Losing to win: Tullock auctions
In the typical auction systems – English, Dutch, first-price and second-price – the most logical course of action would be to bid your value (English and second-price auctions) or lower (Dutch and first-price auctions). In these auctions, the winner profits from getting an item at a price slightly less than his value. Since the price […]
Airline competitive expansion dilemma
http://www.smh.com.au/business/emirates-pact-will-help-stem-qantas-losses-20120907-25iwb.html Due to high operating costs for maintaining a small fleet of planes, Qantas Airlines is now merging with Emirates Airline to offset it’s losses. Although the merger is seen as profitable for both Qantas and Emirates shareholders, there are wide speculations that such an expansion is harmful for the aviation industry as a whole. In general, […]
Strong and Weak Ties in the Job Market
Source: http://socialcapital.wordpress.com/2011/09/27/why-weak-ties-are-strong-for-job-searches/ Sandra Smith at Berkeley is trying to uncover why weak ties lead to novel job opportunities. After interviewing 157 workers of various races and job levels at a public university, she reached an interesting conclusion. As it turns out, people don’t generally refer their close friends to jobs for two reasons: 1) fear […]
Game Theory and Drinking
http://www.wired.com/business/2012/09/st-drink-exchange/ This article on wired talks about a growing phenomenon of implementing a software that dynamically changes drink prices at a bar. If a certain drink is ordered by multiple people, its price rises while all the other drinks drop in price. Plus, there are other factors such as promotions that occasionally cause a drink […]
The Eligible-Bachelor Paradox
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/everyday_economics/2008/04/the_eligiblebachelor_paradox.single.html The article talks about the ‘problem’ or perception out there that there is a shortage of eligible bachelors. In other words there are more eligible single women than there are single men. It goes on to mention this is paradoxical and here’s why. The most attractive women are very confident in themselves are waiting […]
The NHL Lockout and Game Theory
Recently, the National Hockey League (NHL) owners and players union have become entangled in a dispute over the Collective Bargaining Agreement that decides the sharing of revenue between the players and owners. Sports fans are no strangers to these Lockouts: In 2011, Preseason NFL games and practices were cancelled due to ongoing disputes and 16 […]
Game Theory and the Replacement Refs of the NFL
Situation with replacement officials has become beyond ridiculous. There are a plethora of articles on the web that discuss the escalating scandal that is taking the NFL by storm. A situation that was comically bad at the beginning of this football season has grown dire and as the articles title describes, beyond ridiculous. To give […]
Current Housing Market and the Bipartite Graph Auction Procedure
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/26/business/home-prices-climb-again.html?ref=business&_r=moc.semityn. Shaila Dewan and Nelson Schwartz published an article today analyzing the recent increase in home prices for the low end. These low end homes were affected the most during the crisis and yet have now achieve an annual gain of 1.2% according to Standard & Poor’s Case Shriller Index across 20 cities in […]
Cognitive Science: Neurons, Their Neighbors, and the Computable Mind
The entire brain is a set of binary coding: a single neuron is either excitatory (1) or inhibitory (0). An individual neuron, regardless of being a 1 or a 0, sends messages to its neighbors via neurotransmitters and electrical synapses. Pending what type of messages are sent, the next connected neuron is assigned either a […]
The Tipping Point: on the emergence of fads in the global social network
http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/03/05/reviews/000305.05wolfet.html The above URL is a link to a New York Times review of the book “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.” In this book, published in 2000, Malcolm Gladwell explores the way products and ideas travel through the global social network. He seeks to answer the question of why […]
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