Susan Adams in the August Forbes magazine (but online now) has a nice article about me and market design called (maybe for search engine reasons)" Un-Freakonomics: A Harvard professor uses economics to save lives, assign doctors and get kids into the right high school."
Here's the sentence I liked best:
"Leaning over a cup of Turkish coffee at a cafe across the Charles River from his messy journal-strewn corner office, he bends over backward to give credit to his younger protégés, students and coauthors. "Market design is a team sport," he insists."
If you want to see me bend over backwards while leaning over a cup of coffee, we'll have to have a cup of coffee:) But seriously, Ms. Adams got that part very right--lots of people have to do lots of things before a new marketplace is designed, adopted, and implemented. I'm very lucky in my colleagues.
The article title might suggest I have some sort of quarrel with Freakonomics, but that's not the case, although my work is very different. I recall reading Freakonomics and being full of admiration for the way it brought Steve Levitt's work to a general audience. I wouldn't mind doing that someday with market design, and maybe Ms. Adam's generous article will be a step towards making market design known to a wider public.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
F.C.C. Indecency Policy Rejected on Appeal
The NY Times reports the story: A federal appeals court struck down a Federal Communications Commission policy on indecency Tuesday, saying that regulations barring the use of “fleeting expletives” on radio and television violated the First Amendment because they were vague and could inhibit free speech.
"The decision, which many constitutional scholars expect to be appealed to the Supreme Court, stems from a challenge by Fox, CBS and other broadcasters to the F.C.C.’s decision in 2004 to begin enforcing a stricter standard of what kind of language is allowed on free, over-the-air television.
"The stricter policy followed several incidents that drew widespread public complaint, including Janet Jackson’s breast-baring episode at the 2004 Super Bowl and repeated instances of profanity by celebrities, including Cher, Paris Hilton and Bono, during the live broadcasts of awards programs. The Janet Jackson incident did not involve speech but it drew wide public outrage that spurred a crackdown by the F.C.C.
"In a unanimous three-judge decision, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York said that the F.C.C.’s current policy created “a chilling effect that goes far beyond the fleeting expletives at issue here” because it left broadcasters without a reliable guide to what the commission would find offensive. "The appeals court emphasized that it was not precluding federal regulation of broadcast standards. “We do not suggest that the F.C.C. could not create a constitutional policy,” the court said. “We hold only that the F.C.C.’s current policy fails constitutional scrutiny.” "
Here's my earlier post on the case: Fleeting expletives and wardrobe malfunctions: FCC vs Fox Television and CBS
"The decision, which many constitutional scholars expect to be appealed to the Supreme Court, stems from a challenge by Fox, CBS and other broadcasters to the F.C.C.’s decision in 2004 to begin enforcing a stricter standard of what kind of language is allowed on free, over-the-air television.
"The stricter policy followed several incidents that drew widespread public complaint, including Janet Jackson’s breast-baring episode at the 2004 Super Bowl and repeated instances of profanity by celebrities, including Cher, Paris Hilton and Bono, during the live broadcasts of awards programs. The Janet Jackson incident did not involve speech but it drew wide public outrage that spurred a crackdown by the F.C.C.
"In a unanimous three-judge decision, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York said that the F.C.C.’s current policy created “a chilling effect that goes far beyond the fleeting expletives at issue here” because it left broadcasters without a reliable guide to what the commission would find offensive. "The appeals court emphasized that it was not precluding federal regulation of broadcast standards. “We do not suggest that the F.C.C. could not create a constitutional policy,” the court said. “We hold only that the F.C.C.’s current policy fails constitutional scrutiny.” "
Here's my earlier post on the case: Fleeting expletives and wardrobe malfunctions: FCC vs Fox Television and CBS
Monday, July 19, 2010
Kidney exchange story at NEPKE
Market design is full of both frustration and satisfaction. Kidney exchange provides an unusual amount of each. Sometimes the satisfactions come in unexpected ways. Below is an email I received yesterday, whose author gave me permission to share it here, along with the photo.
"Dear Dr. Roth,
I want to thank you for your role in establishing the New England Program for Kidney Exchange. On July 8 my husband Bryan, in a 3-way swap with donor/ recipient pairs at Hopkins, RIH/ Brown and Dartmouth, received his new kidney after years of failing health. He is already feeling remarkably better, and his new kidney is functioning well.
Here is a photo of our 3-year-old, Lincoln, and 3-month-old, Haven, thanking Bryan's brother for donating his kidney to a stranger at Hopkins so Bryan could receive one from Dartmouth. I can imagine that theoretical academic work can lack a human face at times, so I wanted to assure you that your work is truly changing lives. I can't thank you enough for giving my boys their Daddy back.
Yours,
Katie Silberman
Providence"
Market design in Australia?
The Australian prime minister Julia Gillard makes a speech in which she refers to "market design." (I can't tell exactly what that means in Australian...). The story, in The Australian today, is headlined Gillard banks on Per Capita think tank.
"In her speech to Per Capita last year, she said the approach she had taken to education would provide the template for further work on policy design, innovation, research and evaluation.
"This included starting with the needs of students and focusing on the performance of institutions, rather than allowing the focus of policy to rest only on "systems, structures and sectoral concerns".
"She said this came with an emphasis on equity for the disadvantaged, a preoccupation with transparency and a concern with "market design".
"The idea of "market design" is a key theme for Per Capita. Governments have always had a role in setting the rules of conduct for markets through trade practices. Per Capita argues that with due government guidance, markets can perform a powerful role in delivering human services, such as the jobs network.
"Gillard returned to market design in her speech to the National Press Club on economic policy last week.
"As far as I am concerned, there is no inherent superiority in a public sector or a private sector provider, certainly not on ideological grounds. The challenge is not whether to combine public and private resources in these essential sectors, but how best to do it," she said. "
Update: Joshua Gans tells me that "market design" means the same thing in Australia that it does in Boston, and he points me to a talk on the subject he gave to the thinktank in question: Emerging Concepts in Market Design. (And here's Joshua's post on the subject today, to close the loop:) What is market design anyway?
"In her speech to Per Capita last year, she said the approach she had taken to education would provide the template for further work on policy design, innovation, research and evaluation.
"This included starting with the needs of students and focusing on the performance of institutions, rather than allowing the focus of policy to rest only on "systems, structures and sectoral concerns".
"She said this came with an emphasis on equity for the disadvantaged, a preoccupation with transparency and a concern with "market design".
"The idea of "market design" is a key theme for Per Capita. Governments have always had a role in setting the rules of conduct for markets through trade practices. Per Capita argues that with due government guidance, markets can perform a powerful role in delivering human services, such as the jobs network.
"Gillard returned to market design in her speech to the National Press Club on economic policy last week.
"As far as I am concerned, there is no inherent superiority in a public sector or a private sector provider, certainly not on ideological grounds. The challenge is not whether to combine public and private resources in these essential sectors, but how best to do it," she said. "
Update: Joshua Gans tells me that "market design" means the same thing in Australia that it does in Boston, and he points me to a talk on the subject he gave to the thinktank in question: Emerging Concepts in Market Design. (And here's Joshua's post on the subject today, to close the loop:) What is market design anyway?
Misc. kidney exchanges and chains
At the University of Wisconsin hospital, a non-directed donor chain involving four donors and four recipients was completed in a day: At UW Hospital, four kidney transplants in one day and eight people are connected forever
Here's a 21 minute video interview of Dr. Matthew Cooper at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, about a 4 transplant non-directed donor kidney exchange chain conducted there over two days. Among the logistical issues he mentions (e.g. 8 operating room teams) are those involving protecting the privacy of all the donors and recipients (around minute 3:45). And (around 9:15, and not making any specific comparisons to other hospitals) "We take no shortcuts at the University of Maryland," he says. Here is another short video, with some OR footage. More videos here from UMMC.
Here's a 4 minute video, "United by their gifts," about the meeting of the donors and recipients in the three way NEPKE exchange I posted about earlier (Kidney exchange at NEPKE ).
There have been some delays in starting a national kidney exchange program in Australia: Waiting for Kidney eXchange "One of the driving forces behind the exchange program is Professor Paolo Ferrari. He helped introduce it in Western Australia in 2007.
"We really hope it can be rolled out nationally before an election is called," he said.
"Otherwise it will be pushed back months."
A spokeswoman for the Organ and Tissue Donation Authority said the exchange program was expected to begin in Australian hospitals in August or September.
"The first step will be to enrol potential participants in the program, followed by the clinical process of matching donors and recipients, followed by the surgical processes," she said.
The spokeswoman said all states and territories had now considered the detail of the program.
"This process, through senior medical representatives, was completed last week, paving the way for health ministers to be briefed during July."
It took the UK three years to set up its kidney exchange program. "
Here's a 21 minute video interview of Dr. Matthew Cooper at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, about a 4 transplant non-directed donor kidney exchange chain conducted there over two days. Among the logistical issues he mentions (e.g. 8 operating room teams) are those involving protecting the privacy of all the donors and recipients (around minute 3:45). And (around 9:15, and not making any specific comparisons to other hospitals) "We take no shortcuts at the University of Maryland," he says. Here is another short video, with some OR footage. More videos here from UMMC.
Here's a 4 minute video, "United by their gifts," about the meeting of the donors and recipients in the three way NEPKE exchange I posted about earlier (Kidney exchange at NEPKE ).
There have been some delays in starting a national kidney exchange program in Australia: Waiting for Kidney eXchange "One of the driving forces behind the exchange program is Professor Paolo Ferrari. He helped introduce it in Western Australia in 2007.
