Further unraveling, that is.
NH Seeks to Stay No. 1 in Presidential Primaries
"New Hampshire lawmakers hope to erase any doubt that the state intends to continue holding the nation's first presidential primary election by making a small but important change to state law.
The House is set to vote Wednesday to give the secretary of state wider latitude in setting the primary's date to protect the state's tradition of being first. The Senate votes on the measure next if it passes the House, and it is widely expected to become law."
...
"State law currently requires the primary to be held seven days or more before any similar contest. The bill would attach the secretary of state's rights to that law and notes that its purpose is to protect the tradition of New Hampshire being first....The bill would give the secretary of state the flexibility ''to interpret other elections such as caucuses or conventions the way he determines is necessary to protect our primary status,'' Splaine said."
...
"The first contests in Iowa and New Hampshire bring those states enormous attention from presidential candidates and the media. New Hampshire steadfastly guards its role, pointing to its engaged electorate as evidence that its voters do a good job at winnowing the field.
Candidates know that winning New Hampshire's primary can propel their campaigns. Sen. John McCain and then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton reignited their campaigns after winning the New Hampshire primary in 2008.
Jealous of all the attention, other states contend they better represent the nation than Iowa and New Hampshire, which have fewer people and less racial or ethnic diversity. They even challenged New Hampshire's tradition in the 2008 presidential primaries.
That led to the Iowa caucus being held on Jan. 3, 2008, and the New Hampshire primary five days later, on Jan. 8.
Secretary of State William Gardner waited until Nov. 21, 2007, to set the Jan. 8 primary date to make sure it would come before nominating contests in Nevada and South Carolina. Those states and six others broke national party rules by scheduling their contests before Feb. 5.
Democrats penalized Florida and Michigan delegates to the national party convention by counting only half their votes, while Republicans stripped votes from those states and three others, including New Hampshire.
The national Democratic calendar had called for the primary to be held Jan. 22 that year. After the New Hampshire secretary of state set the Jan. 8 date, state party leaders sought and got a waiver from the national party to have its delegates seated at the national convention.
Even if New Hampshire is stripped of delegates next time around, by holding the first primary it will retain its influence in selecting the next president, Splaine said."
Friday, January 8, 2010
Market for childbirth, when it comes with a passport
Quite a few places give citizenship to babies of (even) non-resident parents if they happen to be born there. The U.S. is one, and Hong Kong is another. There's another advantage to being born in Hong Kong to a mainland Chinese mother; the baby doesn't count against the "one child" quota. All this makes for a powerful incentive to deliver the baby in Hong Kong: Mainland Chinese mothers deluge maternity wards of Hong Kong hospitals
"Children born here to mainland Chinese women automatically receive permanent residency status, entitling them to benefits including free education, free medical care and a Hong Kong passport with visa-free access to more than 100 countries.
The Hong Kong government reported that, for the first six months of the year, 44 of every 100 babies born in the former British colony had mainland Chinese mothers. The figure was about 18 of 100 in 2002, after which border controls were eased. "
"Children born here to mainland Chinese women automatically receive permanent residency status, entitling them to benefits including free education, free medical care and a Hong Kong passport with visa-free access to more than 100 countries.
The Hong Kong government reported that, for the first six months of the year, 44 of every 100 babies born in the former British colony had mainland Chinese mothers. The figure was about 18 of 100 in 2002, after which border controls were eased. "
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Martha Nussbaum on same sex marriage
Martha Nussbaum expresses the view that opposition to same sex marriage is related to physical disgust, when interviewed in the Sunday NY Times Magazine, about her forthcoming book “From Disgust to Humanity: Sexual Orientation and Constitutional Law,”: Gross National Politics .
I'm skeptical. Steve Leider and I, in a forthcoming article in the American Journal of Transplantation, report on a representative-sample survey on the repugnance of buying and selling kidneys for transplant. We start off this way:
"The demand for transplantable kidneys exceeds the supply. If kidneys were a purchased commodity, the gap between supply and demand would mean the price was too low. But in most countries, a market for organs is regarded as repugnant, and such markets are widely illegal. We use “repugnant” in its economic sense – in a repugnant transaction the participants are willing to transact, but third parties disapprove and wish to prevent the transaction (rather than in its psychological sense of eliciting disgust among potential participants). Hence repugnant transactions are often illegal (Roth, 2007)."
There's no evidence at all that kidney transplantation arouses either repugnance or disgust, and so the repugnance of kidney markets almost surely doesn't arise from the kind of automatic disgust that people experience when they encounter feces, for example. I'm skeptical that same sex marriage does either; how else to explain that many people who object to same sex marriage don't object to civil unions for same sex couples? But I haven't done an empirical study of same sex marriage, so I can only speculate on that. (I'll have to read Nussbaum's book when it comes out.)
See my earlier post, MA sues to overturn Defense of Marriage Act , which quotes from an earlier Nussbaum article, on the changing sentiment about interracial marriage.
My concern with confounding (economist style) repugnance with innate disgust is not because I don't think that people who want you to oppose some repugnant transaction don't try to recruit feelings of disgust, in themselves and in others. But I guess real disgust, on an evolutionary preference level, is harder to overcome, e.g. there won't soon be demand for chocolate fudge shaped like feces, for instance. (I say that despite this report from Catalonia, so I could be wrong about this...)
I'm skeptical. Steve Leider and I, in a forthcoming article in the American Journal of Transplantation, report on a representative-sample survey on the repugnance of buying and selling kidneys for transplant. We start off this way:
"The demand for transplantable kidneys exceeds the supply. If kidneys were a purchased commodity, the gap between supply and demand would mean the price was too low. But in most countries, a market for organs is regarded as repugnant, and such markets are widely illegal. We use “repugnant” in its economic sense – in a repugnant transaction the participants are willing to transact, but third parties disapprove and wish to prevent the transaction (rather than in its psychological sense of eliciting disgust among potential participants). Hence repugnant transactions are often illegal (Roth, 2007)."
