to see [it], my IQ will drop.

[Me: California girl... She speaks with a Californian accent.] That's just a fucked up American accent.

He didn't say that [Capitalism must come between Feudalism and Communism]. He said it was 'The Necessary Stage' *funny look* *Laughs from audience*

Nietzsche calls Christianity a religion of slavery, because you have to offer your cheeks [to be slapped].

Marx says when you put Capital and Labour together you get something more, which he calls surplus value. *writes delta v*. This is my fake Economics [knowlege/notation]

Some people call them Champagne Marxists... They look upon the working class with fascination... They want to 'help them'... Moral edification.

[On co-option] You have an elite class... Meritocracy. They pull some of them up, but you make sure they never look back.

I am being retrenched - again. I'm taking pay cuts - again. CPF is being cut - again. GST is going up - again... How come they don't suffer as much?... This idea of nation. Getting you to buy into it.

The professors are proletarianised too. They're made to teach long hours to huge lecture theatres of students who don't care two hoots.

[Student: Does Marx make any assumptions about human nature?] Yah, that we are good.

Capitalism is a conspiracy with no conspirators. Capitalists themselves are alienated - from each other. They are terrified that they'll join the proletariat one day... It's a horrible world to live in.

[On the USSR] If you're in power, you like it. So the revolution, for you, is never completed.

[On Communism] If someone tells you, in a Christ-like fashion: 'Leave your family behind, leave your goods behind, follow me.' *Makes face* Unless you're a fisherman, it's quite hard to do.

[Student on a tutorial question that used to be an exam question: How was the performance for this question in the exam?] Disastrous. Only 1 student in 42 got everything correct. I was very disappointed... The moral of the story is: go back and work on your calculus. [Me: *sotto voce* Set {an} easier exam.] *sniggers from people around* Sorry? [Me: The moral is to set an easier exam.] That's not going to happen.

In the spirit of the Lunar New Year, I am open to the idea of having an open book exam.

[On a conference] If they like your paper, they wll pay your expenses, so you can polish your paper in this class... If they find gold in your paper, or a speck of [gold] dust, or fool's gold, then you can go to the Netherlands for free.

We saw the Prime Minister's speech yesterday. It's definitely very different than most of the Prime Ministers' speeches we've had the privilege of hearing around the world.

[On a paper Coase wrote at 21] At an age, probably, younger than anyone in this room, he already did his Nobel Prize work. We're trying to get other people to do the same.

Many many professors of Economics have been promoted and given big salaries because they're game theorists. It's a powerful tool. We don't think it's as powerful as they do.

Clearly we want you to win Nobel Prizes and throw champagne parties and have people throw money at us.

Hernando de Soto. He only talks to God and Presidents of countries now. He talks to us occasionally.

[On Adam Smith] Most people in the universe, if they saw a pin facory, they would write something unbelievably boring.

[On Darwin's finches] Bird beaks may be more interesting than pin factories, but not much. How many people in the world are interested in bird beaks? How many in Singapore are interested in bird beaks? Maybe one.

[On research ideas] The problem is knowing where to dig for gold. Most economists are only interested in having a machine that can dig a really deep hole.

Have you ever seen a video of Stephen Hawkings? He's incredibly intense: 'I want to know the mind of God. I want to reduce it to a few equations'. Economics is very influenced by physics.

[On measuring transaction costs] We're not in an Aristotlean world where we can imagine how many teeth are in a horse's mouth.

How do you get a kid in Harvard? It's very simple. Just get grandparents who went to Harvard.

You know Peter the Great... the population of Russia fell 20% during his reign. More than during Stalin's time. Why he's called Great is another story.

In New York City, if you buy a newspaper it will be from a South Asian... They have ways of avoiding labour laws.

[On transitioning from Communism] In Eastern Europe - we love Eastern Europe - one thing they're really good at is complaining... How do you measure when things go from really really terrible to just bad?

The failure rate in judicial reform is damn near 100%.

coup duh tar (d'etat)

I talked to a guy from a power company and he said what they want to do is have a power plant on a boat and if they don't pay just sail off.

[The] Second part [of the course] will be more formal. Here we just talk.

enter'pr'err'ner (entrepreneur)

One thing I absolutely cannot stand about university guys: they're all so desperate... It makes my hair stand on end.