Inputs solicited

What follow are my potential research topics in Fall 2007-Spring 2008 and so on. Any constructive inputs or references are solicited and deeply appreciated. Whoever wishes to coach me or collaborate with me is welcome to drop me a note.

Exactly How Much Economics do We Need for Studying Cultural and Creative Industries?
(研究文化創意產業需要多少經濟學知識？)

Globalization on Campus: a Public Good or a Signal for Better Quality?
(校園國際化 -- 是公共財？還是彰顯高品質的訊號？)

Can Wenzao College Be Operated as An International Business?

Are there Evidences of Self-selection among College Professors in Taiwan?

Are Taiwanese Students Acting as Voters in Completing the Teaching Evaluation Questionnaires?

Why do All Universities in Taiwan Have abnormal Teaching Evaluation Statistics (over 4.0 on the five-point scale) -- A Game-theoretic Preliminary Interpretation

Carrots in Daylight and Sticks in the Dark -- An Economic Analysis

Identifying the Principal-Agent Scenarios on Campus in Taiwan

產官學的資訊透明化落實程度比較

策略性模糊與官僚運作

Self-posed on a sunny Sunday afternoon in May

傻瓜對話小系列

兩位傻瓜小人物的對話：建校精神、停車位、唐吉訶德
Written by A to public:
　　　　　　◇◇的精神是什麼？如何在逆境中傳承◇◇的精神？
身為◇◇人的第三代，從助學貸款，篳路藍縷走回母校任教的畢業生，對◇◇的第一印象是它是私校中收費最低，但卻提供一個具有高度宗教慈愛、關懷的環境，和重視人格陶養，對「人」基本價值信任與尊重的教育組織。
成為◇◇人20年後，◇◇的精神是什麼？且容我從韋伯的《新教倫理與資本主義的精神》來分享我的想法和感受。在文藝復興後期商業開始發達生活逐漸富裕，新教提倡的倫理包括：勤勞、儉樸、基督徒「天職」概念 → 為了榮耀上帝 → 每個人都應發揮個人的恩賜與才能 → 藉此，新教倫理給予商人、銀行家、律師、工程師和科技官僚賺錢、累積資產、追求個人卓越的道德正當性 → 也造就出專業化分工（專家領導）、理性化的經濟官僚組織 → 和日後的資本主義。
這看似成功的過程並非全部：專家們的「理性」開始一步步地罔顧、甚至吞噬新教改革的原始精神、宗教倫理式微 → 專家與群眾開始無止盡、無情的追求個人卓越、事業與財富 → 資本主義的興起同時也造就出一批沒有心肝、沒有愛心與關懷的專業官僚 (Specialists without spirit and experts [sensualists] without hearts)。韋伯在結論中感慨地說，這樣的結果不是新教改革的本意：而是一個Unintended consequence: an unforeseen, unexpected, and even unwanted, undesired results。這不是小說故事書，是歷史。
讓我們回頭再來看看◇◇的精神：◇◇◇會宗教精神在於對天、對人的愛、尊重與關懷，批判的精神和對真理的服從，and I quote from our official website「奉獻教育事業，不尚奢華，但求實在；不重虛飾，但求精良… 校舍建築以及教學上，一仍勤儉、踏實的原則，營造濃郁的人文氣息，溫馨的校園氣氛。」
◇◇確實面臨著逆境：財務、生源、現代化科技教育的競爭、專業化的提升、理性化、自動化的組織、不得不跟著教育部的結構追求卓越等等都是。But in what order? And at what expenses? 身為行政團隊的一員，◇◇的行政主管、職員（包括我），是不是都正自詡為理性化的組織專家與技術官僚，在行政程序中開始談論專業、理性、數據、證據與法則，財務的、科技卓越的、競爭力的，而越來越少談◇◇的「行政價值理念、關懷」如何落實在瑣碎的日常事務中？在資源、預算的分配中？我們是不是在追求卓越的過程中，開始踩著◇◇人的肩膀，成就組織與事業？是不是開始在繁忙的行政事務中喪失了對學生、對同僚的愛、尊重、耐心、包容與相互信任，而給予他們專家和官僚般的臉色、表情與答覆？是不是在決策過程上，開始輕描淡寫◇◇宗教奉獻教育事業的精神，對儉樸和學術踏實的堅持，重重投入對浮華名氣的追求？我們是不是也開始步入、同時相對造就出一批未來「沒有心、沒有價值、理念、精神」的專家？
在順境中襯得出◇◇的精神並不稀奇。能在財務緊縮、生源減少、專業化、理性化組織再造的逆境中，還能守住那一絲◇◇人教育、學術的傲骨與堅持，才真正顯示出◇◇精神的值得傳承不是嗎？就算這意味著傳承的方式需要妥協追求卓越的步調，承受「較不卓越」的名聲，而重新靜下來尋回那份踏實、樸質的堅持、濃郁的人的氣息，和彼此信任、尊重的校園氣氛。對我而言，◇◇精神面臨的最大逆境，會不會是幾年後在校史館中回顧紀錄說：這不是◇◇追求卓越的本意，it is an unwanted, undesired consequence…. But is this an unforeseen consequence?