There's no evidence at all that kidney transplantation arouses either repugnance or disgust, and so the repugnance of kidney markets almost surely doesn't arise from the kind of automatic disgust that people experience when they encounter feces, for example. I'm skeptical that same sex marriage does either; how else to explain that many people who object to same sex marriage don't object to civil unions for same sex couples? But I haven't done an empirical study of same sex marriage, so I can only speculate on that. (I'll have to read Nussbaum's book when it comes out.)
See my earlier post, MA sues to overturn Defense of Marriage Act , which quotes from an earlier Nussbaum article, on the changing sentiment about interracial marriage.
My concern with confounding (economist style) repugnance with innate disgust is not because I don't think that people who want you to oppose some repugnant transaction don't try to recruit feelings of disgust, in themselves and in others. But I guess real disgust, on an evolutionary preference level, is harder to overcome, e.g. there won't soon be demand for chocolate fudge shaped like feces, for instance. (I say that despite this report from Catalonia, so I could be wrong about this...)
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Polygamy in Malaysia
Malaysian Polygamy Club Draws Criticism
"“Men are by nature polygamous,” said Dr. Rohaya, Mr. Ikram’s third wife, flanked by the other three women and Mr. Ikram for an interview on a recent morning. The women were dressed in ankle-length skirts, their hair covered by tudungs, the Malaysian term for headscarf. “We hear of many men having the ‘other woman,’ affairs and prostitution because for men, one woman is not enough. Polygamy is a way to overcome social ills such as this.”
The Ikhwan Polygamy Club is managed by Global Ikhwan, a company whose businesses include bread and noodle factories, a chicken-processing plant, pharmacies, cafes and supermarkets. Mr. Ikram is a director of the company.
While polygamy is legal in predominantly Muslim Malaysia, the club has come under fire from the government and religious leaders, who suspect it may be an attempt to revive Al-Arqam, a defunct Islamic movement headed by Mrs. Hatijah’s husband, Mr. Ashaari Mohamad, who is the founder and owner of Global Ikhwan. Al-Arqam was banned in 1994 for “deviant” religious teachings." (emphasis added)
That explains the criticism, I guess.
"“Men are by nature polygamous,” said Dr. Rohaya, Mr. Ikram’s third wife, flanked by the other three women and Mr. Ikram for an interview on a recent morning. The women were dressed in ankle-length skirts, their hair covered by tudungs, the Malaysian term for headscarf. “We hear of many men having the ‘other woman,’ affairs and prostitution because for men, one woman is not enough. Polygamy is a way to overcome social ills such as this.”
The Ikhwan Polygamy Club is managed by Global Ikhwan, a company whose businesses include bread and noodle factories, a chicken-processing plant, pharmacies, cafes and supermarkets. Mr. Ikram is a director of the company.
While polygamy is legal in predominantly Muslim Malaysia, the club has come under fire from the government and religious leaders, who suspect it may be an attempt to revive Al-Arqam, a defunct Islamic movement headed by Mrs. Hatijah’s husband, Mr. Ashaari Mohamad, who is the founder and owner of Global Ikhwan. Al-Arqam was banned in 1994 for “deviant” religious teachings." (emphasis added)
That explains the criticism, I guess.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Academic job market in a recession year
Inside Higher Ed has an article on the downturn in number of positions advertised through the Modern Language Association, the American Historical Association, and the American Economic Association, compared to last year: No Entry
The situation is exacerbated by last minute hiring freezes, such as the one announced today by the University of Illinois (along with furloughs and other measures).
The situation is exacerbated by last minute hiring freezes, such as the one announced today by the University of Illinois (along with furloughs and other measures).
Monday, January 4, 2010
Spam newspaper
One of the odder features of the internet ad economy is that it is apparently profitable to create internet sites that draw some search traffic, without having any real theme or original content. I'm speculating that CamKh.com is such a site, since it is regularly reposting my blog posts, without however linking to this blog. (In fact, my posts seem to make up a large part of the non-ad content of their Technology section) The site has a vaguely Cambodian theme, but obviously doesn't feel obliged to stick to that.
So, if you happen to be reading this on CamKh.com, the link to my actual blog is here: Market Design.
Update: and (recursively), here is this post, uploaded automatically on the spam newspaper itself.
So, if you happen to be reading this on CamKh.com, the link to my actual blog is here: Market Design.
Update: and (recursively), here is this post, uploaded automatically on the spam newspaper itself.
Recruitment of male high school athletes by ... girls
Inside Higher Ed reports: "A string of scandals involving alcohol, sex and male high school sports stars -- and the National Collegiate Athletic Association's adoption of new rules in 2004 -- seemed to put a stop to college teams’ decades-old practice of organizing groups of female students whose goal was to charm prospects into choosing their university. "
At some schools, recruiting groups are now co-ed. But has this really changed anything?
"At Texas A&M University, membership in the Aggie Hostesses is open to male students, but neither the name nor the fact that the group is all-female makes it particularly appealing to male applicants. Lindsey Bounds, a 2008 graduate of Texas A&M who is the group’s head coordinator, said “men can try out” for the group, but none have, and she has heard no criticism of its gender breakdown. “I don’t feel like anyone really notices it’s an all-female group.” "
At some schools, recruiting groups are now co-ed. But has this really changed anything?
