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Drastic Times Cause for Drastic Measures?
Marginal Revolution points us to some disturbing evidence on the increasing polarization of the European electorate. The source is Credit Suise, so you can track that down to see what “extreme votes”...
View Article“Um, hello? Can I tell you about the real world?”
That’s hedge fund manager Hugh Hendry talking to Nobel-prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, as quoted in this Financial Times article. See the exchange here. It gets interesting around 7 minutes...
View ArticleRiesgo Moral
In our continuing series on how incentives shape behavior, we take a look across the sea to España, where a man tragically sawed off his arm to collect on eight insurance policies. It seems that...
View ArticlePick the Nobel Update
Here is some more information on the possible Nobel winners in economics from Tyler Cowen and the guys at the Cheap Talk blog. Cowen picks the trifecta of Fama, Shiller, and Richard Thaler. The Cheap...
View ArticleNobel Winners: Game Set Match
The Nobels go to Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley for their work on matching and/or market design; that is, markets without prices. Professor Galambos was talking about Roth’s work in our community read...
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Do You Expect Me to Talk?
The chips are made *where*? Welcome to winter break. One of the great things about returning home is that your family and friends can share not only in the new, colorful personal habits that you’ve...
View ArticleThe Antitrust Legacy of Robert Bork
Whether one looks at the texts of the antitrust statutes, the legislative intent behind them, or the requirements of proper judicial behavior, therefore, the case is overwhelming for the judicial...
View ArticleSea Changes
I’m looking at some eye-grabbing headlines in my RSS feed and it looks like my life could be in for some radical changes, from a new face for the academy to fewer outlets to indulge my passion for...
View ArticleDid they play with “chained” dollars?
Loyal reader “Mr. H” points us to some recent improbable research from the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (JEBO*) that analyzes the classic prisoners’ dilemma game. The big story here...
View ArticleNobel Prize Committee Covers Its Assets
The Nobel Prize in Economics goes to Eugene Fama, Robert Shillier, and Lars Peter Hansen for their work on asset pricing. Fama is well-known for his empirical work on the Efficient Market Hypothesis,...
View ArticleA Principled Agent?
As I wrapped up Econ 450 today, I told the class that the basic theoretical frameworks, including agency theory, should continue to pop up for as long as we both shall live. And here, from Wired, we...
View ArticleSpecial EconTea: The Nuclear Option
There will be a special Econ Tea on Tuesday, May 20 at 2:30 p.m. in Briggs 217 to discuss this paper: Joseph Michael Newhard, “The Stock Market Speaks: How Dr. Alchian Learned to Build the Bomb,”...
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World Cup Predictions
Once again the World Cup is upon us, and once again my friends and colleagues are pumping me for information about who I’m picking. Well,like American coach Jurgen Klinsmann, I am not picking the...
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The 4th or Possibly the 5th Predict the Nobel Prize in Economics Competition
Any news? Once again it’s time where I (sometimes) remember to post the Vegas odds on the Nobel Prize in Economics. Here are the venerable Thomson Reuters predictions for the 2014 cycle: Philippe M....
View ArticleTirole wins Nobel; Galambos wins Nobel-Picking Contest
Jean Tirole is the sole winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Economics, for his work on industrial organization. He is certainly well-known among graduate students, as his industrial organization textbook...
View ArticleIs American Economic Growth in a Gordonian Knot?
One of the reasons, I suppose, that there has never been a more interesting time to be an economist is that we can all see remarkable technological advances unfolding in front of us, but no one quite...
View ArticleGladwell Claims There is No Free Lunch
In his latest Revisionist History podcast, Malcolm Gladwell gives us some food for thought about where we put our resources. He claims that small liberal arts that develop gourmet-level dining...
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