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Category Archives: Uncategorized
Litigation and the game of poker
As we note in our 2012 working paper The Poker-Litigation Game, the process of legal litigation shares many important features in common with the game of poker: 1. Both poker and litigation are strategic games, that is, competitions in which the players/litigants must … Continue reading
Information asymmetry (Kremlin edition)
The West has no idea what Russia is willing to do, but Russia knows exactly what the West will – and, more important, will not – do. This has created a dangerous asymmetry, which could spell disaster for the international … Continue reading
Why do consumers still purchase GM cars? *
According to this working paper by professors Susan Helper and Rebecca Henderson in the Harvard Business Review, GM’s market share in the US fell from 62.6% to 19.8% between 1980 and 2009 … In other words, a large fraction of US consumers … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Consumer Behavior, Economics, General Motors, Rational Choice
2 Comments
Thoughts On Northwestern Football Unionization
Originally posted on Cheap Talk:
These are my thoughts and not those of Northwestern University, Northwestern Athletics, the Northwestern football team, nor of the Northwestern football players. As usual, the emergence of a unionization movement is the symptom of a…
Disney theme parks to announce lower ticket prices
It’s about time! Here’s a sneak peek at Mickey’s official announcement …
Live Piracy Map
Check out this amazing live piracy map generated by the Commercial Crime Services of the International Chamber of Commerce. (Below, for example, is a partial version of the live piracy map from 2011 identifying the location of all piracy incidents during that … Continue reading
The tragedy of the outer space commons?
Check out this fascinating paper Earth Orbit Debris: An Economic Model in which the problem of space debris is modeled as a negative externality. What is the optimal number of space satellites, and who decides? Do you believe there are already too many … Continue reading
Another example of “reciprocal altruism” in nature?
The evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers published his influential theory of reciprocal altruism in 1971 to explain the emergence of cooperation in nature. For his part, Richard Dawkins memorably described Trivers’ theory a few years later in a single sentence–“You scratch my back, I’ll ride yours.” … Continue reading
“Do you know … bees have no judges or lawyers?”
This iconoclastic quotation — from the private correspondence of the late great evolutionary biologist W. D. “Bill” Hamilton — appears on page 46 of Nature’s Oracle, Professor Ullica Segerstrale’s masterful biography of the life and work of the man. Professor Hamilton spent … Continue reading
A beautiful five-minute film
This film speaks for itself …