"We really hope it can be rolled out nationally before an election is called," he said.
"Otherwise it will be pushed back months."
A spokeswoman for the Organ and Tissue Donation Authority said the exchange program was expected to begin in Australian hospitals in August or September.
"The first step will be to enrol potential participants in the program, followed by the clinical process of matching donors and recipients, followed by the surgical processes," she said.
The spokeswoman said all states and territories had now considered the detail of the program.
"This process, through senior medical representatives, was completed last week, paving the way for health ministers to be briefed during July."
It took the UK three years to set up its kidney exchange program. "
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Signaling preferences in matching markets
Preference Signaling in Matching Markets, by Peter Coles, Alexey Kushnir, and Muriel Niederle, NBER Working Paper No. 16185, July 2010. (Here's an ungated version.)
"Abstract: Many labor markets share three stylized facts: employers cannot give full attention to all candidates, candidates are ready to provide information about their preferences for particular employers, and employers value and are prepared to act on this information. In this paper we study how a signaling mechanism, where each worker can send a signal of interest to one employer, facilitates matches in such markets. We find that introducing a signaling mechanism increases the welfare of workers and the number of matches, while the change in firm welfare is ambiguous. A signaling mechanism adds the most value for balanced markets."
Two of the three authors of this paper are on the AEA job market committee that instituted the AEA's job market signaling mechanism. This new working paper brings some theory to the party.
See also
Peter Coles, John Cawley, Phillip B. Levine, Muriel Niederle, Alvin E. Roth, and John J. Siegfried , " The Job Market for New Economists: A Market Design Perspective," revised April 6, 2010, forthcoming in Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 2010.
"Abstract: Many labor markets share three stylized facts: employers cannot give full attention to all candidates, candidates are ready to provide information about their preferences for particular employers, and employers value and are prepared to act on this information. In this paper we study how a signaling mechanism, where each worker can send a signal of interest to one employer, facilitates matches in such markets. We find that introducing a signaling mechanism increases the welfare of workers and the number of matches, while the change in firm welfare is ambiguous. A signaling mechanism adds the most value for balanced markets."
Two of the three authors of this paper are on the AEA job market committee that instituted the AEA's job market signaling mechanism. This new working paper brings some theory to the party.
See also
Peter Coles, John Cawley, Phillip B. Levine, Muriel Niederle, Alvin E. Roth, and John J. Siegfried , " The Job Market for New Economists: A Market Design Perspective," revised April 6, 2010, forthcoming in Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 2010.
marketdesigner.blogspot.xxx
Sex domain .xxx approved by regulators .
"ICANN, the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers, which is responsible for overseeing the creation and distribution of web addresses, finally gave the go-ahead for the special .xxx domain name at a meeting in Brussels.
"ICANN, the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers, which is responsible for overseeing the creation and distribution of web addresses, finally gave the go-ahead for the special .xxx domain name at a meeting in Brussels.
The adult entertainment industry has long campaigned in favour of a special .xxx suffix, similar to the .com and .co.uk domain names used by other companies."
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Polyandry
Polyandry is much less common in the world than the other form of polygamy, polygyny, in which a man has two or more wives. In polyandrous households, one wife has two or more husbands. It was a form of plural marriage in resource poor regions.
Now, the NY Times reports, One Bride for 2 Brothers: A Custom Fades in India
In the remote villages of this Himalayan valley, polyandry, the practice of multiple men marrying one wife, was for centuries a practical solution to a set of geographic, economic and meteorological problems.
"People here survived off small farms hewed from the mountainsides at an altitude of 11,000 feet, and dividing property among several sons would leave each with too little land to feed a family. A harsh mountain winter ends the short planting season abruptly. The margin between starvation and survival is slender."...
"Polyandry has been practiced here for centuries, but in a single generation it has all but vanished. "...
"Polyandry has never been common in India, but pockets have persisted, especially among the Hindu and Buddhist communities of the Himalayas, where India abuts Tibet."
"People here survived off small farms hewed from the mountainsides at an altitude of 11,000 feet, and dividing property among several sons would leave each with too little land to feed a family. A harsh mountain winter ends the short planting season abruptly. The margin between starvation and survival is slender."...
"Polyandry has been practiced here for centuries, but in a single generation it has all but vanished. "...
"Polyandry has never been common in India, but pockets have persisted, especially among the Hindu and Buddhist communities of the Himalayas, where India abuts Tibet."
David Blackwell
David H. Blackwell dies at 91; pioneering statistician at Howard and Berkeley
"David H. Blackwell, 91, who rose from poverty in Southern Illinois to become one of the country's most prominent statisticians and the first African American to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences, died July 8 at a hospital in Berkeley, Calif., of complications from a stroke.
"Dr. Blackwell was also the first black tenured professor at the University of California at Berkeley, where he became chairman of the statistics department. ...
"While in Washington, he became interested in statistics after hearing a lecture by Agriculture Department statistician Meyer A. Girshick. After Dr. Blackwell challenged one of Girshick's assertions, the two met and became friends and colleagues.
"They wrote a 1954 book, "The Theory of Games and Statistical Decisions." It established them as leaders in the burgeoning field of game theory, which uses mathematics to understand winning strategies in situations that can be applied to economics, biology, engineering, political science and international relations. "
Friday, July 16, 2010
Consolidation and competition among economics jobs aggregators
At VoxEu, there's an announcement today (July 16) of a new service and a combining of forces: Introducing a free database of nearly all jobs for PhD economists by Raphael Auer and Richard Baldwin, founders of walras.org and Vox respectively.
They write:
"To help grow the next generation of economists, VoxEU.org has teamed with walras.org to form the world’s largest database of job openings for PhD economists. In addition to this comprehensive database of nearly all job openings for PhDs in economics and related fields, our partner walras.org also offers a free online application system allowing the exchange of all application documents and reference letters."It looks like this puts them in pretty direct competition with the combination of Econjobmarket.org with the European Economic Association. And they are both competing with software providers who deal directly with the HR departments of universities and provide university-specific web sites for handling the information flow of job applications. (The AEA's Job Openings for Economists doesn't propose to handle the application process, but of course it is another big aggregator of job ads.)
We anticipated some of this in our forthcoming paper
In that paper we wrote
"Two kinds of web applications have a presence in the market. Some departments are in institutions that use a university-wide platform, usually purchased commercially and then operated by the Human Resources department. Such university-specific systems impose high costs on applicants and references because they require individual uploading for each application and letter of reference.
"Other employers use third-party services such as EconJobMarket.org, AcademicJobsOnline.org (run by Duke’s Math Department, offering services to all sorts of departments), and others such as Academic Careers Online (http://www.academiccareers-job.com/), Economist Jobs (http://www.econ-jobs.com/), EconCareers (http://www.econcareers.com/), and LiberalArtsFacultyJobs.com. The job listing aggregator walras.org may also start such a service. The website of EconJobMarket.org (accessed March 1, 2010) indicates some consolidation: their service has been merged with that of the European Economic Association and has been endorsed by other economics organizations."
Dov Samet on marrying well
Dubi Samet has a paper on stable marriage, explaining why you might have married as well as you did, and explaining how, when there is substantial agreement on rankings, you and your spouse can't have done too differently well.
(I conclude that if, like me, you "married up" it is because your spouse has contrarian tastes.)
"Abstract: When men and women are objectively ranked in a marriage problem, say by beauty, then pairing individuals of equal rank is the only stable matching. We generalize this observation by providing bounds on the size of the rank gap between mates in a stable matchings in terms of the size of the ranking sets. Using a metric on the set of matchings, we provide bounds on the diameter of the core---the set of stable matchings---in terms of the size of the ranking sets and in terms of the size of the rank gap. We conclude that when the set of rankings is small, so are the core and the rank gap in stable matchings."
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Game theory from A to Z
I'll be travelling this morning to Stony Brook, to participate in the part of their annual festival that is celebrating Bob Aumann's 80th birthday, and Shmuel Zamir's 70th.
Here's a picture I took of the two of them at a Stony Brook party in honor of Lloyd Shapley in the summer of 2003.
"Aumann" and "Zamir" were two of the first names I learned to conjure with, when I started studying game theory in the 1970's.
יום הולדת שמח, Happy birthday Bob and Shmuel.
And here's the program.
The Stony Brook Game Theory Festival of the Game Theory Society in Honor of Robert Aumann’s Eightieth Birthday
July 15, 2010 in Honor of Shmuel Zamir’s Seventieth Birthday
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Hiring Indian wombs
Steve Leider writes:
The Indian Parliament will be considering legislation to regulate the practice of commercial surrogacy in India. There are approximately 350 clinics overseeing an estimated 1500 pregnancy attempts annually, one third of which involve foreigners, making up a $445 million industry. Surrogacy in India is much cheaper than in the United States: “The entire process costs customers around $23,000 — less than one-fifth of the going rate in the U.S. — of which the surrogate mother usually receives about $7,500 in installments.”
Surrogacy in India has been largely unregulated since being legalized in 2002 - the Indian Council of Medical Research issued guidelines in 2005, but IVF clinics often establish their own policies. The draft legislation proposes several substantial restrictions:
“Exploitation of surrogates by infertile couples, and vice versa, has been a serious concern ever since in-vitro fertilization (IVF) started in India. ‘But this will put an end to it. Infertile couples don't have to go hunting for surrogate mothers. The bank will help them get one. As a result, the couple will have all information about her background and medical history before hiring her womb,’ said Dr R S Sharma, deputy director general of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), who has been involved in the process of drafting the Bill.”
