Tag Archives: economics

Badge-ifying the University, or why commodifying the esoteric could be a good thing

This post has been inspired by a handful of sources. The barrage of op-ed pieces of late attacking higher ed as flawed and/or irrelevant (e.g., here and here). Alex Reid’s posts on “reputation badges.” And a recent discussion group at … Continue reading

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The small doing what the big can’t

Interesting article over at scientificamerican.com: Local Governments Lead Effort to Combat Climate Change: Call them the Silicon Valley garages of climate policy. Local efforts to trim emissions, change economies and alter behavior are serving as idea labs where mistakes can … Continue reading

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A Computer-Driven “Black Friday”?

The financial world is all abuzz with the stock market’s performance yesterday. The Dow dropped 9% in a matter of minutes, and then climbed back 6% in just a few more minutes. No one really knows why yet. There’s rumors … Continue reading

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Forget the numbers?

Yet another post on what has become a near obsession of mine: how do experts communicate numbers to the public? I’m still working my way through the Intro to Psych class from MIT that motivated the last post. But this … Continue reading

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The Rhetoric of GM

I saw this commercial today on TV and thought it was an interesting rhetorical move “A lot of Americans didn’t agree with giving GM a second chance” Aren’t we, as a culture, all for giving somebody a second chance when … Continue reading

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Oh, how times have changed!

I got a request to do an entry on the Goldman Sachs “situation.” And I always listen to my fans, err, friends kind enough to read this regularly. Earlier today both the NYTimes and the Wall Street Journal have published … Continue reading

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