Bored with your fantasy football league? Ever considered switching its basis in sport out for something more exciting, like economics? This not-so-common fantasy of fantasy economics turns out to be a reality. It’s called the IDEAS Fantasy League The league functions just like a fantasy football league except that instead of simulating a sports franchise, the league “allows you to pretend you are at the helm of an economics department.” The goal is essentially to stuff your team with economists whose publications receive the most attention: downloads, abstract views, and citations in other publications.
Some interesting nuggets from the rules of play:
-“There is no play with deceased economists.”
-“A player cannot be part of his/her own team.”
-“One can opt out so that one is not being played with. Opting back in is only possible after a one year wait, to prevent this from becoming a strategic move. Someone who opted out cannot play.”
-and because, after all, the players are all economists… “One cannot short an economist.”
For those of you raring to join in, it looks like our only professor registered through RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) is Wade Hands. He represents Puget Sound admirably, though, putting up some impressive stats. He’s produced 38 articles, two books, and is ranked among the top 5% of authors by “Number of Journal Pages, Weighted by Number of Authors.” Go loggers! Hack hack, chop chop!