"At Texas A&M University, membership in the Aggie Hostesses is open to male students, but neither the name nor the fact that the group is all-female makes it particularly appealing to male applicants. Lindsey Bounds, a 2008 graduate of Texas A&M who is the group’s head coordinator, said “men can try out” for the group, but none have, and she has heard no criticism of its gender breakdown. “I don’t feel like anyone really notices it’s an all-female group.” "
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Matching and Market Design at the ASSA meetings in Atlanta
I'm not at the meetings in Atlanta, but if I were, I'd try to catch this session this morning:
Matching and Market Design
Presiding: Soohyung Lee (University of Maryland)
Why Deferred Acceptance?: An Experimental Look at Strategy in Two-Sided Matching Markets
Clayton Featherstone (Stanford University)
Eric Mayefsky (Stanford University)
Decentralized Matching with Aligned Preferences
Muriel Niederle (Stanford University)
Leeat Yariv (Caltech)
Inefficiencies in Trade Networks
Matthew Elliott (Stanford University)
Do Roses Speak Louder than Words? Signaling in Internet Dating Markets
Soohyung Lee (University of Maryland)
Muriel Niederle (Stanford University)
Matching and Market Design
Presiding: Soohyung Lee (University of Maryland)
Why Deferred Acceptance?: An Experimental Look at Strategy in Two-Sided Matching Markets
Clayton Featherstone (Stanford University)
Eric Mayefsky (Stanford University)
Decentralized Matching with Aligned Preferences
Muriel Niederle (Stanford University)
Leeat Yariv (Caltech)
Inefficiencies in Trade Networks
Matthew Elliott (Stanford University)
Do Roses Speak Louder than Words? Signaling in Internet Dating Markets
Soohyung Lee (University of Maryland)
Muriel Niederle (Stanford University)
Market for class notes, posted by students
There are lots of sites that sell study aids to college students, and there are lots of college courses whose notes are posted online (e.g. see my courses on Market Design and Experimental Economics). The Boston Globe reports on a site, FinalsClub.org, that pays students to post their class notes, after getting permission of the professor. Some of my Harvard colleagues have given their permission, and some have not.
Friday, January 1, 2010
It turns out I'm a Business professor
The same lecture can be described in subtly different ways to different audiences. I see this a lot, because I have a joint appointment between Harvard's Economics Department and the Harvard Business School.
I've been asked to speak at an HBS program for alumni, and I agreed to give a talk that I called Computer-Assisted Markets.
Here's the abstract that came back after I sent in a draft of my slides. It's accurate, and I like it, but I couldn't help noticing that it has a different feel than the abstracts I write myself for economics audiences.
I've been asked to speak at an HBS program for alumni, and I agreed to give a talk that I called Computer-Assisted Markets.
Here's the abstract that came back after I sent in a draft of my slides. It's accurate, and I like it, but I couldn't help noticing that it has a different feel than the abstracts I write myself for economics audiences.
"Designing 21st Century Markets
While efforts to control market behavior are centuries old, computers are enabling new mechanisms of exchange. Drawing on his deep research and expertise in game theory, market design, and computationally assisted markets, HBS Professor Alvin E. Roth will share lessons learned and the implications for markets today and tomorrow. Topics include:
· Exploring the many ways that computers can assist in market exchange—from simple transaction execution to complex algorithms
· Examining the three characteristics of successful markets—ensuring thickness, avoiding congestion, and creating a safe marketplace
· Reviewing successful and not-so-successful examples of market design—from labor market clearinghouses to kidney exchange to school choice mechanisms"
Aside from the title and the description of the speaker, I think the turn of phrase that most surprised me, but that I recognize as a certain style, was the "the" as the second word of the second bulleted item...
Thursday, December 31, 2009
The year in market design
Kidney exchange:
In fits and starts, kidney exchange is picking up. The biggest development this year has followed from Mike Rees' pioneering Non-Simultaneous Extended Altruistic Donor Chain.
Here's an end of year news story by Amy Nutt at the NJ Star Ledger which goes over some of the progress made this year, by a growing number of kidney exchange programs: Kidney donation chains provide life-saving chances for patients.
Ms. Nutt has been reporting on New Jersey area kidney exchange for a while; here are some of her previous stories.
Part 1: A gift of hope unfolds
Part 2: A dozen surgeries in 36 hours
Part 3: Donors and recipients meet
Kidney donations connect strangers in 'Chain of Life' forged by transplants
Kidney exchange got going in New Zealand and Australia.
School choice:
Some new theory and evidence from the design of the New York City high school match, and new design efforts in some American and European cities.
Labor markets
The job market for new economists, which is up and running as we speak, gave us a glimpse of some data on how it is working.
Auctions:
My Market Design colleagues have expanded into the rough diamond business.
Noam Nissan (in his review of the decade in algorithmic game theory) writes
"The second half of the decade saw much of the focus shift to “ad auctions” of various kinds, an application that obviously wins the “killer AGT application of the decade” award (rather than the spectrum auctions which seemed the candidate in the beginning of the decade). While the driver of ad auction research is certainly the internet advertising multi-billion dollar industry that has hired droves of AGT researchers, much of this work seems to focus on issues that are of basic theoretical interest in settings of repeated auctions, often departing from the basic models of dominant-strategy worst-case analysis, vying for more delicate models that capture the desired issues better (and in so also influencing the rest of algorithmic mechanism design.)
Electricity
Operating electricity markets made progress around the world.
In fits and starts, kidney exchange is picking up. The biggest development this year has followed from Mike Rees' pioneering Non-Simultaneous Extended Altruistic Donor Chain.
Here's an end of year news story by Amy Nutt at the NJ Star Ledger which goes over some of the progress made this year, by a growing number of kidney exchange programs: Kidney donation chains provide life-saving chances for patients.
Ms. Nutt has been reporting on New Jersey area kidney exchange for a while; here are some of her previous stories.
Part 1: A gift of hope unfolds
Part 2: A dozen surgeries in 36 hours
Part 3: Donors and recipients meet
Kidney donations connect strangers in 'Chain of Life' forged by transplants
Kidney exchange got going in New Zealand and Australia.
School choice:
Some new theory and evidence from the design of the New York City high school match, and new design efforts in some American and European cities.
