A proposal for market-led higher education

A proposal for several distinct but related industries, in principle decentralized:

Classroom rental. Or rather classroom, laboratory, or any other room (and tools) for teaching. A possible business model consists in auctioning classrooms for a definite period of time. So, the first rental company determines the length of terms, be semesters, thirds, quarters, etc. I guess that the auctioning would be directed towards teachers directly. Such aspects as classroom quality, building location, and period length would be a good contested by the firms serving the market, and this good would be separated from other industries such as teaching and certification. They could also, as a byproduct, sell curriculum prospects of registered students to the curriculum companies.

Teaching proper. The teacher would produce content for the courses and pedagogical ways of teaching. He would design syllabi, choose books if any, would arrange exercises as teaching tools, and would choose the number of classes to teach per week. The business model would consist in announcing the course, gain prestige, and charge students which attend the course, although of course class tasting could occur. Alternatively or supplementally, a patron could sponsor fully or partially a chair, so that would-be teachers could compete for that chair (maybe through ways arranged by the sponsor himself). For a new, innovative course or a new teacher, some sort of angel investment or joint venture could be advisable. Indeed, the teaching industry could be split between pure teaching and course design, although the common knowledge required would probably imply at least a moderate vertical integration among these two industries.

Curriculum. Specialized companies would work making research among potential employers of professionals on the one hand and offered courses (and the course design industry) on the other, so as to create a list of courses (a curriculum) ideal for distinct employers. These "curriculum companies" could also analyze which curricula are more demanded in the market, which are fashion and which ones outdated. They could also have statistics of how much students are enrolled under (at least stated) curricula. Employers could pay for the curriculum company to design curricula tailored at different levels for such employers or otherwise to know fashionable or otherwise successful curricula given market demand. They could even know potential supply of such curricula currently and for the foreseeable future. Curriculum companies could also sell advise services to new students so as for these to know the best prospects of curriculum ranked by employability or other variable.

Certification. Besides the mere course attendance, students could buy the service of course-attendance certification. They could also buy the service of course evaluation. This would create a specialized industry of individual course certification as well as of complete curriculum accomplishment.

This decentralization of the different industries which make higher education, would create competition among the different parts of higher education so that the student can get the best of each. It would also create room for innovation (for instance in course or curriculum designing) which, however, if failing, wouldn't attempt against the whole process of higher education. It would also create a closer relation between higher education programs and employers requirements. It would allow for smooth evolution of career curricula. Last but not least, it would allow that compromised professionals could deep and update their higher education as much as they want. Market has proved more effective than central planning in virtually every human activity. Higher education seems to be not the exception.

(In)tolerance

The plea for "tolerance" is often no more than the first stage of a malicious ideology in trying to crush and ultimately ban the establishment. "Tolerance" is a favorite marketing strategy to immunize from criticism what has been previously seen as evil by turning such criticism into politically incorrect. The plea for "tolerance" is frequently disguised intolerance against traditional values, a killer crying for mercy while committing his crime.

A proposal for a Bachelor's degree program in economics

I SEMESTER:
Math I: differential calculus
Statistics I: descriptive
General Epistemology
Introduction to Praxeology: introductory chapters of "Human Action" and spontaneous order ("I Pencil")

II SEMESTER:
Math II: integral calculus
Statistics II: inferencial
Methodology of Economics (Friedman's "Methodology of Positive Economics" and more)
Finance I (core of CFA I)

III SEMESTER:
Math III: linear algebra
Statistics III: inferential
Microeconomics I: Demand theory
Monetary Theory: theory of value of money

IV SEMESTER:
Math IV: differential equations, recurrence relations, topology
Econometrics I
Microeconomics II: Production theory
Macroeconomics I

V SEMESTER:
Econometrics II
Finance II (core of CFA II)
Macroeconomics II
Microeconomics III: industrial organization

VI SEMESTER:
Econometrics III
Finance III (core of CFA III)
Macroeconomics III
Game Theory (all Gibbons's book)

VII SEMESTER:
Public finance (Musgrave's and Musgrave's book)
International Trade (first two parts of Krugman's book)
History of economics (Blaug's book)
Auctions (theory and experiments)

VIII SEMESTER:
Public choice
International finance (second half of Krugman's book)
Economic historiography (methods of economic history)
Development economics (emphasis on Bauer, Easterly, etc.)

All the courses would belong to one of four departments:
* Department of Mathematics and Statistics
* Department of Microeconomics
* Department of Macroeconomics
* Department of Methodology and History

Krugman economics

If some agent has been stealing from another and a policy of avoiding  stealing is imposed, the robber losses. So, by worsening some agents, such a policy is not unambiguously good for the economy and maybe it should even be avoided.

This is how I interpret Krugman economics from his book on international trade. Some agents "lose" because they are not allowed anymore to benefit, say, from protectionism (until here, we agree), so a trade liberalization is not unambiguously good for the economy (with which I disagree). Plus, how is that trade liberalization should be undertaken if no (necessarily artificial) protectionism had been imposed before in the first place?

Against a labor theory of value

The demand for a good of higher order cannot change save by a change in the price of some good of lower order which it helps to produce.

Church and freedom

The Catholic Church needs the help of people who truly believe in and are students of freedom for her to understand her limits on political proposals, her best way to fight poverty, and her development of a theology of free will harmonious with economic and political sciences and the rule of law.

People who truly believe in and are students of freedom can benefit from the Catholic Church, so that they remain humanitarian and full of charity, understand that free will and respect of free will is not the same than selfishness or disdain, but that true respect of freedom must be close to love for the neighbor.

Love of freedom and fear of God share major features: realizing that one is not almighty and cannot rule over whatever caprice one can have, to trust in powers which are beyond our full comprehension but which we revere by acknowledging that they operate for our ultimate benefit.

Freedom and fear of God are not just compatible but ultimately of mutual necessity as well as totalitarianism and atheism are at the end both sides of one same coin.

There cannot be God without freedom and there cannot be freedom without God. Both Church and classical liberals must understand that or scorn it at their own peril. It is civilization and that which we regard distinctively human which is at stake.

So wrong, Mr. Varian

"Transitivity is a hypothesis about people's choice behavior, not a statement of pure logic." Intermediate Microeconomics, 8/e, page 36.

Self-consciousness on methodology

"More than other scientists, social scientists need to be self-conscious about their methodology."

Milton Friedman, "The Methodology of Positive Economics"