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  On November 16, 2006 the world lost one of the most influential economists of the twentieth century. Today, July 31, 2012, Milton Friedman would have celebrated his 100th birthday, which makes it perhaps a fitting time to stop for a moment and recall some of his contributions to the field.

Three Economists go out hunting

In between the common subdisciplines of economics like international or financial economics, lie many much smaller specializations, for example the economics of language. The term “economics of language“ is defined by François Grin, to be “the paradigm of mainstream theoretical economics and uses the concepts and tools of economics in the study of relationships featuring linguistic variables, it focuses principally, but non exclusively, on those relationships in which economic variables also

The Tilburg University Economics Ranking Sandbox For anyone that doesn’t know it, the Tilburg University Economics Ranking, which ranks economics departments based on contributions to articles published in any one of 62 (mostly English-language) economics-related journals, is well worth a look.

The cost of education varies enormously depending on what one studies and where. In the last few years, there has been plenty of hype about the ‘Higher Education Bubble,’ brought to the attention of the media by the Economist last year. This phenomena seems to be particularly prominent in the business-oriented fields worldwide and as an overarching situation in the US.

Every year, Max Bazerman, a Harvard Business School professor runs the exact same experiment with his students. In short form, he auctions off a $20 bill but places strict rules on how the betting can take place regulating who pays, and who wins.

The internet is finally going to be bigger than TV worldwide Source: Quartz via Atlas   The adaptation of broadband — think Netflix — is what has been pacing this adoption: “Next year, for the first time, we’ll spend more time using the internet than watching TV. People will spend an average of 170.6 minutes a… Read More The post 2019 is When the Internet Becomes Bigger than TV appeared first on The Big Picture.

The post Wage Inflation and Informal Work appeared first on The Big Picture.

Why to Keep Your Inflation Anxiety in Check Yes, prices are rising faster, but all signs suggest it won’t amount to much. Bloomberg, June 18, 2018     For those feeling the vague pangs of inflation anxiety — nothing special, just the plain-old-run-of-the-mill cost of living price increases — this one is for you. This… Read More The post Why Inflation Is Not a Problem (Yet) appeared first on The Big Picture.

Funding is harder to find in general, and the current approach favors low-risk research and proposals by older scientists and white men.

My back-to-work morning train reads: • Study: Charts change hearts and minds better than words do (Washington Post) • 16 Years Late, $13B Short, but Optimistic: Where Growth Will Take the Music Biz (Redef) • None of Us Understand Probability (RCM Alternatives) • Nuclear Power Won’t Survive Without A Government Handout (FiveThirtyEight) • Best Q&A you’ll read this week Here’s Amy Poehler (Poke)… Read More The post 10 Monday AM Reads appeared first on The Big Picture.

For Google’s Security and Privacy Month, we are honored to present the real Frank Abagnale, Renowned Cybersecurity And Fraud Prevention Expert, Bestselling Author & Subject of Catch Me If You Can. His transformation from one of the world’s most notorious con men to an international cybersecurity expert trusted by the FBI has been mythologized in… Read More The post Catch Me If You Can appeared first on The Big Picture.

    The transcript from this week’s MIB: Senator George Mitchell is below. You can stream/download the full conversation, including the podcast extras on iTunes, Bloomberg, Overcast, and Stitcher. Our earlier podcasts can all be found on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast, and Bloomberg. ~~~ ANNOUNCER: This is Masters in Business with Barry Ritholtz on Bloomberg Radio. RITHOLTZ: This week on the podcast, I have an… Read More The post Transcript: Senator George Mitchell appeared first on The Big Picture.

My easy like Sunday morning reads: • How the Gig Economy Is Reshaping Work: Not So Much (New York Times) • When the Unexpected Leads to the Unexpected (A Wealth of Common Sense) • How Batteries Went From Primitive Power to Global Domination (Bloomberg) • An Inconvenient New Neutrino? (New York Review of Books) • The Donald J. Trump Foundation, Explained https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/14/nyregion/attorney-general-trump-lawsuit.html see also… Read More The post 10 Sunday Reads appeared first on The Big Picture.

The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of Danish Blend coffee, grab a seat on the beach, and get ready for our longer form weekend reads: • Laurene Powell Jobs is investing in media, education, sports and more. What does she want? (Washington Post) • You Make $1 Billion. You Flee to Florida. Then the Tax Man Knocks. (Institutional Investor)… Read More The post 10 Weekend Reads appeared first on The Big Picture.

Apparently, it is quite the rage to festoon one’s slides with company logos, particularly of the  frightful five. At present this is done for free. It suggests a new business. A platform that matches to advertisers to faculty. Faculty can offer up their slides and advertisers can bid for the right to place their logos […]

    I’m a modern man, A man for the millennium, Digital and smoke free. A diversified multicultural postmodern deconstructionist, Politically anatomically and ecologically incorrect. I’ve been uplinked and downloaded. I’ve been inputted and outsourced. I know the upside of downsizing. I know the downside of upgrading. I’m a high tech lowlife. A cutting edge… Read More The post George Carlin’s Modern Man appeared first on The Big Picture.

This week, we sit down with former Senate majority leader George Mitchell, Known among his colleagues in the Senate as an honest leader and skillful legislative strategist, Mitchell was instrumental in negotiating a peace agreement in Northern Ireland and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Our conversation covered everything from Brexit to money in… Read More The post MIB: Senator George Mitchell appeared first on The Big Picture.

And other questions about the Trump administration’s tariffs on China and beyond

Should peer to peer lenders exist in theory? John Lewis Bank Underground, 08 JUNE 2018         Walter Heller famously said that an economist is someone who sees something in practice and wonders if it would work in theory.  Economic theory says banks exist because they channel loanable funds more efficiently than individual savers and… Read More The post Should Peer-to-Peer Lenders Exist in Theory? appeared first on The Big Picture.

The low unemployment rate doesn’t tell the whole story about the state of the labor market.

I recall looking at the 190 SLs many years ago — the design was lovely, but they were big, slow and underpowered but more affordable sibling to the 300 SLs. No fuel injected six-cylinder — this was a carbureted 4. (Hence, why I passed). 2,722 convertibles were produced in 1958; compare that with the mere 324… Read More The post 1958 Mercedes-Benz SL 190 appeared first on The Big Picture.

The Reason Most Quant Funds Fail Source: Mathinvestor   See also: Economics, finance and pseudoscience Mathematicians Against Fraudulent Financial and Investment Advice (MAFFIA).   The post Why Most Quant Funds Fail appeared first on The Big Picture.

My end of week morning train reads: • Behemoths Have Dominated the Market Before, but Tech Is Different (Wall Street Journal) • Inside Netflix’s TV-Swallowing, Market-Dominating Binge Factory (Vulture) • How to Maximize Serendipity (David Perell) • Tech Workers Versus the Pentagon (Jacobin) • To increase your emotional intelligence, develop these 10 qualities (Quartz) Be sure to check out our Masters in… Read More The post 10 Friday AM Reads appeared first on The Big Picture.