Labor markets
The job market for new economists, which is up and running as we speak, gave us a glimpse of some data on how it is working.
Auctions:
My Market Design colleagues have expanded into the rough diamond business.
Noam Nissan (in his review of the decade in algorithmic game theory) writes
"The second half of the decade saw much of the focus shift to “ad auctions” of various kinds, an application that obviously wins the “killer AGT application of the decade” award (rather than the spectrum auctions which seemed the candidate in the beginning of the decade). While the driver of ad auction research is certainly the internet advertising multi-billion dollar industry that has hired droves of AGT researchers, much of this work seems to focus on issues that are of basic theoretical interest in settings of repeated auctions, often departing from the basic models of dominant-strategy worst-case analysis, vying for more delicate models that capture the desired issues better (and in so also influencing the rest of algorithmic mechanism design.)
Electricity
Operating electricity markets made progress around the world.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Airport security and privacy
Recent discussions of airport security in the post underpants-bomber era make it clear that privacy is a complex issue. For example, if an airport screener is going to see a digital image of what you look like under your clothes, is your privacy preserved better if the screener can't also see your face? If the screener is in a remote viewing room?
Debate Over Full-Body Scans vs. Invasion of Privacy Flares Anew After Incident
"The technology exists to reveal objects hidden under clothes at airport checkpoints, and many experts say it would have detected the explosive packet carried aboard the Detroit-bound flight last week. But it has been fought by privacy advocates who say it is too intrusive, leading to a newly intensified debate over the limits of security."
...
"But others say that the technology is no security panacea, and that its use should be carefully controlled because of the risks to privacy, including the potential for its ghostly naked images to show up on the Internet."
...
"“I’m on an airplane every three or four days; I want that plane to be as safe and secure as possible,” Mr. Chaffetz said. However, he added, “I don’t think anybody needs to see my 8-year-old naked in order to secure that airplane.” "
...
"Images produced by the machines in the days before privacy advocates began using phrases like “digital strip search” could be startlingly detailed. Machines used in airports today, however, protect privacy to a greater extent, said Kristin Lee, a spokeswoman for the T.S.A.
Depending on the specific technology used, faces might be obscured or bodies reduced to the equivalent of a chalk outline. Also, the person reviewing the images must be in a separate room and cannot see who is entering the scanner. The machines have been modified to make it impossible to store the images, Ms. Lee said, and the procedure “is always optional to all passengers.” Anyone who refuses to be scanned “will receive an equivalent screening”: a full pat-down."
Debate Over Full-Body Scans vs. Invasion of Privacy Flares Anew After Incident
"The technology exists to reveal objects hidden under clothes at airport checkpoints, and many experts say it would have detected the explosive packet carried aboard the Detroit-bound flight last week. But it has been fought by privacy advocates who say it is too intrusive, leading to a newly intensified debate over the limits of security."
...
"But others say that the technology is no security panacea, and that its use should be carefully controlled because of the risks to privacy, including the potential for its ghostly naked images to show up on the Internet."
...
"“I’m on an airplane every three or four days; I want that plane to be as safe and secure as possible,” Mr. Chaffetz said. However, he added, “I don’t think anybody needs to see my 8-year-old naked in order to secure that airplane.” "
...
"Images produced by the machines in the days before privacy advocates began using phrases like “digital strip search” could be startlingly detailed. Machines used in airports today, however, protect privacy to a greater extent, said Kristin Lee, a spokeswoman for the T.S.A.
Depending on the specific technology used, faces might be obscured or bodies reduced to the equivalent of a chalk outline. Also, the person reviewing the images must be in a separate room and cannot see who is entering the scanner. The machines have been modified to make it impossible to store the images, Ms. Lee said, and the procedure “is always optional to all passengers.” Anyone who refuses to be scanned “will receive an equivalent screening”: a full pat-down."
Dan McFadden salutes Hurwicz and Laffont
Daniel McFadden, The human side of mechanism design: a tribute to Leo Hurwicz and Jean-Jacque Laffont,
Rev. Econ. Design (2009) 13:77–100
(I can't help noticing something about the mechanism of economics publishing: this paper was Received: 26 June 2007 / Accepted: 30 January 2009.)
HT: David Warsh
Rev. Econ. Design (2009) 13:77–100
(I can't help noticing something about the mechanism of economics publishing: this paper was Received: 26 June 2007 / Accepted: 30 January 2009.)
HT: David Warsh
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Scalping free ice skating at Fenway
The mayor is shocked, the Globe reports
Scalpers cloud free skating at Fenway: City protests as rink tickets are hawked at high prices
"Scalpers used to hawking game tickets at exorbitant prices are now doing the same with tickets that were supposed to be free for city residents to ice skate at Fenway Park, in what could be the first trip for many to the hallowed field.
Tickets for the extraordinary skating opportunity at Fenway, handed out to city families as part of Boston’s New Year’s celebrations, were going for as much as $1,800 for four on websites such as Craigslist and eBay, outraging city officials and event organizers who want to know the identities of the people conniving against others for a buck.
“These are free tickets that were arranged to be given to City of Boston residents to skate free at Fenway Park, they weren’t meant for people to make money off of,’’ Dot Joyce, a spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino, said yesterday. “It was really the mayor making sure the residents of this city get something back, especially young people who, given this is Fenway, it might be their only chance to be there.’’
The city organized the skating event for two consecutive Sundays, Jan. 3 and Jan. 10. Event organizers were taking advantage of the ice rink set up at the ballpark as part of the 2010 National Hockey League Winter Classic Game on New Year’s Day between the Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers. More than 38,000 fans are expected to head to that special event, and tickets to the game were going for as much as $700 on websites.
