Month: February 2018

Ann Mari May and Mary MGarvey of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and David Kucera of the International Labour Organization surveyed economists from 18 European countries in search of economist’s opinions on certain matters. What they found was not only fascinating but also not incredibly surprising. The set up the poll by asking five different questions with ratings ranging from one to five. One stood for strongly disagreeing and five standing for strong agreeing. They then divided up the answers by sex. The results of the poll are shown in the image below: As we can see, four out of the Continue reading Different Economic Opinions by Sex→

Recall last weeks post about Multisided platforms through the example of Classpass. We very lightly touched on their business model which was formed by a money side and a subsidy side, where consumers were the money side and gym/studios were the subsidy side. This week we will dive deeper into the complications of building, igniting and designing a multisided platform. Classpass’s business model is just one common way to configure a money and subsidy sides of a platform. While this model may work for them, it would not work for a company such as Spotify. Spotify connects music artists with Continue reading Multisided Platforms continued→

One hundred years ago, the Spanish Flu pandemic brought devastation to the world, killing an estimated 50-100 million worldwide. Though not nearly as severe, this current flu season is proving to be one of the deadliest in recent history, even when compared to the H1N1 pandemic of 2009. Current predictions indicate that the virus is not about to slow down. Indeed, last week’s prevalence was calculated at 51 per 100,000 people while this week saw 60 per 100,000 people. This number is so great that influenza is currently the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. Of equal concern Continue reading Influenza: Not just a medical issue→

Here is a scenario, which is likely to be familiar to anyone who grew up in proximity to any generation of Nintendo gaming console: You are playing Mario Kart. Whether expectedly or unexpectedly, you find yourself in first place. You keep going for item boxes, and keep receiving more or less useless things like a single mushroom (or, most recently and most infuriating, a single coin). Suddenly, out of nowhere, a blue shell hits you and you are passed by both the second and third place racers before you can start driving again. It’s not fair! Blue shells are the Continue reading Progressive Item Distribution in Mario Kart→

Do you love game theory? Do you love games? What about game theory games? Well, I’ve got just the thing for you. The Evolution of Trust by Nicky Case is an interactive simulation that shows you not only the various possible behaviors and outcomes of game theory, but how those behaviors become more dynamic with repeated interactions. It’s a really interesting look into those who cheat, those who play by the rules, and everyone in between, and who comes out on top. It takes a little while to fully enjoy the game, so try this one out when you have Continue reading A Game for Game Theory. A Game Theory Game!→

How many of us have more than one gym membership?  It’s actually quite common these days as several different forms of fitness have been created over the last 5 years. Some days, all I want to do is yoga, but others I want to do the opposite and lift heavy(essentially undoing all the yoga I did). It’s seemingly uncommon for a lifting gym to offer yoga classes, so I have another gym membership at a studio. Let me just say IT’S EXPENSIVE(especially for the college budget). With all these trendy new ways to work out, what if I want to try something Continue reading A Glance at Multisided Platforms through Classpass→