Last updated 4/26/19 Every once in a while, (and sometimes each day) I listen to a great podcast, enjoy an article, or see a good video that I want to share with you. I like to think of them as…
Why Wall Street Might Care About Femtoseconds
Whether looking at the nineteenth century or now, Wall Street has always had fast traders who knew how to get the news before their competitors.
How a Performance Metric Can Lead to a Giant Nail
In government, business and at home, the performance metrics we create always are accompanied by incentives that create unintended consequences.
Some Greek Math
With a euro zone update on Greece unfolding (they might lease some islands but we’ll get to that in a moment), here is some Greek math that Michael Lewis presents in Boomerang. Referring to the deficit, during October 2009, the…
Michael Lewis and the Extra Cookie
During his 2012 Princeton Baccalaureate Address, financial writer Michael Lewis describes a college psychology experiment in which students were divided into teams, each composed of 3 people with a randomly assigned a leader. Given a social problem like drinking or cheating, the…
Greek (Debt) Myths
Maybe sell some islands and an ancient ruin or two? In Boomerang, Blind Side author Michael Lewis repeats what German politicians were suggesting in 2009 when they heard that the Greek debt was much larger than previous estimates. How much…
Why Might People Cheat?
When are people more likely to cheat? Behavioral economist Dan Ariely says to look at sweatshirts, the Ten Commandments, dollar bills and cans of Coca-Cola. In one experiment, Ariely discovered that more students would copy someone’s seemingly dishonest behavior during…