The scalpers’ postings for tickets to skate at Fenway are clear and blunt. One went: “I have 12 tickets total, will sell all for $4,000. 4 tickets for just $1,800. Once in a lifetime opportunity! No sob stories please prices are firm. Hard tickets in hand. I was given these tix by menino directly and I will be there to ensure your entire party gets into the park. . . . VIP tickets include a meet and greet with Bruin Old Timers and free hot chocolate and donuts.’’
The identity of the scalper was not known last night. Reached by e-mail, the scalper responded, “Buy 4 and I will give you an interview.’’ The message came from a Verizon Wireless BlackBerry. When told the Globe would not buy the tickets but still wanted an interview, the scalper responded “No Thanks, Pal.’’ "
...
"Hundreds of residents across the city had tried to get tickets on Saturday, but were turned away because they ran out so quickly. Tim Theriault, 53, of the South End, showed up at the Boston Public Library, only to be told 200 tickets were gone in 15 minutes.
He was disappointed: “Skating in Fenway Park would have been a one-time experience,” he said. But he was more disturbed that someone would take the opportunity to cash in at such exorbitant prices, saying “that’s disgusting.”
“I wish the city could do something, but what can they do,” he said. “That’s just really horrible, really bad.”
Bill Zeoli, a 44-year-old from the South End, waited in line first at the Blackstone School in the South End for close to two hours, then in Chinatown for nearly two hours, and still didn’t get tickets.
But Zeoli, who for years ran a pushcart outside Fenway Park and still goes to Red Sox games regularly, said he recognized some of Fenway’s regular scalpers among the moms and dads waiting in line with their children, and already thought the worst.
“There were absolutely scalpers that I’ve seen for years and years and years,” he said."
A subsequent story indicates that the city will try to enforce the no-scalping policy, but it's not clear if they can do more than check that skaters are Boston residents, since (among other things) some of the tickets could have been given as Christmas gifts: City to check for Fenway scalping: Menino angry, vows to monitor free skate event
"Plans are to spot-check tickets at Fenway. If the registered ticket holder is not present (only one person needed to register for four tickets), then the skaters will be turned away, Menino said.
But some who waited hours in the cold Saturday, such as Jim Cloherty of Hyde Park, had planned to give the four-pack of tickets as a Christmas gift.
“I already gave them to my niece and nephew and brother and sister,’’ said Cloherty, 59. “I got in line for them, because I can’t skate.’’ He explained that he did not plan on going, but would if it means his godchildren would otherwise be turned away.
Menino said ticket checkers will make a judgment call before turning away gift recipients. “We’re not going to be the Gestapo,’’ he said.
But the fact that only about a quarter of the skaters will be registered with the city makes enforcing the Boston-only policy difficult.
“We wouldn’t be able to police for that,’’ Menino’s spokeswoman Dot Joyce said. “That would be an unrealistic expectation. We are not going to be able to enforce everything.’’ "
Scalpers cloud free skating at Fenway: City protests as rink tickets are hawked at high prices
"Scalpers used to hawking game tickets at exorbitant prices are now doing the same with tickets that were supposed to be free for city residents to ice skate at Fenway Park, in what could be the first trip for many to the hallowed field.
Tickets for the extraordinary skating opportunity at Fenway, handed out to city families as part of Boston’s New Year’s celebrations, were going for as much as $1,800 for four on websites such as Craigslist and eBay, outraging city officials and event organizers who want to know the identities of the people conniving against others for a buck.
“These are free tickets that were arranged to be given to City of Boston residents to skate free at Fenway Park, they weren’t meant for people to make money off of,’’ Dot Joyce, a spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino, said yesterday. “It was really the mayor making sure the residents of this city get something back, especially young people who, given this is Fenway, it might be their only chance to be there.’’
The city organized the skating event for two consecutive Sundays, Jan. 3 and Jan. 10. Event organizers were taking advantage of the ice rink set up at the ballpark as part of the 2010 National Hockey League Winter Classic Game on New Year’s Day between the Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers. More than 38,000 fans are expected to head to that special event, and tickets to the game were going for as much as $700 on websites.
The scalpers’ postings for tickets to skate at Fenway are clear and blunt. One went: “I have 12 tickets total, will sell all for $4,000. 4 tickets for just $1,800. Once in a lifetime opportunity! No sob stories please prices are firm. Hard tickets in hand. I was given these tix by menino directly and I will be there to ensure your entire party gets into the park. . . . VIP tickets include a meet and greet with Bruin Old Timers and free hot chocolate and donuts.’’
The identity of the scalper was not known last night. Reached by e-mail, the scalper responded, “Buy 4 and I will give you an interview.’’ The message came from a Verizon Wireless BlackBerry. When told the Globe would not buy the tickets but still wanted an interview, the scalper responded “No Thanks, Pal.’’ "
...
"Hundreds of residents across the city had tried to get tickets on Saturday, but were turned away because they ran out so quickly. Tim Theriault, 53, of the South End, showed up at the Boston Public Library, only to be told 200 tickets were gone in 15 minutes.
He was disappointed: “Skating in Fenway Park would have been a one-time experience,” he said. But he was more disturbed that someone would take the opportunity to cash in at such exorbitant prices, saying “that’s disgusting.”
“I wish the city could do something, but what can they do,” he said. “That’s just really horrible, really bad.”
Bill Zeoli, a 44-year-old from the South End, waited in line first at the Blackstone School in the South End for close to two hours, then in Chinatown for nearly two hours, and still didn’t get tickets.
But Zeoli, who for years ran a pushcart outside Fenway Park and still goes to Red Sox games regularly, said he recognized some of Fenway’s regular scalpers among the moms and dads waiting in line with their children, and already thought the worst.
“There were absolutely scalpers that I’ve seen for years and years and years,” he said."
A subsequent story indicates that the city will try to enforce the no-scalping policy, but it's not clear if they can do more than check that skaters are Boston residents, since (among other things) some of the tickets could have been given as Christmas gifts: City to check for Fenway scalping: Menino angry, vows to monitor free skate event
"Plans are to spot-check tickets at Fenway. If the registered ticket holder is not present (only one person needed to register for four tickets), then the skaters will be turned away, Menino said.
