Game Theory and The Potential Greek Bailout
On the forefront of international and economic news lies the debate regarding the Greece’s sovereign debt crisis and the growing need for international support. For years, the nation has built up tremendous debt partially due to worker-friendly labor laws and wage increases, along with generous entitlement programs. Economically the strongest nation in the European Union, […]
A Network-Destroying Forum
I was browsing nytimes.com when I came across an interesting news article. Here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/us/small-town-gossip-moves-to-the-web-anonymous-and-vicious.html the New York Times explores the effect the introduction of a now common occurrence – an online forum – has on a small town community. I myself was surprised that even now, such a seemingly small event could have such a […]
Payoffs of Frequent Facebook Changes
http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/22/opinion/rushkoff-facebook-changes/index.html?hpt=hp_c1 This article discusses the motivations that Facebook has for making dramatic changes frequently disliked by its users. While concentration on the most recent change has garnered a lot of attention, there have also been plenty of other times when Facebook has dramatically changed their layout, much to the dismay of the typical user. Since […]
Penalty Shoot-Outs: How to Take the Perfect Penalty
Published after the 2009 Champions League Final, during which Chelsea Football Club lost to Manchester United in a penalty shoot-out, an article from The Sunday Telegraph analyzes the penalty kick scenario in the context of game theory. Indeed, sports economist Stefan Szymanski and journalist Simon Kuper indicate that the player striking the soccer ball and […]
Network optimization in the human brain
The human brain is analogous to an elegant network of connections: the nodes are neurons, the edges are synapses (the spaces between neurons that propagate electrical signals via chemical neurotransmitters), directionality exists (actions potentials propagate along axons and end at dendrites), and connections may be positive or negative (excitatory or inhibitory synapses). These properties – […]
Sino-American War Games
The United States has an interest in the defense of Taiwan that spans many decades and has changed according to main political themes since the 1940s. In 1949, the Republic of China retreated from the mainland and formed a new government headquarters in the island of Taiwan, while the Communist Party of China proclaimed de-facto […]
Folding Proteins & Market Clearing
I live in an apartment off campus, which, as of the relatively cooler days over this past weekend, had yet to turn on our heating system. Since the walls are thin and my roommate and I live in the corner of the building, Saturday night got pretty cold. Sunday, however, we both slept comfortably, and […]
The Eternal Bonds of September 11
The tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001 was commemorated less than two weeks ago. Cornell organized “Reflections on 9/11” (http://www.news.cornell.edu/chronicle/02/8.29.02/9_11.html), with a community-wide ceremony on the anniversary itself and several other programs which were run throughout the week. However, at least for me, the tidal wave of emotion that was caused on 9/11 seemed like […]
Penny Auctions
http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/ned/Augenblick_JMP_Penny_Auction.pdf Penny auction websites are a relatively recent development in the online business world. There are numerous sites that run these penny auctions. In general, a penny auction is run by starting the bidding at $0.00 for a high price item like a television, iPad, or Kindle. Bidding starts by placing a bid that is […]
Linear Compensation and UN Climate Talks
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/09/07/1112844108.full.pdf+html Thomas Dietz and Jinhua Zhao of Michigan State University have written a paper in which they discuss the application of game theory to UN climate talks. Since the 5 nations with the largets CO2 output contributes only 60% of worldwide CO2 output, it is essential for any international agreement to involve the cooperation of […]
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