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From B to A:
我通常都寫英文、不唸稿。您今天是寫中文、狂唸稿。我寫推論、您寫預言。我老邁、您年輕。我光棍、您已婚。我整天想策略互動、您每天寫文化研究。我會胯下上籃、您是網球代表隊員。...嗯 …看起來，我們大不同耶。[for the sake of record, do not stick the same label or mark on us! Does anyone hear me?] 一起快樂地搶一般停車位。這點，是我的榮幸！哈利路亞。
_____________________________________________________________________
From A to B:Your signing up has already decided that you are doomed to be classified as the genre I belong to. Historians don't normally predict, but as a cultural study people I was trained to not write things that are counter factual. Anyway, at least we will both know where we cannot find our cars. Nice to have you join the family of God.
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From B to A:
To the young and restless A:I had a brief chat with your big brother yesterday. Well, I was teasing. I won't mind to receive another label or have another membership as you folks put it, the black five category. Ha! But I usually don't pay the membership dues. As one gets older and older, inevitably there are labels keeping coming to us, in bright daylight or in the dark nights, or even in bad dreams. Luckily He is watching from above. And even if He is taking a nap or what, I had a sword hanging outside my caves. By the way your fans were probably right -- your statement was not really broadcast worldwide. As a matter of fact, let us assume that there are 100 hits at best on May 24. Hey, did it ever occur to you that maybe your bodies like me were responsible for 80 percent of it? WOW! What does it lead to? Chances are that all the King's Horsemen probably are unaware of it. So, you are safe, at least for now. This is a good news, isn't it? Have a good weekend!
B (black inside and out 從裡到外、黑透了)
P.S. Do tell me in private communication, of course, where I can usually find the parking space. That is what a friend is for, right?
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From A to B:
The counter screens out the same IP address when doing the entry count.
So unless you keep disconnecting and reconnecting your PC to the net, and have a different IP, you will be counted only once that day.
Well, the 80 people should stand for at least 50 I would say.
Anyway, the main thing is I had recited the script in front of …… , and other alumni.
The ...... is shed, and the ...... will come. (消音)
Now in order to protect you all from being labelled as the black 5 category, I am locking the article and respondeces up for now, remaining only the title been seen.
If someone is so eager to know what I have said, he will need a password for that.

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From B to A:
Good Lord! ...... will come! Hm ... I am waiting in style.

Just had my hair style changed

A good month in 2007

Angel Identity

Through the freeway
Across the ocean
On numerous sleepless nights
I carried your heart with my broken wings
And
I thought that it was His will
Let an angel carry another
Into the sky
Away from those dark nights and sorrow

Was I good enough for the task?
I was not sure
But once for a while
You proposed to carry my heart
Making me believe
that we were flying in the sky

But the journey seemed to go circle
Communication failure and lying
lack of trust and betrayals never walked away
You told me you were not an angel
I asked Him if I were an angel

For the first time in years
I listened
And
realized
I never had enough strength
To fly, to carry

All these years
A real angel has been there
Carrying me and whatever I thought I was carrying
And He has never abandoned me

Teachers are human too -- failure is around us all the time. So cheer up my students who worry about the final grade

An old friend (and former grad student) of mine who kindly inspired me and took me to this blogger recently indicated that her hands were tied by school work, family obligations and so on. She has to stop sharing her wonderful thoughts here indefinitely. How sad!
Yes, we all are exhausted. Are we accomplishing meaningless task by investing countless hours? Nobody knows and I doubt that anyone would really care.
On one of these sleepless nights I could not do any work. I chose to write something that is completely out of my students' expectation. They are in Chinese however.