“These banks - both private and government - will be accredited by state boards. The board will also have a registration authority which will maintain a list of all IVF centres and monitor their functioning. ‘So far we didn't have any law regarding surrogacy. This is a step towards legalizing surrogacy and fixing responsibilities of the parties involved in the process," said Dr Sharma’”….
“These ART [Assisted Reproductive Technology] banks will be independent of IVF clinics. Oocyte (unfertilized egg) and semen preservation will be their main focus. ‘In the past few years, IVF clinics have mushroomed in the country. There is no check on their practices. There is no quality check on the semen and oocytes preserved by them and offered to infertile couples. These banks will have a proper system, where every minor detail about gametes and surrogates will be documented,’ said a senior doctor at AIIMS who too is involved in the drafting of the bill.”
“Experts say that once a bank is in place, it will maintain a database of surrogate mothers. A woman is allowed five live births, including her own children. ‘It has been seen that poor women sell their womb several times for money. This has a damaging effect on their body. The new bill clearly states that a woman can't have more than five live births and donate oocytes more than six times in her life,’ said Dr Sharma.”….
“The bill proposes stringent rules for foreigners looking for surrogate mothers. It will be mandatory for foreign couples to submit two certificates - one on their country's policy on surrogacy and the other stating that the child born to the surrogate mother will get their country's citizenship. "They also have to nominate a local guardian, who will take care of the surrogate during the gestation period," said Dr Sharma.”
Prominent IVF doctors like Dr. Nayna Patel (who was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2007) have objected to the new regulations:
It's a suggestion that has caused a stir in the medical community. Patel insists that she will not accept a surrogate sent to Akanksha unless she herself is permitted to perform medical and background checks. She maintains that ART banks will not have enough experience to determine whether a woman is fit for surrogacy, let alone replicate the personal bonds she cultivates with her surrogates. ‘The trust they have with me is what makes the whole thing secure and safe,’ she says. ‘And at the end, when they want to buy a house or a piece of land for farming, we get them the best deal. With this bill, we will not know what they are going to do with such a big amount of money.’”
Two recent court cases highlighted the need for increased regulation. In 2008 a Japanese couple divorced during the surrogacy:
“The husband still wanted to raise Manji, but his ex-wife did not. The father found himself in a catch-22. India requires that a child be legally adopted before leaving the country, but bars single men from adopting. Manji's father was denied travel documents for the baby. The situation was widely covered in Indian and global media, and grew into a legal and diplomatic crisis. Manji was eventually permitted to leave for Japan [after custody was granted to the child’s grandmother].”
A German couple also experienced legal problems:
“Since the day they were delivered more than two years ago, twin toddlers Nikolas and Leonard Balaz have been stateless and stranded in India. Their parents are German nationals, but the woman to whom the babies were born is a 20-something Indian surrogate from Gujarat. The boys were refused German passports because the country does not recognize surrogacy as a legitimate means of parenthood. And India doesn't typically confer citizenship on surrogate-born children conceived by foreigners. Last week, Germany relented, issuing the Balazes travel visas, and the entire family is finally going home.”
Surrogacy is also subject to substantial disapproval within India, being criticized as the "commoditisation of motherhood" and “a peculiar form of prostitution”. Surrogates often hide their pregnancy by moving away from friends and family temporarily: "Otherwise, we'll be treated like social pariahs… This isn't a respectable thing to do in our society." Others say it is their husbands’ baby, and then after giving the baby to the intended parents say the newborn has died. The Catholic Church has also opposed the new law for legitimizing surrogacy:
“An Oriental-rite Catholic Church in Kerala says it plans to try and torpedo an upcoming bill to legalize surrogacy in India, which it says will destabilize a family system already struggling ‘under Western influence.’ ‘The Church will take all possible steps to stop the bill and will alert elected state representatives about the impact it will have on family life,’ Syro-Malabar Church spokesman Father Paul Thelakat told ucanews.com on June 24. ‘We have been teaching our faithful about moral living, so if the government enacts a bill which is against our teachings, how can we sit idle,’ the priest said.”
A documentary focusing on the outsourcing of surrogacy (particularly to India) called Google Baby recently premiered on HBO (an additional trailer is available on the director’s website).
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The market for musicians (in top orchestras)
Need a Job? Help Wanted at the N.Y. Philharmonic . These posts, naturally, are rarefied and have little to do with the normal job picture nationwide. But the number of openings prompts the question of why so many spots stand vacant in a market glutted with talented musicians looking to move up to better orchestras or just to find jobs.
"The economy has had an effect. It is cheaper to leave jobs unfilled and to pay substitutes, who usually receive close to the minimum base pay and fewer benefits. Starting salaries at the 10 top-paying orchestras next season range from $101,600 (Minnesota) to $136,500 (Los Angeles), but principal players can earn two or three times that.
“It happens that you do save money,” Mr. Mehta acknowledged, but he said the lingering vacancies in New York were not cost-saving measures."...
"The elaborate logistical demands of orchestral auditions cause delays. First auditions are advertised. Then time must pass for applicants to send in résumés and tapes and practice the assigned excerpts from the orchestral literature. A committee of players, usually in the section, has to be formed, and preliminary rounds of auditions have to be scheduled. After the finalists are chosen, a time must be found when the busy music director and committee members can hear them. The process can easily stretch out for many months. "Often no winner is chosen. That happened last year with the Philharmonic’s principal clarinet job. Two rounds of auditions for associate principal horn player and a double bassist also produced no result. The music director in New York has final say but makes the decision in consultation with the committee. "The Boston Symphony usually has a high number of openings, because the demands on the players — the Tanglewood festival, the Boston Pops and regular concerts — make scheduling auditions especially difficult, as does the orchestra’s system of hiring based on a two-thirds majority in committee. "The finest musician can have a bad day: it’s a paradox of the process, in which less than an hour of playing is supposed to determine whether a musician is suitable for the continual day in, day out life of an orchestra member. And in another contradiction, the aspirants play alone for a job that depends on group effort. (Winners are usually on probation for a year or two, effectively a tryout with the ensemble.) On occasion, when no winner is chosen, established orchestral players from elsewhere will be invited to play as guests in a kind of informal tryout. It’s an imperfect system, but no one has figured out a better one." The orchestra audition process is the topic of the paper"Orchestrating Impartiality: The Effect of 'Blind' Auditions on Female Musicians" by Claudia Goldin and Cecilia Rouse American Economic Review (September 2000)
“It happens that you do save money,” Mr. Mehta acknowledged, but he said the lingering vacancies in New York were not cost-saving measures."...
"The elaborate logistical demands of orchestral auditions cause delays. First auditions are advertised. Then time must pass for applicants to send in résumés and tapes and practice the assigned excerpts from the orchestral literature. A committee of players, usually in the section, has to be formed, and preliminary rounds of auditions have to be scheduled. After the finalists are chosen, a time must be found when the busy music director and committee members can hear them. The process can easily stretch out for many months. "Often no winner is chosen. That happened last year with the Philharmonic’s principal clarinet job. Two rounds of auditions for associate principal horn player and a double bassist also produced no result. The music director in New York has final say but makes the decision in consultation with the committee. "The Boston Symphony usually has a high number of openings, because the demands on the players — the Tanglewood festival, the Boston Pops and regular concerts — make scheduling auditions especially difficult, as does the orchestra’s system of hiring based on a two-thirds majority in committee. "The finest musician can have a bad day: it’s a paradox of the process, in which less than an hour of playing is supposed to determine whether a musician is suitable for the continual day in, day out life of an orchestra member. And in another contradiction, the aspirants play alone for a job that depends on group effort. (Winners are usually on probation for a year or two, effectively a tryout with the ensemble.) On occasion, when no winner is chosen, established orchestral players from elsewhere will be invited to play as guests in a kind of informal tryout. It’s an imperfect system, but no one has figured out a better one." The orchestra audition process is the topic of the paper"Orchestrating Impartiality: The Effect of 'Blind' Auditions on Female Musicians" by Claudia Goldin and Cecilia Rouse American Economic Review (September 2000)
Monday, July 12, 2010
"The practical power of game theory"
That's the title of Northwestern's news release about my 2010 Nancy L. Schwartz Memorial Lecture. (The title of the lecture was "Market Design," and after some general introduction to market design I focused mostly on kidney exchange.) Here's the video (1 hour, 20 minutes).
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Egg shortage in Britain
Desperate hunt for donor eggs forces couples to seek IVF abroad, the Telegraph reports.
"Waiting lists for fertility treatment involving donated eggs have risen in this country since laws were changed to prevent women from donating anonymously.
"Waiting lists for fertility treatment involving donated eggs have risen in this country since laws were changed to prevent women from donating anonymously.
"Now research shows the national shortage is the main reason couples go abroad for fertility treatment, with almost half of British "fertility tourists" going to Spain, where anonymity is allowed, and donors receive generous compensation.
"The study for the Economic and Social Research Council found that women who left Britain for IVF treatment were most likely to do so in search of a donor eggs, after encountering long waits in this country. "...
"Almost half of the women went to Spain thanks to policies which pay women up to 1000 euros to donate eggs, while remaining anonymous.
"Next was the Czech Republic, which also allows anonymous donation, and more generous payments than this country, where clinics are only allowed to provide £250 to those who donate eggs.
"Others went to the United States, South Africa, Barbados, Russia and Ukraine."...
