Re: Ig Nobels
This year's Ig Nobel prizes have been announced as well, www.improb.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html#ig2002: The 2002 Ig Nobel Prize Winners BIOLOGY Norma E. Bubier, Charles G.M. Paxton, Phil Bowers, and D. Charles Deeming of the United Kingdom, for their report "Courtship Behaviour of Ostriches Towards Humans Under Farming Conditions in Britain." [REFERENCE: "Courtship Behaviour of Ostriches (Struthio camelus) Towards Humans Under Farming Conditions in Britain," Norma E. Bubier, Charles G.M. Paxton, P. Bowers, D.C. Deeming, British Poultry Science, vol. 39, no. 4, September 1998, pp. 477-481.] PHYSICS Arnd Leike of the University of Munich, for demonstrating that beer froth obeys the mathematical Law of Exponential Decay. [REFERENCE: "Demonstration of the Exponential Decay Law Using Beer Froth," Arnd Leike, European Journal of Physics, vol. 23, January 2002, pp. 21-26.] INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH Karl Kruszelnicki of The University of Sydney, for performing a comprehensive survey of human belly button lint -- who gets it, when, what color, and how much. CHEMISTRY Theo Gray of Wolfram Research, in Champaign, Illinois, for gathering many elements of the periodic table, and assembling them into the form of a four-legged periodic table table. MATHEMATICS K.P. Sreekumar and the late G. Nirmalan of Kerala Agricultural University, India, for their analytical report "Estimation of the Total Surface Area in Indian Elephants." [REFERENCE: "Estimation of the Total Surface Area in Indian Elephants (Elephas maximus indicus)," K.P. Sreekumar and G. Nirmalan, Veterinary Research Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, 1990, pp. 5-17.] LITERATURE Vicki L. Silvers of the University of Nevada-Reno and David S. Kreiner of Central Missouri State University, for their colorful report "The Effects of Pre-Existing Inappropriate Highlighting on Reading Comprehension." [ PUBLISHED IN: Reading Research and Instruction, vol. 36, no. 3, 1997, pp. 217-23.] PEACE Keita Sato, President of Takara Co., Dr. Matsumi Suzuki, President of Japan Acoustic Lab, and Dr. Norio Kogure, Executive Director, Kogure Veterinary Hospital, for promoting peace and harmony between the species by inventing Bow-Lingual, a computer-based automatic dog-to-human language translation device. HYGEINE Eduardo Segura, of Lavakan de Aste, in Tarragona, Spain, for inventing a washing machine for cats and dogs. ECONOMICS The executives, corporate directors, and auditors of Enron, Lernaut & Hauspie [Belgium], Adelphia, Bank of Commerce and Credit International [Pakistan], Cendant, CMS Energy, Duke Energy, Dynegy, Gazprom [Russia], Global Crossing, HIH Insurance [Australia], Informix, Kmart, Maxwell Communications [UK], McKessonHBOC, Merrill Lynch, Merck, Peregrine Systems, Qwest Communications, Reliant Resources, Rent-Way, Rite Aid, Sunbeam, Tyco, Waste Management, WorldCom, Xerox, and Arthur Andersen, for adapting the mathematical concept of imaginary numbers for use in the business world. [NOTE: all companies are US-based unless otherwise noted.] MEDICINE Chris McManus of University College London, for his excruciatingly balanced report, "Scrotal Asymmetry in Man and in Ancient Sculpture." [PUBLISHED IN: Nature, vol. 259, February 5, 1976, p. 426.] I didn't predict any of these, especially the one in mathematics. -jsh p.s. Here's the one for econ. in 2001: ECONOMICS Joel Slemrod, of the University of Michigan Business School, and Wojciech Kopczuk, of University of British Columbia, for their conclusion that people find a way to postpone their deaths if that that would qualify them for a lower rate on the inheritance tax. [REFERENCE:"Dying to Save Taxes: Evidence from Estate Tax Returns on the Death Elasticity," National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. W8158, March 2001.] Cool. __ Do you Yahoo!? Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos & More http://faith.yahoo.com
Re: Nobels
In a message dated 10/9/02 5:36:46 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << Since I did not "cash in" on my Nobel prediction this is sufficient evidence I'm NOT an insider. :-) >> Unless of course you simply pretended not to know in order to fool us into believing that you're not an insider. ;)
RE: Nobels
Since I did not "cash in" on my Nobel prediction this is sufficient evidence I'm NOT an insider. :-) -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2002 9:47 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Nobels The Nobel is out: Kahneman and Smith for experimental economics. Do we have an insider on the list? Check out the details at www.nobel.se Bill Sjostrom
Re: WWII Germany - Olson - American South
