Social Media and the 2016 Election
http://www.npr.org/2016/11/08/500686320/did-social-media-ruin-election-2016 In “Did Social Media Ruin Election 2016?”, Sam Sanders analyzes the effect that social media has had on the 2016 election. It is clear that social media has played a much bigger part in the recent election than in past presidential elections. If one viewed posts all over Facebook and Twitter in the weeks […]
Optimism Bias
http://seekingalpha.com/article/3984796-optimism-bias?page=1 In this June 28th, 2016 article, the author examines the the role of optimism bias and other psychological factors of behavioral economics. The scope of this article zooms in on two events: Leicester City Football Club shocking the world by claiming the English Premier League Title and the United Kingdom’s referendum vote in which […]
Do the Rich Get Richer? An Empirical Analysis of the Bitcoin Transaction Network
These researchers capitalized on the open nature of Bitcoin exchanges to analyze individuals’ transactions and the overall trend of rich-get-richer. Because every Bitcoin transaction must be publicly announced, it was possible to track the exchange of wealth over long periods of time. The researchers decided to split the lifetime of Bitcoins into distinct phases based […]
Researchers have a better way to predict flight delays
Reserachers at State University of New York (SUNY) Binghamton have discovered a new way to predict flight delays using an Artifical Neural Network (ANN), an “interconnected group of computerized nodes that work together to analyze a variety of variables to estimate an outcome.” In this case, there are 14 variables, some of which include day of […]
Information Cascade and Mutual Fund
Information Cascade is frequently associated with the irrationalities in the financial markets, notably the market crises and bubbles. In fact, information cascade has much more influence on the financial markets. It influences the allocation of billions if not trillions of assets regularly. According to a research report from the University of Pittsburg, mutual fund managers […]
Rich-Get-Richer… Poor-Get-Poorer? African Inequality Gets More Unequal.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/12/africa/africa-inequality/ There’s one part of Africa where all one can see is endless progress. With yachts and trendy restaurants and ongoing construction and much more evidence of an economic boom, A term coined “Africa Rising,” the continual trend of African growth is representative of the expected 59% growth in multimillionaires in Africa in the next […]
Information Cascade in Cell Biology
https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2016/10/cells-sense-respond-outside-world.html Information cascade occurs when an entity takes information from others by observing their actions and decisions and making the same decision even when the decision contradicts with the entity’s own private signal. This occurs in people’s daily lives in making social or economic decisions. According to a study published in the journal “Cell Systems “, information cascade […]
Causes of the Long Tail Phenomenon
The concept of popularity is important to retail businesses that may seek to understand the sources of their sales. Businesses previously recognized that much of their sales came from a few popular items, such as bestselling novels or popular new movies. However, the internet may be altering this pattern to one where businesses generate a […]
2016 Election Polls and Predictions: What Went Wrong?
During and in the aftermath of this year’s election night, one emotion was widespread among both major political parties: surprise. And no wonder; The New York Times had Clinton’s chances of winning at 85%, The Huffington Post had them at 98%, and several major news outlets (including Associated Press and NPR) also had her winning by […]
Information Cascade through Algorithms
Link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/bluesky/ct-google-fake-election-results-20161114-story.html Information cascades are not limited only to the decisions of people, but also to those of algorithms. An article stating incorrectly that Donald Trump won the popular vote during the recent election briefly surfaced at the top of Google’s News results. The article, written by a pro-Trump website, was quickly taken down from the listing. […]
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