International trade in prison cells: Sweden and Estonia

 The Guardian has the story:

Sweden set to rent cells in Estonian jails as it runs out of room for its prisoners by Miranda Bryant

"Sweden is moving away from criminal rehabilitation in favour of US-style mass incarceration, experts have said, as the country prepares to rent places in Estonian jails to help house its rapidly expanding prison population.

...

"Under an agreement signed by Stockholm and Tallinn in June, up to 600 prison places in the Baltic country are expected to be made available.

"According to a recent Kriminalvården report, Sweden’s prison population could – in the most extreme scenario – grow from 7,800 this year to 41,000 in 2034 as a result of more punitive policies driven by the far right.

...

"The number of children facing lengthy periods in prison is particularly striking: in recent years, a change in approach has led to children as young as 15 being jailed for 10 years or more.

"The government, which depends on the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats, is now considering a proposal to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 14 for severe offences.

"The main opposition party, the centre-left Social Democrats, have said they would support such a move. The Sweden Democrats have called for the age to be lowered to 13."

The repugnance of slavery (1847)--an open letter

  The civil war was preceded by a schism among Northern and Southern Baptists over the institution of slavery.  The recent rediscovery of an original document puts that story in the news.

The NYT has the story:

Discovery of 178-Year-Old Baptist Antislavery Document Elates Faith Leaders.  The handwritten resolution, signed by 116 Baptist ministers from Massachusetts who called slavery “repugnant,” was thought to have been lost.  By Aishvarya Kavi

"The scroll was handwritten in 1847, just two years after Baptists in the United States split, with the Southern congregations breaking off over their Northern counterparts’ condemnation of slavery.

"Using forceful language, 116 Baptist ministers in Massachusetts had signed their name to what they called “A Resolution and Protest Against Slavery,” condemning the system as “entirely repugnant.”

...

"At the time, the increasingly forceful stance by the Baptist ministers in Massachusetts against slavery reflected the widening divide between the North and South

...
"That national breach would become so wide that, 14 years after the document’s signing, it would lead to the Civil War."

#########

This offers a ray of hope to those of us who today sometimes sign open letters.

Banks fire back at buyout firms in war for (young) talent

 Investment banks build defenses against private equity firms hiring their analysts covertly, years in advance.

Here's the story from the WSJ:

Inside the Wall Street Recruitment Wars Pitting Banks Against Buyout Firms
Recent graduates who haven’t started their gigs at big banks are being recruited for jobs that don’t start for another couple of years  By AnnaMaria Andriotis, Ben Glickman  and Alexander Saeedy  

"Speed-dating-style interviews that can drag on until 3 a.m. Job offers that require a response within a day. A fear that your current boss might find out what you’re doing. All for positions that don’t even start for two to three years.

...

The tactics reached a fever pitch in recent years, kicking off earlier and earlier, prompting a crackdown this summer at big banks fed up with the poaching of their young employees.

Morgan Stanley implemented a formal policy in May that requires analysts to promptly disclose if they have secured future employment elsewhere, according to a person familiar with the matter. Analysts who are found to be in violation of the rule are at risk of disciplinary action, including being fired.

Goldman Sachs also recently decided to ask analysts every three months if they have accepted a future job at another firm. In a memo to this year’s incoming hires, JPMorgan Chase said analysts would be fired if they accepted future-dated job offers in their first 18 months."

HT: Bo Cowgill, Eric Budish

Market design search at WU Vienna's new Department of Business Analytics and Decision Science

 Ben Greiner writes to remind me that "Vienna is a beautiful place to live and work" and that there is a 27 July deadline for the first wave of recruiting for a new department, including two full professor slots for market designers.

" WU Vienna is establishing a new Department of Business Analytics and Decision Sciences, with a research focus on predictive and prescriptive analytics in support of data-informed strategic decision-making. This initiative reflects WU’s commitment to strengthening its academic profile at the intersection of analytics, artificial intelligence, and decision sciences.

As part of the department’s launch, approximately 24 new academic positions will be opened. These include 6 professorships, up to 6 tenure-track positions, 6 postdoctoral positions, and 6 pre-doctoral positions.

First call for professorships in June 2025

The first call launches on June 4, 2025 featuring 4 professorships.