I don't know the answer to that question. Southerners, however, certainly felt that one problem they were having was that the North set up the banking system in such a way as to make it difficult for southerners to acquire captial. You might also argue that the South spent precious resources worrying about blacks. I don't have evidence for that though. Mitch - Original Message - From: "Alypius Skinner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wednesday, October 9, 2002 3:28 pm Subject: Re: WWII Germany - Olson - American South > > - Original Message - > From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > If I recall Mancur Olson suggests that one of the reasons that > post WWII > > West Germany did so well is that all of Germany's special interest > > groups were destroyed. > > > > I'm inclined to agree although I know that Germany had tremendous > > manufacturing ability even at the end of the war. However, why > did the > > South fare so poorly after the US Civil War? > > > Olson's "distributional coalitions" remained intact in the US, and > the South > was part of the US. Within a country, why do most major > industries and > financiers locate in one region of a country and not in another? > Why did > industrialists so rarely set up shop in Southern states? Why were > meatpacking, steel, and auto industries, among others, all originally > concentrated in the old Union states? While most of America's > cotton was > grown in the South, why was most textile manufacturing done in the > north? If > anyone has the answer to these questions, we might understand why the > post-War South was for so long impoverished. > > ~Alypius Skinner > > > > >
Re: WWII Germany - Olson - American South
- Original Message - From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > If I recall Mancur Olson suggests that one of the reasons that post WWII > West Germany did so well is that all of Germany's special interest > groups were destroyed. > > I'm inclined to agree although I know that Germany had tremendous > manufacturing ability even at the end of the war. However, why did the > South fare so poorly after the US Civil War? > Olson's "distributional coalitions" remained intact in the US, and the South was part of the US. Within a country, why do most major industries and financiers locate in one region of a country and not in another? Why did industrialists so rarely set up shop in Southern states? Why were meatpacking, steel, and auto industries, among others, all originally concentrated in the old Union states? While most of America's cotton was grown in the South, why was most textile manufacturing done in the north? If anyone has the answer to these questions, we might understand why the post-War South was for so long impoverished. ~Alypius Skinner
Re: "Forecasting" the 2002 Noble Memorial Prize in Economics
Nice prediction. - Original Message - From: Bill Dickens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tuesday, October 8, 2002 9:22 am Subject: "Forecasting" the 2002 Noble Memorial Prize in Economics > Well, it's that time of the year when Nobel Prizes are announced. > Last year > I was half-correct in predicting that Janet Yellen would win but the > rainmakers in Oslo decided to go with her husband George Akerlof. > This year > I will go out on a limb and predict that the field of experimental > economicswill be recognized with the pioneers Vernon Smith and > Charlie Plott reaping > top awards. Honorable Mention - William Baumol. > >
Nobel Prize
Vernon Smith wins the Nobel this year, sharing with Kahneman. http://www.kva.se/KVA_Root/eng/_press/detail.asp?NewsId=207
Nobels
The Nobel is out: Kahneman and Smith for experimental economics. Do we have an insider on the list? Check out the details at www.nobel.se Bill Sjostrom
Re: "Forecasting" the 2002 Noble Memorial Prize in Economics
> Well, it's that time of the year when Nobel Prizes are announced. Last year > I was half-correct in predicting that Janet Yellen would win but the > rainmakers in Oslo decided to go with her husband George Akerlof. This year > I will go out on a limb and predict that the field of experimental economics > will be recognized with the pioneers Vernon Smith and Charlie Plott reaping > top awards. Honorable Mention - William Baumol. I have never predicted a Nobel Prize correctly, but I am guessing Oliver Williamson and Armen Alchian. Alas, this guess is like Samuel Johnson's thinking on second marriages: the triumph of hope over experience. I also worked out that I correctly predicted only three of the last eight presidential elections (including the notoriously difficult to guess '84 election), so I should probably just give up on predictions before I really embarrass the profession. By the way, the web site says that the prize will be announced today at 3:30 today (at the earliest), which is 9:30 on the US east coast. Still a bit of time to see some better predictions than mine. Bill Sjostrom + William Sjostrom Senior Lecturer Department of Economics National University of Ireland, Cork Cork, Ireland +353-21-490-2091 (work) +353-21-427-3920 (fax) +353-21-463-4056 (home) [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.ucc.ie/~sjostrom/ http://atlanticblog.blogspot.com