But some who waited hours in the cold Saturday, such as Jim Cloherty of Hyde Park, had planned to give the four-pack of tickets as a Christmas gift.
“I already gave them to my niece and nephew and brother and sister,’’ said Cloherty, 59. “I got in line for them, because I can’t skate.’’ He explained that he did not plan on going, but would if it means his godchildren would otherwise be turned away.
Menino said ticket checkers will make a judgment call before turning away gift recipients. “We’re not going to be the Gestapo,’’ he said.
But the fact that only about a quarter of the skaters will be registered with the city makes enforcing the Boston-only policy difficult.
“We wouldn’t be able to police for that,’’ Menino’s spokeswoman Dot Joyce said. “That would be an unrealistic expectation. We are not going to be able to enforce everything.’’ "
Monday, December 28, 2009
Hiring in a recession: sorting through 500 applications for an entry level job
The NY Times has a story with some illuminating comments about how a trucking company handled the problem of sorting through 500 applications for an administrative assistant position: $13 an Hour? 500 Sign Up, 1 Wins a Job
"When Stacey Ross, C. R. England’s head of corporate recruiting, arrived at her desk at the company’s Salt Lake City headquarters the next Monday, she found about 300 applications in the company’s e-mail inbox. And the fax machine had spit out an inch-and-a-half thick stack of résumés before running out of paper. By the time she pulled the posting off Careerbuilder.com later in the day, she guessed nearly 500 people had applied for the $13-an-hour job. “It was just shocking,” she said. “I had never seen anything so big.”
Ms. Ross had only a limited amount of time to sort through the résumés. ...The 34-year-old recruiter decided the fairest approach was simply to start at the beginning, reviewing résumés in the order in which they came in. When she found a desirable candidate, she called to ask a few preliminary questions, before forwarding the name along to Chris Kelsey, the school’s director. When he had a big enough pool to evaluate, she would stop. Anyone she did not get to was simply out of luck.
She dropped significantly overqualified candidates right away, reasoning that they would leave when the economy improved. Among them was a former I.B.M. business analyst with 18 years experience; a former director of human resources; and someone with a master’s degree and 12 years at Deloitte & Touche, the accounting firm.
Over the course of four days, Ms. Ross forwarded 61 résumés to Mr. Kelsey, while rejecting 210 others. The remainder never even got a look. Many were, in fact, never uploaded to the company’s internal system because there were too many."
"When Stacey Ross, C. R. England’s head of corporate recruiting, arrived at her desk at the company’s Salt Lake City headquarters the next Monday, she found about 300 applications in the company’s e-mail inbox. And the fax machine had spit out an inch-and-a-half thick stack of résumés before running out of paper. By the time she pulled the posting off Careerbuilder.com later in the day, she guessed nearly 500 people had applied for the $13-an-hour job. “It was just shocking,” she said. “I had never seen anything so big.”
Ms. Ross had only a limited amount of time to sort through the résumés. ...The 34-year-old recruiter decided the fairest approach was simply to start at the beginning, reviewing résumés in the order in which they came in. When she found a desirable candidate, she called to ask a few preliminary questions, before forwarding the name along to Chris Kelsey, the school’s director. When he had a big enough pool to evaluate, she would stop. Anyone she did not get to was simply out of luck.
She dropped significantly overqualified candidates right away, reasoning that they would leave when the economy improved. Among them was a former I.B.M. business analyst with 18 years experience; a former director of human resources; and someone with a master’s degree and 12 years at Deloitte & Touche, the accounting firm.
Over the course of four days, Ms. Ross forwarded 61 résumés to Mr. Kelsey, while rejecting 210 others. The remainder never even got a look. Many were, in fact, never uploaded to the company’s internal system because there were too many."
Sunday, December 27, 2009
What is the capacity of a school?
A recent NY Times article describes the unusual way in which charter schools are welcomed by the city, and share space in public school buildings: City’s Schools Share Their Space, and Bitterness .
The bitterness in the headline has to do with the fact that it can be difficult to agree on how much space is available in a school, i.e. what is its capacity.
"Officials estimate that over all, the city’s schools are 80 percent full. But figures vary widely school to school, with some bursting while others have as many as a dozen classrooms not being used for teaching. Even determining how many rooms are free is contentious — most schools use open space for activities like dance, tutoring and computers — but Education Department officials often treat those rooms as “underutilized space” to allow another school to come in. "
The bitterness in the headline has to do with the fact that it can be difficult to agree on how much space is available in a school, i.e. what is its capacity.
"Officials estimate that over all, the city’s schools are 80 percent full. But figures vary widely school to school, with some bursting while others have as many as a dozen classrooms not being used for teaching. Even determining how many rooms are free is contentious — most schools use open space for activities like dance, tutoring and computers — but Education Department officials often treat those rooms as “underutilized space” to allow another school to come in. "
Saturday, December 26, 2009
NSF survey of earned doctorates
The NSF reports on doctoral degrees granted by American universities: National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics. 2009. Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: Summary Report 2007–08. Special Report NSF 10-309. Arlington, VA. Available at http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf10309/.
The number of earned doctorates in Economics went from 800 in 1978 (when 27% were to women) to 1091 in 2008 (when 34% were to women).
The number of earned doctorates in Economics went from 800 in 1978 (when 27% were to women) to 1091 in 2008 (when 34% were to women).
Friday, December 25, 2009
Give cash next year?
Tim Harford, writing about Joel Waldfogel's famous work on the "deadweight loss" of Christmas gifts, writes "What to do? Waldfogel admits that with some exceptions, such as gifts from older relatives to teenagers, cash is not a suitable gift. Nothing says “I don’t understand you” like a cash gift. Nor is it easy to turn one’s back on the whole ritual."
