How Nigeria and Yale Have Similar Inflation

Similar phenomena, grade inflation and price inflation are controversial problems that are tough to eliminate.

When Grades Are Like Prices

At elite schools, “A” seems to stand for average. The reason is grade inflation. Grade Inflation At Princeton, capping the number of As was not working. The faculty was not consistently observing the mandate and students disliked it. So, after…

When a Grade Is Like a Price

Looking at grade inflation at colleges and universities, we can ask whether the increase can be compared to prices.

When Product Ratings Are a Problem

The worst summer in 20 years, movie box office revenue from May to Labor Day in 2017 was 15% less than the same dates last year. The reason could be lower film quality. Or it could be Netflix and Amazon.…

Why Grade Inflation is a Problem

With many more students getting A’s, we could have a grade inflation bubble that, like price inflation, creates distorted information and incentives.

Problems With Grade Deflation

The number of hours we study is down and our grades are up. Between 1961 and 2003, full time college students diminished their study time from 40 to 27 hours a week. And yet, they have been getting higher grades.…