"Research collaborator Dr Allan Pacey, a fertility expert from Sheffield University, said the findings of the research suggested more should be done to encourage egg donation in this country, including more generous compensation payments for those who underwent the procedure.
"Since legislation was passed in 2004 ending donor anonymity, the number of egg donors fell for three years, only rising marginally in 2008, the last year for which figures are held, when 1,084 eggs were donated.
"Experts believe more than double that number of donations would be required to meet current demand.
"Dr Pacey said he believed the shortage of donors in Britain was more to do with the small amount of compensation women were given rather than the lack of anonymity.
"Egg donation is a pretty horrendous thing to go through, so I think you could easily argue that £250 [the limit set in Britain] is not sufficient," he said.
"Regulators are currently reviewing the rules they set in 2006 which set the current limits.
"Prof Lisa Jardine, the chairman of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, has said that a rise in payment levels could encourage more women to donate eggs, meaning fewer infertile women would feel forced to seek treatment abroad."
"The study for the Economic and Social Research Council found that women who left Britain for IVF treatment were most likely to do so in search of a donor eggs, after encountering long waits in this country. "...
"Almost half of the women went to Spain thanks to policies which pay women up to 1000 euros to donate eggs, while remaining anonymous.
"Next was the Czech Republic, which also allows anonymous donation, and more generous payments than this country, where clinics are only allowed to provide £250 to those who donate eggs.
"Others went to the United States, South Africa, Barbados, Russia and Ukraine."...
"Research collaborator Dr Allan Pacey, a fertility expert from Sheffield University, said the findings of the research suggested more should be done to encourage egg donation in this country, including more generous compensation payments for those who underwent the procedure.
"Since legislation was passed in 2004 ending donor anonymity, the number of egg donors fell for three years, only rising marginally in 2008, the last year for which figures are held, when 1,084 eggs were donated.
"Experts believe more than double that number of donations would be required to meet current demand.
"Dr Pacey said he believed the shortage of donors in Britain was more to do with the small amount of compensation women were given rather than the lack of anonymity.
"Egg donation is a pretty horrendous thing to go through, so I think you could easily argue that £250 [the limit set in Britain] is not sufficient," he said.
"Regulators are currently reviewing the rules they set in 2006 which set the current limits.
"Prof Lisa Jardine, the chairman of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, has said that a rise in payment levels could encourage more women to donate eggs, meaning fewer infertile women would feel forced to seek treatment abroad."
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Same sex marriage in Kagan's confirmation hearings
The confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan provide an excuse for a NY Times OpEd by Jonathan Rauch to speculate on how she might feel about same sex marriage, based on some general principles she admitted to. (Rauch writes that he is himself a spouse in a same sex marriage that is recognized where he works, in Washington DC, but not where he lives, in Virginia.) A ‘Kagan Doctrine’ on Gay Marriage
"Civil rights, she implies, are important, but so is judicial modesty, and a sensible judge balances the two. A sensible judge can say something like, “Same-sex marriage may indeed be a civil right, but not all civil rights demand immediate judicial intervention, and other important interests militate against imposing this one on the whole country right now.”
"Civil rights, she implies, are important, but so is judicial modesty, and a sensible judge balances the two. A sensible judge can say something like, “Same-sex marriage may indeed be a civil right, but not all civil rights demand immediate judicial intervention, and other important interests militate against imposing this one on the whole country right now.”
"Viewed in that light, the argument for upholding California’s gay marriage ban has merit — not because the policy is fair or wise (it isn’t) but because it represents a reasonable judgment that the people of California are entitled to make. Barring gay marriage but providing civil unions is not the balance I would choose, but it is a defensible balance to strike, one that arguably takes “a cautious approach to making such a significant change to the institution of marriage” (as the lawyers defending Proposition 8 write in one of their briefs) while going a long way toward meeting gay couples’ needs."
Friday, July 9, 2010
Boston Judge Rules Federal Gay Marriage Ban Unconstitutional
Judge Rules Gay Marriage Ban Unconstitutional
"A U.S. judge in Boston has ruled that a federal gay marriage ban is unconstitutional because it interferes with the right of a state to define marriage.
"U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro on Thursday ruled in favor of gay couples' rights in two separate challenges to the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA.
"The state had argued the law denied benefits such as Medicaid to gay married couples in Massachusetts, where same-sex unions have been legal since 2004.
"Tauro agreed, and said the act forces Massachusetts to discriminate against its own citizens.
"The federal government, by enacting and enforcing DOMA, plainly encroaches upon the firmly entrenched province of the state, and in doing so, offends the Tenth Amendment. For that reason, the statute is invalid," Tauro wrote in a ruling in a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Martha Coakley.
"Ruling in a separate case filed by Gays & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, Tauro found that DOMA violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.
"We've maintained from the very beginning that there was absolutely no basis for this law treating one class of married Massachusetts couples different from everybody else and the court has recognized that," said Gary Buseck, GLAD's legal director.
"The Justice Department argued the federal government has the right to set eligibility requirements for federal benefits -- including requiring that those benefits only go to couples in marriages between a man and a woman.
"The law was enacted by Congress in 1996 when it appeared Hawaii would soon legalize same-sex marriage and opponents worried that other states would be forced to recognize such marriages. The lawsuit challenges only the portion of the law that prevents the federal government from affording pension and other benefits to same-sex couples.
"Since then, five states and the District of Columbia have legalized gay marriage."
Here's an earlier post: Same sex spouses versus Defense of Marriage Act, and here's an even earlier one: When a protected transaction meets a repugnant one: The MA suit over the Defense of Marriage Act
Deceased organ donor registry in NY
The NY Organ Donor Network has issued the following news release about a change in NY State to facilitate online registration. NEW YORK ORGAN DONOR NETWORK APPLAUDS GOVERNOR PATERSON’S SIGNING OF ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE ACT
"New York, NY - July 8, 2010: Governor David Paterson today signed into law an electronic signature bill that will dramatically improve the organ donation process in New York. The law will allow New Yorkers to register online to become organ donors. The bill passed the Assembly unanimously on April 27 and the Senate on May 12. The Electronic Signature Act eliminates the need to download enrollment forms and mail them in."
Here's a previous post on the issue.
HT Judd Kessler
"New York, NY - July 8, 2010: Governor David Paterson today signed into law an electronic signature bill that will dramatically improve the organ donation process in New York. The law will allow New Yorkers to register online to become organ donors. The bill passed the Assembly unanimously on April 27 and the Senate on May 12. The Electronic Signature Act eliminates the need to download enrollment forms and mail them in."
Here's a previous post on the issue.
HT Judd Kessler
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Cryonics as a repugnant transaction
The NY Times has an article on those who wish to have their remains frozen after death, in the hope of eventual resurrection at a time when medical technology might make that feasible. Much of the story focuses on economist Robin Hanson of GMU, and his wife Peggy Jackson, a hospice worker who finds the idea unpleasant. The article goes on to say that this is quite common: many people, in particular the spouses of enthusiasts, find the idea repugnant. (It's not every NY Times article about an economist that includes references to Gilgamesh and Voldemort...)
Until Cryonics Do Us Part
"Robin, a deep thinker most at home in thought experiments, says he believes that there is some small chance his brain will be resurrected, that its time in cryopreservation will be merely a brief pause in the course of his life. Peggy finds the quest an act of cosmic selfishness. And within a particular American subculture, the pair are practically a cliché.
"Among cryonicists, Peggy’s reaction might be referred to as an instance of the “hostile-wife phenomenon,” as discussed in a 2008 paper by Aschwin de Wolf, Chana de Wolf and Mike Federowicz.“From its inception in 1964,” they write, “cryonics has been known to frequently produce intense hostility from spouses who are not cryonicists.” The opposition of romantic partners, Aschwin told me last year, is something that “everyone” involved in cryonics knows about but that he and Chana, his wife, find difficult to understand. To someone who believes that low-temperature preservation offers a legitimate chance at extending life, obstructionism can seem as willfully cruel as withholding medical treatment. Even if you don’t want to join your husband in storage, ask believers, what is to be lost by respecting a man’s wishes with regard to the treatment of his own remains? Would-be cryonicists forced to give it all up, the de Wolfs and Federowicz write, “face certain death.”
"Premonitions of this problem can be found in the deepest reaches of cryonicist history, starting with the prime mover. Robert Ettinger is the father of cryonics, his 1964 book, “The Prospect of Immortality,” its founding text. “This is not a hobby or conversation piece,” he wrote in 1968, adding, “it is the struggle for survival. Drive a used car if the cost of a new one interferes. Divorce your wife if she will not cooperate.” Today, with just fewer than200 patients preserved within the two major cryonics facilities, the Michigan-based Cryonics Institute and the Arizona-based Alcor, and with 10 times as many signed up to be stored upon their legal deaths, cryonicists have created support networks with which to tackle marital strife. Cryonet, a mailing list on “cryonics-related issues,” takes as one of its issues the opposition of wives. (The ratio of men to women among living cyronicists is roughly three to one.) “She thinks the whole idea is sick, twisted and generally spooky,” wrote one man newly acquainted with the hostile-wife phenomenon. “She is more intelligent than me, insatiably curious and lovingly devoted to me and our 2-year-old daughter. So why is this happening?” "
...