But the repugnance of cash gifts has given rise to some close substitutes, some of which work better than others. (I admire wedding gift registries as an elegant market design solution to the problem.) Gift cards, not so much.
The NY Times has an illuminating article about the business of gift cards: Redeem All of Gift Card, or Give Store a Present.
"This year, nearly $5 billion of the money that well-meaning givers have put onto gift cards will go unspent, according to TowerGroup, a financial services consulting firm. The money then reverts back mostly to the retailers and banks that loaded the plastic initially.
In the industry, this is known as breakage, and here’s what it means: If you buy a gift card for a family member or friend, there’s a good chance you’ll give a little gift to the retailer or bank that issued it as well.
How does breakage happen? People lose their cards. Or they abandon them in a drawer and assume they’re expired when they’re unearthed years later. Fees can still eat away at some of them. And people may use $46 of a $50 card and then throw it out rather than make another trip back to the store."
...
"It isn’t just a break-even proposition either, according to the people behind Acceptvisamastercards.com. If you count 10 to 12 percent breakage in your calculations, the site contends, the gift card display can become the “most profitable square foot of space in the place.”
This is how some of the people in the industry talk about gift cards when they think consumers aren’t listening. And for big companies, breakage can add up to real money. Not every big retailer or bank discloses it, but Best Buy was kind enough to note that it kept $38 million in breakage in its most recent fiscal year. Home Depot cleared $37 million. Breakage can be total when a retailer goes out of business. "
One good market design idea is the "gift receipt," a receipt that identifies the store at which a gift was bought, but doesn't list the price that was paid. This is meant to make returns easier (e.g. in case you got two electric can openers, or if last year's waist size no longer fits). These are catching on, according to the National Retail Federation, which reports: Stigma of Gift Receipts is Diminishing Among Americans, According to NRF Survey. (Stores' policies on returns are actually an interesting market design issue in themselves, different in the U.S. than in Europe...)
Then there's Dilbert.
But the repugnance of cash gifts has given rise to some close substitutes, some of which work better than others. (I admire wedding gift registries as an elegant market design solution to the problem.) Gift cards, not so much.
The NY Times has an illuminating article about the business of gift cards: Redeem All of Gift Card, or Give Store a Present.
"This year, nearly $5 billion of the money that well-meaning givers have put onto gift cards will go unspent, according to TowerGroup, a financial services consulting firm. The money then reverts back mostly to the retailers and banks that loaded the plastic initially.
In the industry, this is known as breakage, and here’s what it means: If you buy a gift card for a family member or friend, there’s a good chance you’ll give a little gift to the retailer or bank that issued it as well.
How does breakage happen? People lose their cards. Or they abandon them in a drawer and assume they’re expired when they’re unearthed years later. Fees can still eat away at some of them. And people may use $46 of a $50 card and then throw it out rather than make another trip back to the store."
...
"It isn’t just a break-even proposition either, according to the people behind Acceptvisamastercards.com. If you count 10 to 12 percent breakage in your calculations, the site contends, the gift card display can become the “most profitable square foot of space in the place.”
This is how some of the people in the industry talk about gift cards when they think consumers aren’t listening. And for big companies, breakage can add up to real money. Not every big retailer or bank discloses it, but Best Buy was kind enough to note that it kept $38 million in breakage in its most recent fiscal year. Home Depot cleared $37 million. Breakage can be total when a retailer goes out of business. "
One good market design idea is the "gift receipt," a receipt that identifies the store at which a gift was bought, but doesn't list the price that was paid. This is meant to make returns easier (e.g. in case you got two electric can openers, or if last year's waist size no longer fits). These are catching on, according to the National Retail Federation, which reports: Stigma of Gift Receipts is Diminishing Among Americans, According to NRF Survey. (Stores' policies on returns are actually an interesting market design issue in themselves, different in the U.S. than in Europe...)
Then there's Dilbert.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Mexico City Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage
Here's the story: Mexico City Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage
"Mexico City lawmakers on Monday made the city the first in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage, a change that will give homosexual couples more rights, including allowing them to adopt children.
The bill passed the capital's local assembly 39-20 to the cheers of supporters who yelled: "Yes, we could! Yes, we could!" "
...
"The conservative National Action Party of President Felipe Calderon has vowed to challenge the gay marriage law in the courts."
...
"The bill calls for changing the definition of marriage in the city's civil code. Marriage is currently defined as the union of a man and a woman. The new definition will be "the free uniting of two people."
The change would allow same-sex couples to adopt children, apply for bank loans together, inherit wealth and be included in the insurance policies of their spouse, rights they were denied under civil unions allowed in the city. "
...
"Only seven countries allow gay marriages: Canada, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium. U.S. states that permit same-sex marriage are Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and New Hampshire.
Argentina's capital became the first Latin American city to legalize same-sex civil unions in 2002 for gay and lesbian couples. Four other Argentine cities later did the same, and as did Mexico City in 2007 and some Mexican and Brazilian states. Uruguay alone has legalized civil unions nationwide.
Buenos Aires lawmakers introduced a bill for legalizing gay marriage in the national Congress in October but it has stalled without a vote, and officials in the South American city have blocked same-sex wedding because of conflicting judicial rulings.
Many people in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America remain opposed to gay marriage, and the dominant Roman Catholic Church has announced its opposition. "
"Mexico City lawmakers on Monday made the city the first in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage, a change that will give homosexual couples more rights, including allowing them to adopt children.
The bill passed the capital's local assembly 39-20 to the cheers of supporters who yelled: "Yes, we could! Yes, we could!" "
...
"The conservative National Action Party of President Felipe Calderon has vowed to challenge the gay marriage law in the courts."
...
"The bill calls for changing the definition of marriage in the city's civil code. Marriage is currently defined as the union of a man and a woman. The new definition will be "the free uniting of two people."
