A student of mine recently sent me a screen shot of a Facebook post that had been removed by its author. The post said:
Notes for the final exam for “Intro to Political Economy” with Munger. If you study and memorize them then I guarantee an A on the final exam which is all essays. (I got 98%). It covers all the possible topics. Willing to sell to best offer (thinking $20-$50). Many pages of thorough notes. Thanks.
I was delighted, but also a little mystified, by this announcement. A little background: I give out the 12 possible major topics the final exam just after Halloween, so that students have plenty of time to study them. And when I say “major topics” I mean the actual questions. For example:
- What are the best arguments for, and the best arguments against, a system of private property? What is the alternative(s)? Under what circumstances would a system without private property be preferable? Make sure you discuss the differences in assumptions, and conclusions, for John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Might the innovations in the “sharing economy” blur some of the lines between private ownership and collective ownership?
- Thomas Hobbes claims that “covenants, without the sword, are but words.” It is possible to represent this claim as a “Prisoner’s Dilemma,” where everyone would prefer that everyone would “keep their covenants,” but given the chance everyone will cheat. The problem is that no one, acting alone, can change the outcome. Explain why “break covenants” is the Nash Equilibrium for the “state of nature” game, and describe how Hobbes’ analysis gives a justification for the creation of a legitimate state.
Twelve questions like that. Then I ask three students to hold an enormous fuzzy die over their heads, ask the heavens for the favor of the wry goddess Fortuna, and use the dice to decide which three questions the class will answer. (Students have preferences over which question is chosen, which is why I use ritual instead of strategy to choose the actual questions).
I also tell them they are welcome to use division of labor, forming groups and dividing up the questions and then sharing the answers.
Given that, how should I have reacted to the Facebook post where the student tries to sell his/her notes? Remember, I myself give out the questions, so no harm there. And I suggest that students share the burden of preparing the answers. The only wrinkle would be whether there is something wrong with selling the notes…
Michael Munger teaches at Duke University and is Director of the interdisciplinary program in Philosphy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) at Duke University. He is a frequent guest on EconTalk.
Read more of Michael Munger’s writing at Archive.
READER COMMENTS
Thaomas
Oct 10 2019 at 11:21am
Anything that can be given ethically can be sold ethically?
Steve Fritzinger
Oct 10 2019 at 11:25am
I need to see your enormous 12 sided fuzzy die.
Pix, pleaase.
Maniel
Oct 10 2019 at 11:28am
Prof. Munger,
Congratulations on your approach to testing and the implementation you describe. As a student, I studied most effectively when I knew the questions that I might be asked on an exam. And, your use of a team approach has many advantages, well known in the “real” world.
Congratulations also on your response to the momentary Facebook post: as I understand it, you did nothing. Since your questions won’t be available until November, the person selling notes may (or may not) have information from a previous semester. Students who pay money to someone they don’t know for a dubious product will learn something from the experience, something more related to personal rather than political economics.
Dave Tufte
Oct 10 2019 at 12:29pm
I think you are too concerned about the seller. They may know all of this. But value comes from the interaction of the buyers and sellers, and the buyers may not have perfect information, or imperfect expectations of all of this. The seller is just perceiving that the buyer’s reservation values reflect that.
Phil
Oct 10 2019 at 1:22pm
I would have said, “thank you” to the person who shared it with me and then either forgot about it (there is no academic dishonesty here) or invested $20-$50 to see how my instruction is received and interpreted. Several of my law school professors looked at my outlines and charts, one of whom used a study chart I created as a handout in future classes.
Joseph Hertzlinger
Oct 10 2019 at 2:42pm
I’m reminded of http://drboli.com/2015/01/02/free-blank-sheet-of-paper/
Phil H
Oct 10 2019 at 7:43pm
I’m mystified by Munger’s mystification!
Why would there not be demand for such a thing? I can see two possibilities:
There are some ways of organizing the information required to pass the course that are better than the organization of the course as taught (for some people, at least); or at least, ways that are equally good, and may perhaps suit some students better than others. These notes could represent one better/equally good way of presenting the information, and therefore they have value to at least some students.
Perhaps the course presents the information in the best possible way, but the students haven’t realised that, and they mistakenly think that notes like these might represent better value. Imagined value is… just the same as real value!
It’s surely no surprise that people, bizarre and diverse as we are, pursue a wide range of different strategies to achieve important goals.
Thomas Sewell
Oct 10 2019 at 10:24pm
The real question is that if there’s a market, why don’t you put your own lecture notes and the possible questions up for sale on Facebook or eBay or whatever?
I mean, sure, you might have to imply it’s “leaked” information or something to convince a student to purchase the genuine-straight-from-the-teacher-information, but surely if a student pays an extra $50 for a copy of your notes they’ll spend more time studying them than if they got them for free just by attending class… 😉
Matthias Görgens
Oct 11 2019 at 12:08pm
I would be a bit disappointed that the asking price is so low!
Michael C. Munger
Oct 14 2019 at 8:25am
Driven down to marginal cost. Once the notes exist, marginal cost of producing copies is very small. Yes, perhaps monopoly pricing, but there are other sources of information about the answers to the questions.
andy weintraub
Oct 12 2019 at 7:54pm
Don’t you get a royalty on the sale of your notes?
Michael C. Munger
Oct 14 2019 at 8:24am
They aren’t my notes. The student wrote them. I suppose I could have some encompassing definition of “my” ideas, but in this case all I did was write the QUESTION. The answers are up to the student. So, no, no royalty is deserved.
Stewart Bovi
Oct 31 2019 at 12:21pm
While not technically illegal to sell notes on a final exam to classmates and possibly not breaking the rules depending on your university, it is definitely wrong morally however. Depending on Duke University’s rules it could fall under cheating if the notes are answers to the exam, and depending on if the student selling them is still in your class or not. The most basic fact of the matter is that the student is trying to sell a service that, from my experience, other students are unlikely to pay for. Both notes and additional research are available through your class teachings and for free online, so paying for notes from a possibly unreliable source is something that another student would be likely to do.
With all that said, I believe that unless the person is repeatedly selling notes that it is not worth reporting or fussing over. Supply and demand can show that his attempts will likely bear no fruit, as many students are unlikely to want to pay $20, let alone $50, for notes they probably already have. I think that this serves as an excellent example of someone trying to sell a public good that every student at the University can already partake in without paying additional money. In addition to that, even if a student were to pay for the notes they run the risk of getting incorrect notes and thus failing the exam, a risk I’m certain most college students would not take. Therefore I think it is best left alone as the seller will either realize it is pointless and be unable to sell the notes, or a desperate consumer will make a poor financial decision.
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