These positions are distinguished by two different methodological orientations, with two different professorships per orientation:

• The first group focuses on candidates with a methodological focus on machine learning, symbolic or sub-symbolic AI (including deep learning, reinforcement learning, generative AI, and automated decision-making), or modern statistics and economicetrics.

• The second group focuses on candidates with a methodological focus in simulation, optimization, experimentation, algorithmic game theory, and/or market design.

To learn more about the call and application process, please visit the website for our job offerings.

 

Job search for Professor of Market Design: U. Mannheim and ZEW--Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Professor Achim Wambach writes with news of a job opening in market design:

Professor of Economics, Market Design (W3)
Department of Economics, University of Mannheim
 

"In a joint appointment process, the Department of Economics at the School of Law and Economics at the University of Mannheim and the ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim are looking to fill the position of

Professor of Economics, Market Design (W3).

The job holder will be assigned to the Centre for European Economic Research immediately upon her/his appointment. She/he will remain a member of the department with a reduced teaching obligation of two credit hours per term (so called Jülicher Modell). The position is permanent.

We are looking for an individual who, thanks to her/his outstanding scientific qualifications, will strengthen both institutions' competencies in the analysis of markets and market design. She/he has proven her/his expertise in the game-theoretical analysis of market rules with a particular focus on auction or matching markets. The successful candidate has an affinity to field experiments and applied research.

The job holder will lead the Research Department 'Market Design' at ZEW, conduct research in market design and publish this research in internationally leading academic journals. She/he will also be responsible for third-party fundraising. The successful candidate should have experience in policy-advising, particularly in the practical application of market design. The position requires a distinguished academic record, demonstrated by high-level publications in international economic journals, and ideally experience by leading policy advisory projects. The candidate should also possess the ability to lead larger research teams and to effectively communicate research findings to a broader audience, including policymakers and the general public."

Is gambling exhibiting a sinister interest in sports?

 Is a single missed pitch in a baseball game a sign of gambling's sinister interest in discrete events in sports contests?  It might be, if aa lot of money was bet on that one pitch...

The  has WSJ story:

The Scourge of ‘Spot-Fixing’ Is Coming for American Sports
U.S. sports has been riddled with gambling scandals in recent years, but MLB’s latest investigation raises the specter that one of the most pernicious forms of corruption has finally arrived
By Jared Diamond  and Joshua Robinson

 "American sports has been riddled with betting scandals over the past couple of years, with separate incidents involving former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter, MLB umpire Pat Hoberg, and Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. The situation involving Ortiz, however, could turn out to be the most explosive of all. 

That’s because this one potentially signals that one of the most pernicious forms of corruption in global sports has finally arrived in America.

“Spot-fixing” is the practice of manipulating small, discrete events that have little to no bearing on the outcome of a game—the timing of a yellow card in soccer, a wide ball in cricket, a single double-fault in tennis. Or, in the case of Ortiz, the result of one of the roughly 300 pitches thrown in the average baseball game. 

What makes spot-fixing so insidious is how inconsequential the occurrences appear in real time. It doesn’t require throwing a game, like traditional match-fixing, or convincing a group of players to collectively shave points. All spot-fixing needs is a lone bad actor intentionally committing a small, common mistake, making the offense easy to commit—and perilously difficult to stop. "

Doping in the Tour de France: new dimensions

 There was a time when only riders had to be tested for doping, but advances in electric motors and batteries mean that bikes too can be suspect.  However it's the riders who get the most, increasingly sophisticated scrutiny.

Here's the story from Cycling News:

Tour de France judges to study video for 'suspicious behaviour' in continued fight against motor doping
By Laura Weislo  

"For the Tour de France, the ITA has increased its traditional urine and blood doping controls and analysis to detect performance-enhancing drugs directly. They will also be emphasizing longitudinal analysis (changes over time) by expanding the blood biological passport to include steroid and hormone levels to detect markers of abuse of difficult-to-detect substances such as human Growth Hormone (hGH).

...

"During the Tour de France, ITA expects to collect upwards of 600 urine and blood samples, with 350 coming as out-of-competition tests before the Grand Depart in Lille on Saturday. They will also use data and intelligence to select samples to be retained for long-term storage and re-analysis during the allowed 10-year window. The ITA re-analysed 490 samples collected in 2015 and all came back negative."