John Hicks Econ 490 Fall 2019

The triangular principal-agent model is an organizational relationship in which an agent has to act in accordance to the interests of two different principals. My mom works as a retail manager, and her job centers around this. Her two principals are the customer and the company she is employed by. For the customer, she must find a product that they are interested in purchasing. However, finding a “good deal” for the customer hurts the company, and thus is detrimental to maximizing her own profits (through commission) and her other principal, the company. This is especially true because commission is directly linked to selling products for their full retail value, with commission on discounted products also being disproportionally less valuable because less profit is made off these products. The department store she works at seeks to maximize profit by selling products that have low cost and high retail price. In a department store, the main products that satisfy these criteria are...

The relationship between performance and punishments is fragile. Too little punishment can often leave workers lax and inefficient, but too much punishment can make a worker apathetic. I personally believe that moderation in punishment is key, but most of the people I’ve met in positions of power wield their authority with an iron fist. When I think of excessive punishment, one individual always pops into my mind. It’s interesting because my initial impression of this individual was actually quite positive. It was only after interacting with him consistently in a professional setting that I grew to dislike his behavior. I met this individual K when he first decided to interview me with regards to an open position he had available in his team in a smaller startup. Upon first meeting him, I was impressed by both his scholastic achievements but also his overall demeanor. He talked a lot about how an internship under him was really about enriching myself and how he thought that I woul...

This prompt definitely instilled a bit of panic within me, as it forces me to dwell on things I tend to try not to think about. I would say that many of my current decisions are more focused on the here and now rather than being cautious for the future. I would also like to add that many of my decisions are heavily influenced by my parents- what they expect from me, what they have planned for me, etc. Since entering college, however, their influence on me has dwindled a bit (at my insistence).  I’m currently double majoring in Political Science and Economics, with the hopes of attending law school and ultimately being a corporate lawyer. My major has caused quite a bit of controversy amongst my parents, as my dad was hoping I’d major in Business. I took a couple of classes freshman year that were in the College of Business- Business Calculus, for example. After the first semester I was convinced that I did not want to be in Business, as the courses filled me with dread and I f...

I’m sorry for how late this/many of my other posts are. The LSAT passed recently so I had been frantically panicking/studying for that. I am now catching up with all of my classes.  When reading this prompt a specific (and frankly traumatic) event instantly came to mind.  I was a 16-year old junior in high school and had been recently hired at Walgreens. The hierarchy at the store consisted of associates, assistant managers, and then the store manager. The store manager and I had a casual and pleasant relationship. At my particular store there were four assistant managers, the majority of which I got along with just fine. However, there was one particular woman- we’ll call her Rebecca- with whom I butted heads with quite a lot. Her general unkindness towards both customers and associates was off-putting to me, and I found it difficult to see her in a positive light. However, I recognized that she was my superior and thus I needed to be quiet, put my head down, and sim...

The three articles assigned were very captivating reads. The political climate today leads to many outcries of unfairness in our society, whether that be related to financial unfairness (income inequality, for example) or social unfairness (police brutality maybe?). I would say that in general, people look out for themselves. Although I understand this innate characteristic (it could be argued that this is an evolutionary trait, as it’s seen in the chimpanzee study from the first article) I’ve always found it odd. Are material objects, that have no meaning other than arbitrary value we place on it, more important than human connections and relationships? Is having 3 marbles better than making a friend with whom you could play marbles with? I think this is a bizarre way to look at things, but I wanted to mention it for the purposes of having it on my blog.  I do think that someone with more to give is more likely to do so, as they have more leeway with their income. In terms of...

I do believe that there themes from one post that tie into other posts throughout our blogs. Some of the concepts can be applied to many of the prompts, such as transaction costs. Transaction costs can be pointed out in our posts regarding a successful, high-performing team, for example. The transaction cost of getting to work with a close friend is that the ability to slack off or take on less work disappears, as the respect for the relationship trumps laziness/work aversion.  In these ways, there are many connections throughout all of our online work. A lot of the concepts each blog post touches on can be applied to subsequent posts in a manner that expands your thinking on it. For example, another connection can be seen in acting opportunistically in the dimension where Illinibucks exist. Are Illinibucks physical things that could be stolen? If there was a scenario in which your friend needed a class for graduation yet didn’t have enough Illinibucks to register early, could...