first order linear systems
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Part 1 - What's a Fair Start?: Rawls argues that even meritocracy—a distributive system that rewards effort—doesn’t go far enough in leveling the playing field because those who are naturally gifted will always get ahead. Furthermore, says Rawls, the naturally gifted can’t claim much credit because their success often depends on factors as arbitrary as birth order. Sandel makes Rawls’s point when he asks the students who were first born i...more
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This lecture is about optimal exercise strategies for callable bonds, which are bonds bundled with an option that allows the borrower to pay back the loan early, if she chooses. Using backward induction, we calculate the borrower's optimal strategy and the value of the option. As with the simple examples in the previous lecture, the option value turns out to be very large. The most important callable bond is the fixed rate amortizing mortg...more
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Professor Kagan discusses in detail the argument of free will as proof for the existence of an immaterial soul. The argument consists of three premises: 1) We have free will. 2) Nothing subject to determinism has free will. 3) All purely physical systems are subject to determinism. The conclusion drawn from this is that humans are not a purely physical system; but Professor Kagan explains why this argument is not truly compelling. In addit...more
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Professor Shiller, in his final lecture, reviews some of the most important tools for individual risk management. Significant inequality in domestic and international communities has created a need for social insurance programs, such as those created in Germany in the late 1800s. The tax system, bankruptcy laws, and government insurance programs are used to manage risk of personal wealth. However, each of these inventions must take account...more
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Professor Mazzotta continues his discussion of the Heaven of the Sun (Paradise X-IV), where the earthly disputes between the Franciscan and Dominican orders give way to mutual praise. The tribute St. Thomas pays to the founder of the Franciscan order (Paradise XI) is repaid by St. Bonaventure through his homage to St. Dominic (Paradise XII). The chiasmic structure of these cantos is reinforced by the presence of Nathan and Joachim of Flora...more
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The exchanges in which stocks and other securities are traded serve an important function in finance. They bring together people interested in buying and selling securities in order to create a universal price. Brokers and dealers are also an important part of the system, their methods and standards are ultimately behind the success of the exchanges. Many information innovations have advanced the functioning of exchanges, going all the way...more
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Andy Friere, Co-founder and CEO of Axialent, describes the one-team culture archetype, one of the five basic cultural archetypes into which organizations fall: 1) Achievement, 2) Innovation, 3) One-team, 4) People-first or 5) Customer-focused. Specifically, Friere suggests that one-team cultures trade off the optimization of individual systems or people for the benefit of the entire organization. Friere describes the behaviors, symbols and...more
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October 26, 2007 lecture by Paul Tang for the Stanford University Human-Computer Interaction Seminar. Even more fragmented than American health care is the management of health care information. Faced with a barrage of poorly organized health information, physicians and other clinicians must sift through uninspired displays to glean pearls of information necessary to make clinical decisions. New tools for information gathering from patient...more
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In 1989, following the year when Dell, Inc. went public, Dell explains how the company had a large problem with inventory management. As a result, the company failed to transition properly in the industry from one technology to the other. However, because of this critical mistake, the company learned how to correctly manage their inventory, and according to Dell, became the best in the world at it. Later on, Dell also notes the company did...more
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Most people are not very good at dealing in financial markets. Professional money managers, such as financial advisors and financial planners, assist individuals in matters of personal finance. FINRA and the SEC monitor the activities of these managers in order to protect individual investors. Mutual funds, exchange traded funds also exist to assist individual investments, and pension funds provide further services. These investment instit...more
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The form of medicine that arose in fifth-century Greece, associated with the name of Hippocrates and later popularized by Galen, marked a major innovation in the treatment of disease. Unlike supernatural theories of disease, Hippocrates' method involved seeking the causes of illness in natural factors. This method rested upon an analogy between the order of the universe and the composition of the body's "humors." Health, on this view, was ...more
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In this lecture, Professor Kagan continues to discuss the constitution of Athens. In particular, he explores the judicial workings of Athens. He describes in detail the effort of the Athenians to create a system of justice that would not only minimize tampering, in order to insure justice, but also maximize citizen participation. After this discussion, Professor Kagan comments on the role of women in Athens by looking at two types of sourc...more