"Whether or not the human race subconsciously equates attempts to defeat death with treachery, it’s true that a general air of menace hangs over the quest for immortality in Western literature. Think Gilgamesh or Voldemort. “There is a lot of ancient cultural stereotyping about the motives and moral character of people who pursue life extension,” says James Hughes, the executive director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, a nonprofit organization enamored of life extension. Hughes has chosen not to participate in what he considers a worthy experiment. “Although it’s a rather marginal bet for a potentially huge payoff,” he says, “I value my relationship with my wife.” "
HT to Tyler Cowen at MR, whose post contains some related links.
Until Cryonics Do Us Part
"Robin, a deep thinker most at home in thought experiments, says he believes that there is some small chance his brain will be resurrected, that its time in cryopreservation will be merely a brief pause in the course of his life. Peggy finds the quest an act of cosmic selfishness. And within a particular American subculture, the pair are practically a cliché.
"Among cryonicists, Peggy’s reaction might be referred to as an instance of the “hostile-wife phenomenon,” as discussed in a 2008 paper by Aschwin de Wolf, Chana de Wolf and Mike Federowicz.“From its inception in 1964,” they write, “cryonics has been known to frequently produce intense hostility from spouses who are not cryonicists.” The opposition of romantic partners, Aschwin told me last year, is something that “everyone” involved in cryonics knows about but that he and Chana, his wife, find difficult to understand. To someone who believes that low-temperature preservation offers a legitimate chance at extending life, obstructionism can seem as willfully cruel as withholding medical treatment. Even if you don’t want to join your husband in storage, ask believers, what is to be lost by respecting a man’s wishes with regard to the treatment of his own remains? Would-be cryonicists forced to give it all up, the de Wolfs and Federowicz write, “face certain death.”
"Premonitions of this problem can be found in the deepest reaches of cryonicist history, starting with the prime mover. Robert Ettinger is the father of cryonics, his 1964 book, “The Prospect of Immortality,” its founding text. “This is not a hobby or conversation piece,” he wrote in 1968, adding, “it is the struggle for survival. Drive a used car if the cost of a new one interferes. Divorce your wife if she will not cooperate.” Today, with just fewer than200 patients preserved within the two major cryonics facilities, the Michigan-based Cryonics Institute and the Arizona-based Alcor, and with 10 times as many signed up to be stored upon their legal deaths, cryonicists have created support networks with which to tackle marital strife. Cryonet, a mailing list on “cryonics-related issues,” takes as one of its issues the opposition of wives. (The ratio of men to women among living cyronicists is roughly three to one.) “She thinks the whole idea is sick, twisted and generally spooky,” wrote one man newly acquainted with the hostile-wife phenomenon. “She is more intelligent than me, insatiably curious and lovingly devoted to me and our 2-year-old daughter. So why is this happening?” "
...
"Whether or not the human race subconsciously equates attempts to defeat death with treachery, it’s true that a general air of menace hangs over the quest for immortality in Western literature. Think Gilgamesh or Voldemort. “There is a lot of ancient cultural stereotyping about the motives and moral character of people who pursue life extension,” says James Hughes, the executive director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, a nonprofit organization enamored of life extension. Hughes has chosen not to participate in what he considers a worthy experiment. “Although it’s a rather marginal bet for a potentially huge payoff,” he says, “I value my relationship with my wife.” "
HT to Tyler Cowen at MR, whose post contains some related links.
The Market for scientists
"It’s not an education story, it’s a labor market story,” says Harold Salzman in a Miller-McCune story by Beryl Lieff Benderly about the market for scientists:The Real Science Gap
"It’s not insufficient schooling or a shortage of scientists. It’s a lack of job opportunities. Americans need the reasonable hope that spending their youth preparing to do science will provide a satisfactory career."...
"Many young Americans bright enough to do the math therefore conclude that instead of gambling 12 years on the small chance of becoming an assistant professor, they can invest that time in becoming a neurosurgeon, or a quarter of it in becoming a lawyer or a sixth in earning an MBA. And many who do earn doctorates in math-based subjects opt to use their skills devising mathematical models on Wall Street, rather than solving scientific puzzles in university labs, hoping a professorship opens up."
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Growth of kidney donation by unrelated donors
Kidney exchange has allowed more people to receive kidneys from unrelated donors, but that isn't all that's going on, it has also become more acceptable for people to receive a kidney from friends and even people who they met on the internet.
George Taniwaki--a prospective donor who publishes a very interesting blog--has a post on this, The rise of unrelated donor transplants.
It includes admirably clear data graphics and analysis.
"Even more interesting is the extremely rapid rise of alternative sources of living donors. The last three lines from the figure above are rescaled in the figure below. The fastest growing source of living donors is paired exchanges. ... Kidney exchanges have the potential of becoming the leading source of live donor kidneys within a few years."
In addition, he has some insights into some of the complicated politics of kidney transplantation, in which there is some over-claiming of "firsts."
"The final fast-growing source of donors are people who donate without a specific recipient in mind. They are called nondirected or altruistic donors. Johns Hopkins Medicine claims to have performed the first nondirected live donor transplant in September, 1999. However, UNOS data shows two earlier donors in 1998 and one in 1988, the first year data is available. In addition to increasing the total number of donations, nondirected donors also play an important role in starting donor chains in kidney exchanges. Donor chains reduce the risk to recipients of their matched donors backing out an exchange after the first transplant takes place. Thus, nondirected donors reduce the need to perform the transplant surgeries simultaneously. This simplifies scheduling personnel and operating rooms for kidney exchange transplants."
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Grade inflation in law schools
The NY Times report that some law schools are retroactively raising the grades they have given to their students, in an effort to improve their prospects in the difficult market for many law grads: In Law Schools, Grades Go Up, Just Like That.
"[Loyola Law School in Los Angeles] is retroactively inflating its grades, tacking on 0.333 to every grade recorded in the last few years. The goal is to make its students look more attractive in a competitive job market.
In the last two years, at least 10 law schools have deliberately changed their grading systems to make them more lenient. These include law schools like New York University and Georgetown, as well as Golden Gate University and Tulane University, which just announced the change this month. Some recruiters at law firms keep track of these changes and consider them when interviewing, and some do not.
Law schools seem to view higher grades as one way to rescue their students from the tough economic climate — and perhaps more to the point, to protect their own reputations and rankings. Once able to practically guarantee gainful employment to thousands of students every year, the schools are now fielding complaints from more and more unemployed graduates, frequently drowning in student debt.
They have come up with a number of strategic responses. Besides the usual career counseling measures, many top schools have bumped up their on-campus interview weeks from the autumn to August, before the school year even starts, because they want their students to have a chance to nab a job slot before their counterparts at other schools do. "
...
"Harvard and Stanford, two of the top-ranked law schools, recently eliminated traditional grading altogether. Like Yale and the University of California, Berkeley, they now use a modified pass/fail system, reducing the pressure that law schools are notorious for. This new grading system also makes it harder for employers to distinguish the wheat from the chaff, which means more students can get a shot at a competitive interview. "
For a paper on grade inflation and job markets, see
Michael Ostrovsky and Michael Schwarz, 2010, "Information Disclosure and Unraveling in Matching Markets." American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 2(2): 34–63.
It's behind a subscription wall, but here's the abstract:
"This paper explores information disclosure in matching markets. A school may suppress some information about students in order to improve their average job placement. We consider a setting with many schools, students, and jobs, and show that if early contracting is impossible, the same, "balanced" amount of information is disclosed in essentially all equilibria. When early contracting is allowed and information arrives gradually, if schools disclose the balanced amount of information, students and employers will not find it profitable to contract early. If they disclose more, some students and employers will prefer to sign contracts before all information is revealed."
"[Loyola Law School in Los Angeles] is retroactively inflating its grades, tacking on 0.333 to every grade recorded in the last few years. The goal is to make its students look more attractive in a competitive job market.
In the last two years, at least 10 law schools have deliberately changed their grading systems to make them more lenient. These include law schools like New York University and Georgetown, as well as Golden Gate University and Tulane University, which just announced the change this month. Some recruiters at law firms keep track of these changes and consider them when interviewing, and some do not.
Law schools seem to view higher grades as one way to rescue their students from the tough economic climate — and perhaps more to the point, to protect their own reputations and rankings. Once able to practically guarantee gainful employment to thousands of students every year, the schools are now fielding complaints from more and more unemployed graduates, frequently drowning in student debt.
They have come up with a number of strategic responses. Besides the usual career counseling measures, many top schools have bumped up their on-campus interview weeks from the autumn to August, before the school year even starts, because they want their students to have a chance to nab a job slot before their counterparts at other schools do. "
...
"Harvard and Stanford, two of the top-ranked law schools, recently eliminated traditional grading altogether. Like Yale and the University of California, Berkeley, they now use a modified pass/fail system, reducing the pressure that law schools are notorious for. This new grading system also makes it harder for employers to distinguish the wheat from the chaff, which means more students can get a shot at a competitive interview. "
For a paper on grade inflation and job markets, see
Michael Ostrovsky and Michael Schwarz, 2010, "Information Disclosure and Unraveling in Matching Markets." American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 2(2): 34–63.
It's behind a subscription wall, but here's the abstract:
"This paper explores information disclosure in matching markets. A school may suppress some information about students in order to improve their average job placement. We consider a setting with many schools, students, and jobs, and show that if early contracting is impossible, the same, "balanced" amount of information is disclosed in essentially all equilibria. When early contracting is allowed and information arrives gradually, if schools disclose the balanced amount of information, students and employers will not find it profitable to contract early. If they disclose more, some students and employers will prefer to sign contracts before all information is revealed."
