Crashin' SMU...

...and busted within the first 5 mins of the lecture :S

But I must admit, it's the best lecture I've crashed so far! Among the 3 universities... The lecturer was very interesting, the class responsive, and the topic was one that I'd never done formally, thus attending the lecture gave me greater insight into the topic. It was a very stimulating and engaging 3 hours!

What was I thinking? Class of 40, arranged in a way that it's visually accessible from the front, of course I'd be busted sooner rather than later! I was still hopeing that I would survive until halfway through the lecture when the lecturer shot a cheem economics question at me, and even then be able to smoke my way through :p But darn! this lecturer makes it a point to know her students!

She begun the lecture by asking those who had not attended the first 2 lectures to proceed to the front. One person admitted. Then she started looking around for unfamiliar faces, picking out another boy who thought he could escape unnoticed, and she came to me... I had written my name on a piece of paper and slot it into the groove in front of me, like the rest of the students, in an attempt to blend into the crowd. But I wrote my name in bright yellow highlighter so that it'll be harder to read from far... but to my dismay, the prof called my name :S (she must have strained her eyes very hard to read my name off the paper from the front!) and asked if I'd been been to the two previous lectures. I reluctantly admitted, and walked to the front. As a consolation, she had good intentions for making us proceed to the front. We were instructed to introduce ourselves, stating our name, major, why we chose the course, etc. At this point, I was still considering if I should continue with the fake SMU-student-from-another-course identity I had intended to use, or come out clean and admit that I was crashing. I decided on the later after hearing the first two guys speaking, cos i knew I wouldn't be able to reproduce the terms when faced with the subsequent interrogation... And so there, Game Over! Blew my cover 15 minutes into the lecture... The professor graciously allowed me to stay in the class, and perhaps in an attempt to assimilate me into the lesson, shot the first and easiest question at me:

"What is the night safari, Gabriel?",
"The nocturnal version of the zoo." I quickily answered,
"Good."

The name I displayed. Deliberately written in bright yellow, move away form your screen, how she see from far???

The rest of the lesson was very interesting indeed. It was an 'Introduction to Economics' series, I had tried to learn economics by reading my sister's JC notes. It aint very helpful. But these 3 hours I received new found insight into economics. It's been a while since I experienced the pleasure of learning something simple and enlightening in a classroom environment. I even took notes!

Touched on the supply and demand,
Elasticity of Demand:

1. Price Elasticity of Demand
• Luxury Goods vs Neccessary Goods,
  
  • i.e. Perfume vs Water
2. Income Elasticity of Demand
• Normal Goods vs Inferior Goods,
  
  • i.e. Hawker Food vs Restaurant Food
• Normal Goods co-relate positively with Income,
  Inferior Goods co-relate negatively with income.
  
3. Cross-Price Elasticity of Demand
   
• Complimentary Goods vs Substitute Goods,
  
  • i.e. Bread and Butter vs Ice-cream and Yogurt
• Complimentary Goods co-relate negatively with each other,
  Substitute Goods co-relate positively with each other.
  

I'm just typing out all the notes I took :p


Briefly introduced to the idea of Effecient Markets, in the lesson, we took Effecient Market to mean a situation where people who want to buy, and people who want to sell are able to do so...

Then learnt something I would never be able to get on my own: Consumer Surplus, Producer Surplus, add them to get Total Surplus. Throw taxes into the cocktail to get Government Revenue and Deadweight loss...

Deadweight loss is something feel very passionately about. I've realised since coming out to work, that the process of matching an employee to a job, a producer to a consumer, is a very important one. And it's a pity if there's no deal - Everyone goes home unhappy. That ain't how the world should function. I've always fretted over how this world sees a situation where people who want to work cant find the means to do so, similarly how children who want to learn aren't provided with the means to, thus hindering them from contributing the max they can, and they wont be less happy contributing their maximum, in fact they might even be happier!

Following my new found appreciation of the term "Deadweight Loss" I shall add to Jimmy's collection of "Economics of War" quotes:

"NS forces deadweight loss: The employers seem perpetually unhappy, the soldiers are dejected...
What happenned to the Consumer and Supplier Surplus?"

I guess the military follows a different set of economic rules, one not based on consumer-supplier happiness, but based on superior's gain regardless of inferior's expense...

Depressing NS days aside, I guess it'll be appropriate now to document all the lectures I've crashed and with whom...

Went With	On	To	For	How
Izzahar	Wed 100805	NTU	Physics Symposium	...
-	Thurs 110805	NUS	Physics Symposium	...
Kenny	Fri 120805	Biopolis, NUS	Physics Symposium	:)
James	Thurs 250805	NUS	Chemistry, Statistics for Biologist, Biodiversity	:) ... :s
James	Wed 310805	NUS	Contemporary Physics Ideas	...
Daniel Phang	Wed 310805	NUS	Computing, Introductory Biology	:) :)
Jimmy	Wed 080905	SMU	Introduction to Economics	:p