Today marked the first day of this year’s American Economic Association (AEA) Annual Meeting. The AEA Meeting is an annual event that brings together some of the superstars of economics in one of the largest economics-focused gatherings in the world. Every year, upwards of 10,000 academics come together for discussions, presentations, and – equally important! - socialising, over a long weekend.

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Here at INOMICS we like to focus on the positive sides of academia – the great jobs, programs and other opportunities we encounter every day, and the many successful people taking advantage of them. In the spirit of the season, however, we’ve decided to take a look at the other side of things – scouring the depths of the internet for tales of mishaps, betrayal, embarrassing and outrageous experiences that all happened within the walls of the ivory tower.

Following our highly discussed list of 30 Top Twitter Feeds in Economics and Finance, we wanted to keep the conversation going by sharing our selection of top Twitter feeds in political science. This list includes academics, researchers, journalists and many others who focus on political science, politics, international relations, public policy and related fields.

It often happens that potential students show interest in a specific program by visiting the webpage, pre-subscribing for the next semester, or sending enquiries via email, however the number of completed applications is much lower than the number of people interested. We decided to research this issue and discovered the factors potential Master’s students take into account when choosing a university and type of degree. What we found is that the possibility of receiving funding motivates potential applicants and develops added value for students.

At just after 1pm CET today, The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2014 was awarded to Jean Marcel Tirole of Toulouse, France. This prize, more commonly known as the Nobel Prize in Economics, was given to Dr. Tirole for his extensive work on the behavior of large companies in relation to market power and regulation.

Today marks the 145th anniversary of the birth of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, born October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India. More commonly referred to by the honorific title Mahatma (Sanskrit for “high-souled”), Gandhi is well known for his leading role in the Indian independence movement against British rule in the early to mid-20th century. Gandhi employed nonviolent civil disobedience, promoting religious tolerance and a strongly humanitarian worldview.

In previous posts we’ve offered lists of top blogs in the fields of economics and finance. In this post we’re shifting our focus to the broad world of mathematics. As with economics and finance, mathematics encompasses quite a diverse array of subdisciplines, meaning that this list of blogs gathers together a range of perspectives, experiences and areas of expertise.

When we conducted an informal survey of economists about a year and a half ago (published in this blog post), only slightly more than 20% said they regularly used Twitter. In the time since, however, Twitter has gained ground as a useful and prominent thread within the social media fabric, particularly for professionals looking to network and make connections.

This Saturday, the INOMICS Team will pack the car and head to Prague to take part in the 26th Annual European Association for International Education (EAIE) Conferencebetween September 16th and 19th at the Prague Congress Centre. This year’s conference theme, ‘Stepping into a new era’ is well suited to INOMICS’ current expansion as a multi-disciplinary, crosscutting platform hosting thousands of academic and career opportunities for students, academics and professionals.

Fall is just beginning, which means it is time to start planning marketing strategies for boosting the number of university applications. In our previous articles we talked about how quality information increases students interest in universities, andthe potential reviews hold for heightening applicants’ interest and engagement levels.

In the third interview in the Experts Talk series, UMass Amherst Professor Emeritus, New York Times Economix contributor and leading feminist economist Dr. Nancy Folbre discusses the importance of interdisciplinarity, the overconfidence economics has in the individual pursuit of self-interest and what she learned from reading the comments section on her New York Times pieces, among other topics.  

When the first online reviews of consumer products appeared in the internet, they were often received with mistrust and had little affect on how consumer choices were made in reality. Over the past few years, however, the behavior of users and their interaction with product reviews has changed dramatically, and with rocket speed.

Continuing with last month’s topic, it is known that quality information increases student interest in universities. We pointed out the relevance of giving detailed information in the promotion of programs, courses and scholarships.

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.

When a student chooses a program, it’s not only a decision about a subject and place of study, but also a choice regarding future career. Such a choice has a big impact on students’ dreams, plans, budgets and decisions that affect their personal and social life for at least the next 2 or 4 years.

Based on our experience here at INOMICS, as well as by examining site usage statistics, we can confirm that the click through rate (CTR) on Standard jobs advertised in summer is significantly higher than throughout the rest of the year.

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.

Globalization has changed the panorama of the education, giving more options to students to choose the place where they want to study next. Nowadays, students from all over the world can enroll in a program in destinations they had never imagined. Moreover, high quality of education, career options and discovering of new cultures encourage young people to increase the percentage of foreign students at prestigious universities around the globe.

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?

With more and more students earning degrees abroad, the mobility of highly educated young people continues to be on the rise. As standardization helps ease recognition barriers both in the European Union and around the globe, it is more common than ever for young professionals to earn a degree in one country and then work in another.

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.

One of the biggest concerns of marketing departments at universities and graduate schools is the right promotion of the educational opportunities the institution offers.  From online to offline channels, universities look for the best option to bring better conversion rates and high quality prospective students.

While everyone knows how important a good spot in the major rankings lists can be for recruiting top-notch students, another type of ranking is gaining in momentum that deserves widespread recognition as well. In the digital era we find ourselves in, it’s only appropriate that cyber rankings be given weight within a school’s overall reputation.

Last year, we conducted a global survey of nearly 800 academics, asking questions about budget cuts at their respective institutions for fiscal year 2013, and their expectations for 2014. We wanted to get a sense of the climate around the world in terms of who is still being affected by the economic downturn, and to what extent, in order to better grasp the daily reality for both employers and job seekers.