Monday, July 5, 2010
Future organ replacement
I expect that your grandchildren will have the luxury of viewing all the work on kidney exchange and transplantation generally as primitive medicine ("Grandpa, they used to take an organ from one person and sew it into another??").
At the XXIII International Congress of the Transplant Society next month there will be some discussion of Stem Cells and Regeneration, along with more prosaic, current clinical issues.
A small step towards that future is reported in Science: Rats Breathe With Lab-Grown Lungs
and in the Boston Globe: N.E. researchers create functioning lung tissue--A vital step in the quest to build organs.
From the Globe: "Two teams of researchers from New England have built living, breathing lung tissue in the laboratory — feats of engineering that could speed up the development of new drugs and bring researchers a step closer to the tantalizing dream of growing replacement lungs for patients."
In the meantime, I'm cheered by the progress we're making in primitive medicine, back in these days at the dawn of the 21st century (see here and, more generally, here, or my post last summer at which a prize was awarded to Mike Rees for some of that progress).
HT: Steve Leider
At the XXIII International Congress of the Transplant Society next month there will be some discussion of Stem Cells and Regeneration, along with more prosaic, current clinical issues.
A small step towards that future is reported in Science: Rats Breathe With Lab-Grown Lungs
and in the Boston Globe: N.E. researchers create functioning lung tissue--A vital step in the quest to build organs.
From the Globe: "Two teams of researchers from New England have built living, breathing lung tissue in the laboratory — feats of engineering that could speed up the development of new drugs and bring researchers a step closer to the tantalizing dream of growing replacement lungs for patients."
In the meantime, I'm cheered by the progress we're making in primitive medicine, back in these days at the dawn of the 21st century (see here and, more generally, here, or my post last summer at which a prize was awarded to Mike Rees for some of that progress).
HT: Steve Leider
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Ribald 4th of July: memories of July 1970
The title of this post comes from a typo in an article about the 4th of July celebrations that have been conducted since 1912 at Rebild National Park in Denmark, after the land for the park was donated by Danish-Americans. Here's the story that gets the name right:
"Every July 4 since 1912, except for the two world wars, large crowds have gathered in the heather-covered hills of Rebild in Jutland, Denmark to celebrate US Independence Day.
The site of the celebration is the beautiful Rebild National Park (20 kilometers south of Aalborg), presented to the Danish nation by Danish-Americans in 1912. "
This reminds me that in July of 1970 I was in Fredericia Denmark, briefly employed by the J.P. Schmidt cigarfabrik (sold in 1982 to the Scandinavian Tobacco Group). I wasn't rolling cigars, but programming computers, or rather a computer, an IBM 360 model 20, that used a language called Report Program Generator (RPG) that apparently has descendents still in use today. (To compile, a giant stack of punchcards had to be turned upside down to be placed on the card reader...I know that some of you don't know what punchcards were...)
On July 1, 1970, the second Vietnam War draft lottery was conducted back in the United States, to determine the draft order of men born in my year. This was long before the internet, and so I waited a day for the International Herald Tribune to report on the story, but they only reported the first number chosen, and the last. I called the American consulate in Copenhagen to try to find out my lottery number, but they didn't have the whole list either (I got the impression they thought that most Americans living in Denmark at the time may have already decided not to respond to the draft...). I had to wait for a letter from my parents to arrive, telling me that I had a number that might have made me an infantryman had I been a year older, but that with the war winding down left me free to remain a student.
Two days after July 4 I heard cannon (or maybe fireworks) on the old town wall, and came in to work to hear that this was an annual celebration of the Danish victory in The Battle of Fredericia 6th of July 1849, in which the Danes had beaten back a German siege of the fortified town. I recall my colleagues told me that it had been celebrated each year since, "except when we are occupied by the Germans."
Let's all celebrate independence with a boisterous (if not ribald) 4th of July.
"Every July 4 since 1912, except for the two world wars, large crowds have gathered in the heather-covered hills of Rebild in Jutland, Denmark to celebrate US Independence Day.
The site of the celebration is the beautiful Rebild National Park (20 kilometers south of Aalborg), presented to the Danish nation by Danish-Americans in 1912. "
This reminds me that in July of 1970 I was in Fredericia Denmark, briefly employed by the J.P. Schmidt cigarfabrik (sold in 1982 to the Scandinavian Tobacco Group). I wasn't rolling cigars, but programming computers, or rather a computer, an IBM 360 model 20, that used a language called Report Program Generator (RPG) that apparently has descendents still in use today. (To compile, a giant stack of punchcards had to be turned upside down to be placed on the card reader...I know that some of you don't know what punchcards were...)
On July 1, 1970, the second Vietnam War draft lottery was conducted back in the United States, to determine the draft order of men born in my year. This was long before the internet, and so I waited a day for the International Herald Tribune to report on the story, but they only reported the first number chosen, and the last. I called the American consulate in Copenhagen to try to find out my lottery number, but they didn't have the whole list either (I got the impression they thought that most Americans living in Denmark at the time may have already decided not to respond to the draft...). I had to wait for a letter from my parents to arrive, telling me that I had a number that might have made me an infantryman had I been a year older, but that with the war winding down left me free to remain a student.
Two days after July 4 I heard cannon (or maybe fireworks) on the old town wall, and came in to work to hear that this was an annual celebration of the Danish victory in The Battle of Fredericia 6th of July 1849, in which the Danes had beaten back a German siege of the fortified town. I recall my colleagues told me that it had been celebrated each year since, "except when we are occupied by the Germans."
Let's all celebrate independence with a boisterous (if not ribald) 4th of July.
The market for fireworks, July 4th 2010
“Happy Fourth of July—made in China.”
"“there are virtually no fireworks being manufactured in the U.S.,” says John Rogers, who travels to China three to four times a year with the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory, a Bethesda, Md.–based nonprofit focused on consumer safety. Rogers says 90 percent of the world’s fireworks originate in China"
...
"As for the other 10 percent, James Widmann, president of Connecticut Pyrotechnic Manufacturing, says some originate in India, Spain and other parts of Europe. Mexico, he says, could eventually become a major supplier to the U.S. because of its ability to send fireworks here by truck rather than shipping them overseas—a process fraught with obstacles. “Most shipping companies don’t want to risk sacrificing 99 percent of their cargo” for the sake of the “1 percent that can blow it all up”
"“there are virtually no fireworks being manufactured in the U.S.,” says John Rogers, who travels to China three to four times a year with the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory, a Bethesda, Md.–based nonprofit focused on consumer safety. Rogers says 90 percent of the world’s fireworks originate in China"
...
"As for the other 10 percent, James Widmann, president of Connecticut Pyrotechnic Manufacturing, says some originate in India, Spain and other parts of Europe. Mexico, he says, could eventually become a major supplier to the U.S. because of its ability to send fireworks here by truck rather than shipping them overseas—a process fraught with obstacles. “Most shipping companies don’t want to risk sacrificing 99 percent of their cargo” for the sake of the “1 percent that can blow it all up”
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Sidney Siegel and Psychology & Economics
That's the subject of a recent article: Innocenti, Alessandro, "How a psychologist informed economics: The case of Sidney Siegel," JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC PSYCHOLOGY,31, 3, 421-434, JUN 2010
"Abstract: In the 1950s before Kahneman and Tversky showed how behavioral economics could bring economics and psychology into a unified framework, a social psychologist, Sidney Siegel, entered the realm of economics and laid the foundation of experimental economics. This paper gives an assessment of Siegel's effort to meld psychology and economics and shows that Siegel was not only a contributor to the methodology of experimental economics but also a pioneer of behavioral economics. Although his legacy was paramount in the work of the Nobel Prize winner Vernon Smith, Siegel endorsed a very different approach to making interdisciplinary research effective. "
"Abstract: In the 1950s before Kahneman and Tversky showed how behavioral economics could bring economics and psychology into a unified framework, a social psychologist, Sidney Siegel, entered the realm of economics and laid the foundation of experimental economics. This paper gives an assessment of Siegel's effort to meld psychology and economics and shows that Siegel was not only a contributor to the methodology of experimental economics but also a pioneer of behavioral economics. Although his legacy was paramount in the work of the Nobel Prize winner Vernon Smith, Siegel endorsed a very different approach to making interdisciplinary research effective. "
Friday, July 2, 2010
White House aides aren't lured by their current salaries
White House salary information released, including a database by name.
Advertising versus data on dating web sites
Advertising is easier to come by than data: apparently no one really knows much about the effect of online dating sites on producing marriages and relationships. A recent story in the Washington Post points this out (while suggesting the numbers may have peaked):Are dating Web sites past their prime?
And here is an older WSJ story:Marriage-Maker Claims Are Tied in Knots--Online Dating Sites Say Hordes of People Ultimately Marry, but Their Methods Have Plenty of Hitches of Their Own,along with an online post pointing out that there may be special selection problems facing online surveys of online activity: How Many Marriages Started Online?
And here is an older WSJ story:Marriage-Maker Claims Are Tied in Knots--Online Dating Sites Say Hordes of People Ultimately Marry, but Their Methods Have Plenty of Hitches of Their Own,along with an online post pointing out that there may be special selection problems facing online surveys of online activity: How Many Marriages Started Online?
Thursday, July 1, 2010
School choice in Spain
Flip Klijn writes:
"Hey Al,
Recently, a letter in the Spanish newspaper "La Vanguardia" questions the new mechanism to assign students to universities in Spain.