我把我的淚串成珍珠
隨時地掛在我心上
幻想成為她最美的首飾
因為每一顆珍珠 　　
都是我最珍貴的淚

我把它藏著心底 　　
隨時提醒我
同樣的錯　　同樣的傷 　　永遠不會有第二次

每一天 　想一遍
在夢裡
她回首一笑
珍珠鍊子斷了
我的淚灑落一地
踩著一地水
她溫柔地問
答應她的珍珠項鍊在那兒？

我哭泣一夜
為了一串新的珍珠項鍊
淚水終於乾了
她卻不再問我
答應她的珍珠項鍊在那兒？

On a good day in 2006

Let's find examples of signaling in the academic community

Trivial observations on names

1. Why do people in the States often have no problem with identifying the family name (Yao) and the first name (Ming) of the NBA player Yao Ming, yet many keep writing letters (even of the nature of soliciting) starting with "Dear Professor An Wan or Dear Professor Ben-Cheng Deng", but never Dear Professor An, Dear Professor Wan, Dear Professor Deng, or even Dear Professor Ben-Cheng? In western society, we often hear: "Call me Joe" or "Friendship begins with a letter F -- on the first name basis." Smart as many appear to be, can we take risk to interpret this as some kind of "on first name basis" reversal?

2. How often can you see on the upper-right or upper-left corner in a couse syllabus the professor teaching the course puts his (resp. her) name as Professor John Doe (resp. Professor Jane Doe)? And have you ever seen the similar style appearing at the end of the letter?

3. Why on earth will a person with first name as John and family name as Doe ask his friends or acquaintances to call him simply by Doe, instead of John? Why would one ever want to do it?

4. Suppose I called Professor John Doe. At the first ring, I heard
(A) John Doe speaking
(B) Hi, this is John
(C) John speaking
(D) This is Professor Doe

A crazy, or at least not serious, analogy between evaluations made by college freshmen and impression from a first date

Come on! Teaching evaluations made by freshmen and impression on a first date? How can they be related?

At my first job, I mean the real job as an Assistant Professor at a relatively new university of small scale, I was told by not-so-few students that faculty members teaching upper level courses or even doctoral level courses often got very good teaching evaluations because that students knew what they will be getting should they give those professors bad evaluations. Well, perfect foresight should be honored. So, even freshmen were young, restless, and charming in personality, many professors tend to shy away from teaching freshmen, particularly those classes in big size. When I was younger, I went with the trend and tried my best in avoiding teaching freshmen. For a number of years, thank to the large size of the department I was employed in, I had no need to teach freshmen classes. What a relief I must have. Recently I did not get such luck. Indeed, sometime in the middle of the lectures, I would let my mind drift away and imagine what they will get and what they will think when those kids turn to juniors or seniors. More interestingly, how will they think of us when they are in the job market? Will the accumlation of knowledge and built-up self-confidence make them better judge their professors' performance? When a man goes on the first date, it is unexpected that the woman he is dating will return with a kiss on the lips after their three-hour dinner served in full course. Does it mean that there will be no second date? Of course not. She might think: "Well, he is doing ok. I need more time to check him out." Should there be a written evaluation, she might have a hard time to fill it out. On the scale from 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest mark, will she give him a 4.3 or even 5.0? I doubt. Many women, particularly happily married women, would recall that their Mr. Right never gave them a very good first impression. Love, understanding, communication, chemistry, sparking, and even comparison on the side line do change a lot of things, eventually briinging them together and ever. So, if we really want them to put on the evalutation form, questions must be strictly stict to basic issues such as "Did he show up on time? Did he have good table manner? Was he patient with ordering food? Was he polite to waitress or waiter?" Cannot have deep questions such as "Was this date make me a better person? Was he a good lover or husband or even a father? Was I wasting my time in my search for Mr. Right? Was this date a good investment?" If the woman dates a lot, after seeing a dozen of guys, she might finally feel confident in "grading" them. Of course, some men might be unavailable then. Search does cost, and practicing makes them wiser and more considerate. Well, we do not need economics to learn all of these. Sex and the City can help! Popular magazines we need while waiting for the dentists or having hair cut help too.