The change would allow same-sex couples to adopt children, apply for bank loans together, inherit wealth and be included in the insurance policies of their spouse, rights they were denied under civil unions allowed in the city. "
...
"Only seven countries allow gay marriages: Canada, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium. U.S. states that permit same-sex marriage are Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and New Hampshire.
Argentina's capital became the first Latin American city to legalize same-sex civil unions in 2002 for gay and lesbian couples. Four other Argentine cities later did the same, and as did Mexico City in 2007 and some Mexican and Brazilian states. Uruguay alone has legalized civil unions nationwide.
Buenos Aires lawmakers introduced a bill for legalizing gay marriage in the national Congress in October but it has stalled without a vote, and officials in the South American city have blocked same-sex wedding because of conflicting judicial rulings.
Many people in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America remain opposed to gay marriage, and the dominant Roman Catholic Church has announced its opposition. "
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Doing a good deed for a price; Sally Satel's mailbox on kidney sales
" “For the right price, yes, I would give up one of my organs to save someone’s life,” read the e-mail message, one of three dozen I received last month," writes Sally Satel in her latest NY Times op-ed A ‘Gift of Life’ With Money Attached.
She goes on to say "...if compensated donation were allowed, it would come to resemble surrogate motherhood. In some states, mothers who agree to carry a baby for an infertile couple are legally compensated for their time and for the risk they assume.
And while surrogate mothers surely welcome such payments, they are hardly the only factor in the decision; many say they are motivated by a strong desire to help another woman fulfill her maternal dream. At first, organ compensation, like surrogacy, would seem odd, but then it would become more generally accepted. "
The combination of altruistic motives and financial gain reminds me of the complicated way these issues are viewed. In Repugnance as a Constraint on Markets, I explored the very wide variety of religious opinion on this subject. In this connection I mentioned the view of Pope John Paul II that virtuous organ donations are transformed into immoral commercial transactions by the introduction of monetary payments. (Pope Benedict has reaffirmed this view.*) Other religious traditions view the matter differently. I noted the "... opinion of the eminent Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach that someone who sells a kidney with the intention of saving a life does a good deed “even if he would not have donated his kidney only to save life.” "
*The Catholic thinker Michael Novak argues that the Popes' views are consistent with some kinds of government compensation for donors, as proposed in draft legislation by Senator Arlen Specter: For Those Who Desperately Need Organ Donations. Novak writes
"Senator Specter's legislative action does two necessary things: (a) it blocks potential abuses by commercialization and international (or even intra-national) trafficking; and (b) it allows individual states to make concrete judgments about non-transferable, non-cash benefits to potential donors, providing these incentives fall within moral guidelines. Senator Specter's legislation establishes that the 1984 federal law prohibiting the commercialization of organs (that is, a sale between individuals or through a broker) does not apply to state governments, when they encourage organ donation through non-transferable incentives. These incentives are not "compensation," and they are not tradable."..."What Specter’s bill does is frame government benefits for donors as what they really are: gifts from the government in appreciation for the generosity of the donor. They are not intended inducements to donate. For John Paul II and Benedict XVI, the invention of appropriate incentives for more frequent donations of organs is a noble endeavor. The U.S. Congress and the several states should take thought about this important task."
(Novak remarks in the article that his views on this subject have evolved since he took part as a discussant in an American Enterprise Institute symposium on my paper on Repugnance, in January 2008. The symposium site has audio and video recordings of the proceedings.)
Uncompensated deceased donation is supported by most religions; here's a summary from the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency..
She goes on to say "...if compensated donation were allowed, it would come to resemble surrogate motherhood. In some states, mothers who agree to carry a baby for an infertile couple are legally compensated for their time and for the risk they assume.
And while surrogate mothers surely welcome such payments, they are hardly the only factor in the decision; many say they are motivated by a strong desire to help another woman fulfill her maternal dream. At first, organ compensation, like surrogacy, would seem odd, but then it would become more generally accepted. "
The combination of altruistic motives and financial gain reminds me of the complicated way these issues are viewed. In Repugnance as a Constraint on Markets, I explored the very wide variety of religious opinion on this subject. In this connection I mentioned the view of Pope John Paul II that virtuous organ donations are transformed into immoral commercial transactions by the introduction of monetary payments. (Pope Benedict has reaffirmed this view.*) Other religious traditions view the matter differently. I noted the "... opinion of the eminent Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach that someone who sells a kidney with the intention of saving a life does a good deed “even if he would not have donated his kidney only to save life.” "
*The Catholic thinker Michael Novak argues that the Popes' views are consistent with some kinds of government compensation for donors, as proposed in draft legislation by Senator Arlen Specter: For Those Who Desperately Need Organ Donations. Novak writes
"Senator Specter's legislative action does two necessary things: (a) it blocks potential abuses by commercialization and international (or even intra-national) trafficking; and (b) it allows individual states to make concrete judgments about non-transferable, non-cash benefits to potential donors, providing these incentives fall within moral guidelines. Senator Specter's legislation establishes that the 1984 federal law prohibiting the commercialization of organs (that is, a sale between individuals or through a broker) does not apply to state governments, when they encourage organ donation through non-transferable incentives. These incentives are not "compensation," and they are not tradable."..."What Specter’s bill does is frame government benefits for donors as what they really are: gifts from the government in appreciation for the generosity of the donor. They are not intended inducements to donate. For John Paul II and Benedict XVI, the invention of appropriate incentives for more frequent donations of organs is a noble endeavor. The U.S. Congress and the several states should take thought about this important task."
(Novak remarks in the article that his views on this subject have evolved since he took part as a discussant in an American Enterprise Institute symposium on my paper on Repugnance, in January 2008. The symposium site has audio and video recordings of the proceedings.)
Uncompensated deceased donation is supported by most religions; here's a summary from the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency..
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