Link to the letter in Catalan:http://www.lavanguardia.es/lv24h/20100623/53951521785.html
The writer of the letter (a high school student) wonders whether the introduction of *multiple* access grades (the novelty) is desirable. He discusses a hypothetical scenario in which multiples access grades may in fact lead to an undesirable assignment.
I was happily surprised with his analysis. Basically, he implicitly describes the deferred acceptance mechanism through a simple but very nice example that has a priority structure with a cycle (as in Ergin, Econometrica 2002). Then, he makes the point that the assignment is fair (or stable) but not very desirable (since it is inefficient).
It was impossible for me to not react to the letter. My response (in Spanish) was published in the Blog section of the same newspaper:http://www.lavanguardia.es/lv24h/20100624/53951867284.html
In my response, I first mention that with a single access grade there is indeed no incompatibility between stability and efficiency. Next, I argue that in certain situations it might be convenient, however, to have multiple access grades in which case the deferred accepted mechanism is a natural candidate mechanism (referring to the original work of Gale and Shapley, 1962, and the application in the National Resident Matching Program). I also point out that the incompatibility between stability and efficiency in the situation with multiple access grades cannot be solved by using some other mechanism. Finally, I mention that the deferred acceptance mechanism is "hassle-free" (i.e., strategy-proof) and that the experience in Boston and New York (high schools) has been very positive. Therefore, there are reasons to believe that the deferred acceptance mechanism with multiple access grades will work satisfactorily in the assignment of students to Spanish universities."
"Hey Al,
Recently, a letter in the Spanish newspaper "La Vanguardia" questions the new mechanism to assign students to universities in Spain.
Link to the letter in Catalan:http://www.lavanguardia.es/lv24h/20100623/53951521785.html
The writer of the letter (a high school student) wonders whether the introduction of *multiple* access grades (the novelty) is desirable. He discusses a hypothetical scenario in which multiples access grades may in fact lead to an undesirable assignment.
I was happily surprised with his analysis. Basically, he implicitly describes the deferred acceptance mechanism through a simple but very nice example that has a priority structure with a cycle (as in Ergin, Econometrica 2002). Then, he makes the point that the assignment is fair (or stable) but not very desirable (since it is inefficient).
It was impossible for me to not react to the letter. My response (in Spanish) was published in the Blog section of the same newspaper:http://www.lavanguardia.es/lv24h/20100624/53951867284.html
In my response, I first mention that with a single access grade there is indeed no incompatibility between stability and efficiency. Next, I argue that in certain situations it might be convenient, however, to have multiple access grades in which case the deferred accepted mechanism is a natural candidate mechanism (referring to the original work of Gale and Shapley, 1962, and the application in the National Resident Matching Program). I also point out that the incompatibility between stability and efficiency in the situation with multiple access grades cannot be solved by using some other mechanism. Finally, I mention that the deferred acceptance mechanism is "hassle-free" (i.e., strategy-proof) and that the experience in Boston and New York (high schools) has been very positive. Therefore, there are reasons to believe that the deferred acceptance mechanism with multiple access grades will work satisfactorily in the assignment of students to Spanish universities."
Heads of government for and against same-sex marriage
Two of yesterday's news stories from very different parts of the world caught my eye.
Icelandic Leader in Milestone Gay Marriage
"Iceland's prime minister made history last week when she wed her longtime girlfriend, becoming the world's first head of government to enter a gay marriage. But fellow Nordic nations hardly noticed when 67-year-old Johanna Sigurdardottir tied the knot with her longtime partner -- a milestone that would still, despite advances in gay rights, be all but inconceivable elsewhere. Scandinavia has had a long tradition of tolerance for alternative lifestyles -- and cross-dressing lawmakers and homosexual bishops have become part of the landscape. ''There is some kind of passion for social justice here,'' respected cross-dressing Swedish lawmaker Fredrick Federley said. ''That everybody should be treated the same.'' "
While in Australia, this from the new prime minister:
Gillard against gay marriage
"Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she does not support legalising gay marriage in Australia.Labor policy on gay marriage will remain the same under her prime ministership, Ms Gillard told Austereo show today."We believe the marriage act is appropriate in its current form, that is recognising that marriage is between a man and a woman, but we have as a government taken steps to equalise treatment for gay couples," Ms Gillard said."
Icelandic Leader in Milestone Gay Marriage
"Iceland's prime minister made history last week when she wed her longtime girlfriend, becoming the world's first head of government to enter a gay marriage. But fellow Nordic nations hardly noticed when 67-year-old Johanna Sigurdardottir tied the knot with her longtime partner -- a milestone that would still, despite advances in gay rights, be all but inconceivable elsewhere. Scandinavia has had a long tradition of tolerance for alternative lifestyles -- and cross-dressing lawmakers and homosexual bishops have become part of the landscape. ''There is some kind of passion for social justice here,'' respected cross-dressing Swedish lawmaker Fredrick Federley said. ''That everybody should be treated the same.'' "
While in Australia, this from the new prime minister:
Gillard against gay marriage
"Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she does not support legalising gay marriage in Australia.Labor policy on gay marriage will remain the same under her prime ministership, Ms Gillard told Austereo show today."We believe the marriage act is appropriate in its current form, that is recognising that marriage is between a man and a woman, but we have as a government taken steps to equalise treatment for gay couples," Ms Gillard said."
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The market for kidneys in Iran
The Iranian economist Farshad Fatemi at the Sharif University of Technology sent me this link to his very interesting working paper The Regulated Market for Kidneys in Iran.
Among other things, it is full of institutional detail and comparisons. Here are a few things that caught my eye.
Comparing total (live plus deceased) kidney donation across countries, per million population, the most recent figures (from 2007) are Iran 27.1%; UK 33.5%; Spain 49.5%; US 54.7%. (His source is the Barcelona-based Transplant Procurement Management Organization, whose international database I have yet to fully explore.)
His description of the market for kidneys in Iran includes the following
"After the donor passes the initial tests, the administrators contact the first patient in the same waiting list as the donor’s blood type [and other components of a match]...
If the patient who is on the top of the waiting list at the moment is not ready for the transplant ..., the next patient will be called... until a ready patient will be found. Then a meeting between the two parties is arranged (they are provided with a private area within the foundation building if they want to reach a private agreement) and they will be sent for tissue tests. If the tissue test gives the favourable result, a contract between the patient and the donor will be signed and they will be provided with a list of the transplant centres and doctors who perform surgery.
When the patient and the donor are referred to transplant centre, a cheque from the patient will be kept at the centre to be paid to the donor after the transplant takes place. The guide price has been 25m Rials (≈ $2660) until March 2007 for 3 years and at this time18 it has been raised to 30m Rials (≈ $3190). This decision has been made because the foundation was worried of a decreasing trend in number of donors.
"In some cases, the recipient will agree to make an additional payment to the donor outside the system; it is not certain how common this practice is, but according to the foundation staff the amount of this payment is not usually big and is thought to be about 5m to 10m Rials (≈ $530 to $1060). The recipient also pays for the cost of tests, two operations, after surgery cares, and other associated costs (like accommodation and travel costs if the patient travels from another city). Insurance companies cover the medical costs of the transplant and the operations are also performed free of charge in state-owned hospitals.
"In addition, the government pays a monetary gift to the donor for appreciation of her altruism (currently, 10m Rials), as well as automatic provision of one year free health insurance, and the opportunity to attend the annual appreciation event dedicated to donors...
"The minimum monthly legal wage for 2007 was Rials 1,830k (later raised to 2,200k for 2008). The minimum payment of Rials 45m is around 2 years of minimum wage. "
...
"[T]o prevent international kidney trade, the donor and recipient are required to have the same nationality. That means an Afghan patient, who is referred to the foundation, should wait until an Afghan donor with appropriate characteristics turns up. This is to avoid transplant tourism. "
...
"the donors are mostly men (Table 7). This can be because of the two facts. Firstly, the ages between 22 and 35; when the donation is accepted; is the fertility age; and women are less likely to be considered as potential donors. Secondly, as we mentioned before since men are supposed as the main breadwinner of the family, it is more likely that they sell their kidneys in order to overcome financial difficulties. Female donors count for around 18% of traded kidneys in our data; it is in contrary with the Indian case where 71% of the sold kidneys were from female donors (Goyal et al. 2002)."
In his sample of 598 transplants (Table 6), 539 were "traded kidneys," 10 "non-traded" and 49 "Cadaver", i.e. the vast majority of kidney transplants were live donor transplants with compensation to the donor.
Among other things, it is full of institutional detail and comparisons. Here are a few things that caught my eye.
Comparing total (live plus deceased) kidney donation across countries, per million population, the most recent figures (from 2007) are Iran 27.1%; UK 33.5%; Spain 49.5%; US 54.7%. (His source is the Barcelona-based Transplant Procurement Management Organization, whose international database I have yet to fully explore.)
His description of the market for kidneys in Iran includes the following
"After the donor passes the initial tests, the administrators contact the first patient in the same waiting list as the donor’s blood type [and other components of a match]...
If the patient who is on the top of the waiting list at the moment is not ready for the transplant ..., the next patient will be called... until a ready patient will be found. Then a meeting between the two parties is arranged (they are provided with a private area within the foundation building if they want to reach a private agreement) and they will be sent for tissue tests. If the tissue test gives the favourable result, a contract between the patient and the donor will be signed and they will be provided with a list of the transplant centres and doctors who perform surgery.