Teaching juniors or seniors is quite different. In a way, it reminds me of the scenario of talking to a woman who had bad luck with men in the past. Any gentle gesture and smile will warm her heart in a few minutes. There are lots of things she might share with you and appreciate your knowledge, trust your intuition, and leave room for any good things to develop in the near future. A casual acquaintance and also a coworker of mine in one editorial board is now the president of some well known university dares to evaluate the performance of faculty members by counting the number of students they taught, not by the evaluation scores they got from end-of-the-term evaluation, at which, as I was told many times, many students indeed marked the answer sheets before they got the questionaires! What a brilliant president he is!

People here just love numbers and ranking. Many schools proudly claim that their average score in evaluations is higher than 4.0. So, why not just use those numbers to rank all schools? Where are well-trained statisticians when we need them most?

I always think that signaling is the key. We signal when we date, when we go to a job interview, when we sell. But do university administrators understand what the word signaling means? If one checks out the web site of top 100 programs in US, one will see publication record, research agenda and interest, other scholarly activities play a prominant role. Do we see any evaluation statistics? I do not recall. Actually I even saw a department in a good university in south literally posted teaching evaluations with names of professors and courses on web! Why? The answer is obvious. It is no big deal. Full information disclosure helps people see the both sides of the coin. And all noise vanish accordingly. But what do we see here? Sometimes, some professors argue that their CV are their personal information and should not be made public. I even knew quite a number of professors treating email address as personal information, not to mention ID photos to be put on the dept web page. Professors publish papers to get promoted but refuse to let others see what they wrote or what outstanding work they produced so as to get some research rewards. It also comes with no surprise that people would accept any critism in day light. Classroom peer-review is simply unimplementable. Some papers presenters told conference organizers that they wanted to designate discussants. The list can go on forever.

Love at the first sight. How sweet it is! I am crazy about it. While many told me that they totally disagree with me, I must admit that I know that most people do not get very good impression during the first encounter where they are and whatever they are involved in.

This piece is dedicated to my professor at college who almost failed me in economics course but I sat in his class at my senior year. At that time I learned what I should have learned in freshman year. Of course, I learned a lot but without receiving any grade. The fun in learning led me to receiving his favorable recommendation, thru which I started my journey on this long and winding road in 1982. And I thank him wholeheartedly for not giving me a better grade when I was 18. If I can travel in time, I do not think that I can do better in my freshman year.

On universities in Taiwan

Those could be tough and very much open-ended questions. Those with brave soul might take the challenge.

Currently the Ministry of Education in Taiwan, R.O.C. subsidize public schools in higher education (coined as National so-and-so Universities or Colleges) as well as private schools in the same system. Of course, the former gets much more than the latter. Students enrolled in the former end up with paying 1/3 to 1/4 of what they will pay for the latter. Of course, students enrolled in both groups keep complaining about the high cost of tuition and fees nowadays. The difference in tuition and fees is also consistent with the ranking of those schools.

1. Can we use the simplest supply and demand curves to argue that the tuition and fees, which are now regulated by the government (i.e., MOE) are too high or too low? Think about the price regulation and the consequence of lifting such regulation.
2. What if a significant number of universities suddenly drop out of the market? Will it cause a shape rise in tuition and fees? If so, shouldn't tax payers oppose to it?
3. What if the government stops subsidizing private school while deregulating private schools? Furthermore, what if the congress downsizes the Ministry of Education, save a handsome amount of money in running that bureau, and issue education vouchers such as the budget on education at large remains the same?

About a quote from Professor M. Friedman

For years I overheard again and again something incredibly intelligent (not in exact wording apparently):
"If you take trash as input, what comes out from the process will be nothing but trash,"
from the late M. Friedman.
Will anyone tell me the source of this quote and exact words?

photo taken in Sep.2006; frustrated and overloaded