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The infamous opening ceremony of the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) was held today in Seoul, South Korea where Maryam Mirzakhani was awarded the Fields Medal, the most prestigious and honorable prize in the vast field of mathematics. Mirzakhani, an admired professor from the Departments of Mathematics at Stanford University in California, is the first female winner of the distinguished award that was established in 1936.

We spoke with Dr. Dolan about his crossover interests in Russian literature and economics (and how he made that combination work to his advantage), his experience working in Moscow during the last years of the Soviet Union and why he recommends the MBA degree, among other topics.

In a post about the Olympics this past winter, we mentioned research linking the economic development of a country to its chances of taking home a large number medals in the Games. While it might seem reasonable to extend this logic to the World Cup, in-depth econometric and statistical analysis indicates otherwise. So how can we best predict who will come out on top in this year’s World Cup?

In a 2012 post on Top Apps for Economists, we noted that the word “app” was becoming integrated into our daily lives. Two years later, I’d say it’s achieved a solid place in contemporary vocabulary. Yet, while you may not think twice about using an app to check a train schedule, buy a movie ticket or peruse Facebook, you still might not be aware of the plethora of great academic and professional apps available as well.

While we of course hope you find our own blog to be a great and engaging resource, we recognize that there are copious noteworthy blogs out there focusing specifically on the world of finance. For this post, we’ve gathered a list of 50 Finance related blogs for you to peruse.

This April 1st, we figured we’d spare you another bogus announcement or unfortunate attempt at a corporate joke and instead delve into the murky place where economics and humor intersect. If all you’re hoping for is a few economist jokes, (like the classic “Three Economists Go Hunting” jab we highlighted in a previous entry), then don’t worry, you’ll find some of those at the end of the post.

While today might just be another Monday for most of us around the world, for the nearly 37 million claiming Irish ancestry (more than 8 times the current population of Ireland), for many living on the Emerald Isle and for those who might just be interested in donning some green and downing a Guinness, St. Patrick’s Day is a beloved holiday.

As of 2011, significantly more women than men completed secondary education in an astounding 32 of the 34 OECD member countries, according to a study by OECD researchers. On average, women accounted for 58% of graduates overall, though the range between countries is quite great. Moreover, the numbers vary tremendously across disciplines, with the areas of health & welfare and arts & humanities still heavily female, while math & science remain overwhelmingly male.

The social sciences encompass a wide range of academic disciplines, concerned with society and the relationships between and among individuals within it. The main ’social sciences’ are considered to be economics, politics, and sociology, as well as history, law and linguistics.

Following up on last year’s Valentine’s Day post Would you Date an Economist?, this year we’ll tackle the next step: how to predict the potential success of your relationship – using game theory. Once again, we’ve compiled a list of authors, researchers and scholars who have attempted to crack the code of love using numbers and logic.

As the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi enter their second week, the talk of who is bringing home the gold centers not just on the athletes, but also on the cities, countries and corporations who have invested in these games. In this post we’d like to focus on the economics of the Olympics, this year and in general.

There are a number of disciplines one cannot avoid when purusing a degree in economics. In earlier articles we have looked at resources for econometrics, statistics and other quantitative subjects, so now it is high time to cover fields related to microeconomics. Below we have gathered a list of useful links and resources for those interested in game theory – the starting point for students focusing on auctions, organization theory, strategic management and so on.

The annual American Economic Association Meeting is a well-known event bringing together some of the brightest minds in economics and probably counting as one of the largest gatherings of young academics in one place.

At times it is hard to believe how fast time flies – yet another year is over! 2013 was an exciting year for the INOMICS blog: in 12 months, the number of readers quadrupled, the blog was launched in 3 additional languages (Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese), and we got ever more inspiration to share interesting and useful resources, research and stories with the academic community.

Christmas is approaching. For many people this is a magical season when you hope that all your wishes will come true. Others consider Christmas to be a crazy time when you need to run around the city trying to get presents for all your friends and family members. In relation to this phenomenon, and the common opinion that Christmas has become too commercialized, a sub-branch of Behavioural Economics has recently begun to develop.

USA & Canada Latin America Australia & New Zealand

The Report is based on a survey between April and June 2013, in which 2,380 professionals and recruiters in the academic job market for economists answered questions about salaries, international professional mobility, the value of different levels of academic degree, and other issues related to economics and finance careers. Key findings include: The highest salaries for Professorship positions are offered in Australia and the US. On average, salaries offered in European Universities are 30% lower

Halloween is probably one of the best occasions to demonstrate how seriously you take yourself (or not!) and how far your creativity can go to show it. If you think that Halloween is below your intellectual level, well, they say that even Paul Krugman threw one economics-themed party, where “two guests came as Asian tigers, several came as hedge funds, one woman came as capital, dressed as a column”…

This Monday, October 14th, Eugene F. Fama
 and Lars Peter Hansen
 (University of Chicago, USA) and Robert J. Shiller (
Yale University, USA) won the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Learning to work with and analyze data is an essential skill for young economists. To be competitive as an economist in the job market, demonstrable skills and experience using analysis and forecasting software are a must. Knowledge of more than one type of statistical software is advantageous when determining which programs are applicable in different environments or to different situations.

With the upcoming appointment of a new Chair(wo)man for the US Federal Reserve System (the Fed) the blogosphere is abuzz with rumours, recommendations, and revelations about who could be in line for the coveted position ahead of the decision, which will not be made until fall.

At this time of year, with the summer heat visibly rising from the Berlin pavement, for many there is nothing more appealing than a cold beer in one of the city’s numerous beer gardens. And perhaps among these Berlin beer lovers, more than a couple of economists might be found as well.

Today, on July 1st, Canadian-born Mark Carney is to assume governorship of the Bank of England.  In a show of professional meritocracy, the BOE is the first central bank to hire a foreign economist as its director. Carney is the first non-Briton to be appointed to direct the BOE since Bank’s establishment in 1694.

Following my last post listing our favourite economics blogs, I have looked a little closer at the blogging community and who the potential contenders are for THE coveted position of top economics blog.

Time and time again we hear economists seeking to answer the questions:  “How and why some countries manage to get rich while others stay poor?” and “What can be done to change this fundamentally wrong situation?”. To help tackle these issues we are dedicating a series of blog posts to the field of Development Economics. In this post we have sought out a number of links to explain what Development Economics is, as well as two Master’s courses in this field taking new students in autumn this year.