Last lecture at NENU

On Friday, I had the chance to bookend my Wednesday lecture on the
instructional power of economic experiments with one describing the
more traditional use of lab experiments in research.

I presented my 2011 paper on collusion and demand shocks which I
authored with Katya Sherstyuk from Hawaii.

As I mentioned before, the English language limitations of the
students were a bit more than I had been led to believe. But as the
week went on, I think I was able to adjust my style and, most
importantly, my speed. I tried to phrase my English like the English
of the students with all its quirks.

Because of the need to slow down, my talk on Friday stayed at the
level of broad overview with an increased emphasis on the
storytelling.

In other words, just my style.

This group on Friday were mostly post-graduate students but they were
even more demure than the undergrads. But they did seem quite
engaged.

At one point in the talk, I was discussing the difficulty subjects
have with tasks involving backward induction. It occurred to me to
spice up the talk by pulling out a 100 yuan bill ($17) and proposing
that someone play me for it in the "Game of Twenty" Bart Wilson showed
me years ago. In the game, a student and I take turns advancing the
count by either one or two. The person to say "20" wins.

After some hiccups and several failed attempts, one girl nailed it and
won the bill. It was a great chance to spice up an otherwise boring
topic.

At the conclusion of the talk, I was appointed a guest professor at NENU.