When the patient and the donor are referred to transplant centre, a cheque from the patient will be kept at the centre to be paid to the donor after the transplant takes place. The guide price has been 25m Rials (≈ $2660) until March 2007 for 3 years and at this time18 it has been raised to 30m Rials (≈ $3190). This decision has been made because the foundation was worried of a decreasing trend in number of donors.
"In some cases, the recipient will agree to make an additional payment to the donor outside the system; it is not certain how common this practice is, but according to the foundation staff the amount of this payment is not usually big and is thought to be about 5m to 10m Rials (≈ $530 to $1060). The recipient also pays for the cost of tests, two operations, after surgery cares, and other associated costs (like accommodation and travel costs if the patient travels from another city). Insurance companies cover the medical costs of the transplant and the operations are also performed free of charge in state-owned hospitals.
"In addition, the government pays a monetary gift to the donor for appreciation of her altruism (currently, 10m Rials), as well as automatic provision of one year free health insurance, and the opportunity to attend the annual appreciation event dedicated to donors...
"The minimum monthly legal wage for 2007 was Rials 1,830k (later raised to 2,200k for 2008). The minimum payment of Rials 45m is around 2 years of minimum wage. "
...
"[T]o prevent international kidney trade, the donor and recipient are required to have the same nationality. That means an Afghan patient, who is referred to the foundation, should wait until an Afghan donor with appropriate characteristics turns up. This is to avoid transplant tourism. "
...
"the donors are mostly men (Table 7). This can be because of the two facts. Firstly, the ages between 22 and 35; when the donation is accepted; is the fertility age; and women are less likely to be considered as potential donors. Secondly, as we mentioned before since men are supposed as the main breadwinner of the family, it is more likely that they sell their kidneys in order to overcome financial difficulties. Female donors count for around 18% of traded kidneys in our data; it is in contrary with the Indian case where 71% of the sold kidneys were from female donors (Goyal et al. 2002)."
In his sample of 598 transplants (Table 6), 539 were "traded kidneys," 10 "non-traded" and 49 "Cadaver", i.e. the vast majority of kidney transplants were live donor transplants with compensation to the donor.
Market for prayers in Iran
It's not just kidneys; selling prayers in Iran isn't repugnant either.
In Islamic Iran prayer sellers' trade is booming
"TEHRAN (Reuters Life!) - In Islamic Iran where clerics rule, unofficial "prayer sellers," who promise to intercede with the divine to solve all manner of life's problems, are seeing their business boom."
...
"Iran's clerics also believe in the power of prayer but they advise people against using prayers that lack a religious basis. Magic and superstition are both illegal under Islamic law.
In Islamic Iran prayer sellers' trade is booming
"TEHRAN (Reuters Life!) - In Islamic Iran where clerics rule, unofficial "prayer sellers," who promise to intercede with the divine to solve all manner of life's problems, are seeing their business boom."
...
"Iran's clerics also believe in the power of prayer but they advise people against using prayers that lack a religious basis. Magic and superstition are both illegal under Islamic law.
"Writing prayers quoting Shia's immaculate Imams and receiving money for that has no legal obstacle," said Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani when asked about the religious legitimacy of the prayer sellers. "
"But referring to prayers written by hustlers without reliable sources is not permitted, and getting money for those kinds of prayers is (religiously) forbidden," he told news website hawzah.net.
"Despite what Iranian clerics say, none of YaAli's customers ask him about the basis of his knowledge, which he says is founded on the Koran.
"It is not important where his knowledge comes from, I just want my problems to be solved," said Marjan, 24, who complains it is getting harder to see YaAli as customer demand increases."
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
A degree is a degree
"A degree is a degree! Whether fake or genuine, it's a degree! It makes no difference!" Baluchistan province chief minister Nawab Aslam Raisani, who claims a master's in political science, shouted at a gaggle of reporters Tuesday.
This insight is from the news report Fake degree scandal roils Pakistani politics.
(See my earlier post on the Market for bogus colleges.)
This insight is from the news report Fake degree scandal roils Pakistani politics.
(See my earlier post on the Market for bogus colleges.)
Espionage: the market for secret information
The newspapers this morning are full of stories about the arrest of eleven accused Russian spies, e.g. the NY Times reports In Ordinary Lives, U.S. Sees the Work of Russian Agents.
"They had lived for more than a decade in American cities and suburbs from Seattle to New York, where they seemed to be ordinary couples working ordinary jobs, chatting to the neighbors about schools and apologizing for noisy teenagers.
"But on Monday, federal prosecutors accused 11 people of being part of a Russian espionage ring, living under false names and deep cover in a patient scheme to penetrate what one coded message called American “policy making circles.” "
The story in the Harvard Crimson adds an interesting detail: Kennedy School Grad Arrested in Russian Spy Raid.
"Called the “Boston Conspirators” in a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Heathfield and Foley are alleged to have met with a “former legislative counsel for US Congress” and a “member of faculty in economics.” The documents redacted the affiliation of the faculty member."
It's true that the publication process in Economics is ridiculously slow, but I thought the internet had removed the need for cells of long term sleeper spies to find out what's in our working papers...
"They had lived for more than a decade in American cities and suburbs from Seattle to New York, where they seemed to be ordinary couples working ordinary jobs, chatting to the neighbors about schools and apologizing for noisy teenagers.
"But on Monday, federal prosecutors accused 11 people of being part of a Russian espionage ring, living under false names and deep cover in a patient scheme to penetrate what one coded message called American “policy making circles.” "
The story in the Harvard Crimson adds an interesting detail: Kennedy School Grad Arrested in Russian Spy Raid.
"Called the “Boston Conspirators” in a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Heathfield and Foley are alleged to have met with a “former legislative counsel for US Congress” and a “member of faculty in economics.” The documents redacted the affiliation of the faculty member."
It's true that the publication process in Economics is ridiculously slow, but I thought the internet had removed the need for cells of long term sleeper spies to find out what's in our working papers...
Monday, June 28, 2010
Live kidney donation: how to ask in Chicago
Harvey Mysel, a kidney recipient who went on to found the Living Kidney Donor Network, writes to ask me to let readers know of two workshops he is offering in Chicago in July on Having your donor find you
Signaling you're not 'overqualified' in a recession
The Globe reports on Deflating credentials to land a job.
"As the tight job market forces the unemployed to apply for lower-level positions, more job seekers are “dumbing down’’ credentials, wiping graduate degrees and high-level experience off their resumes, recruiters say. Applicants say the idea is to get hiring managers to at least look at their resumes, instead of figuring someone with extra qualifications will demand a bigger salary or leave for a higher-level opportunity once the economy turns around."
...
“Somebody finds out you know that much more than they do, they get nervous,’’ Carroll said.
"That’s true, says Robert Akerlof, a post-doctoral associate at the MIT Sloan School of Management, who is working on a theory about how it can be difficult to maintain authority over overqualified workers if they think a job, or a boss, is beneath them.
"Dumbing down a resume is a way for job seekers to show that they are going to be respectful, said Akerlof, citing the “20 percent rule,’’ which states that bosses should be 20 percent smarter than their employees.
“I think it’s not so much that you’re lying about what your resume is, it’s that you’re trying to convey an appropriate attitude,’’ he said."
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Misc. organ transplant links
A Review of Organ and Tissue Donation Procedures by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians nicely summarizes some of the different ways deceased donor organs are dealt with around the world.
The ‘blood group O problem’ in kidney transplantation—time to change? discusses the Eurotransplant Kidney Allocation System, which apparently allows some O kidneys to go to patients who aren't type O.
Mike Rees' revolution of non-simultaneous non-directed donor chains continues to bear fruit in unexpected ways: LOYOLA PROGRAM A RADICAL SHIFT IN LIVING DONOR KIDNEY TRANSPLANTS
"In a first, four people step forward to donate kidneys to complete strangers across the country with no strings attached."...
"It's extremely rare when someone asking for nothing in return steps forward at a hospital and offers to donate a kidney to a complete stranger.
What's rarer still is what has happened at Loyola University Medical Center -- four people have stepped forward and offered to donate kidneys to four complete strangers and none have asked for a thing in return.
"This is completely unique and totally unheard of," said Garet Hill, founder of the nonprofit National Kidney Registry, which coordinated the donations. "We have never had four donors from one institution come forward at one time to offer up kidneys for donation with no strings attached."
The selfless acts by the four have helped Loyola launch its Pay-it-Forward Kidney Transplant Program, the first of its kind in the Midwest, and the largest number of altruistic donors to ever begin such a program in the United States."
Here's a collection of kidney exchange stories and videos from MSNBC, some rather old: http://article.wn.com/view/2010/05/04/Kidney_swap_program_posts_high_success_rate/
And here's a live donor story: From Fear To Elation: Prepping To Be An Organ Donor
Deceased donor allocation policies are also a very big deal. Alex Tabarrok at MR has a thought provoking post on one aspect of the debate: Optimizing Kidney Allocation: LYFT for LIFE which touches on the issue of how it's often difficult to make changes in health care policy that aren't Pareto improvements, even if they are improvements by other measures.
The ‘blood group O problem’ in kidney transplantation—time to change? discusses the Eurotransplant Kidney Allocation System, which apparently allows some O kidneys to go to patients who aren't type O.
Mike Rees' revolution of non-simultaneous non-directed donor chains continues to bear fruit in unexpected ways: LOYOLA PROGRAM A RADICAL SHIFT IN LIVING DONOR KIDNEY TRANSPLANTS
"In a first, four people step forward to donate kidneys to complete strangers across the country with no strings attached."...
"It's extremely rare when someone asking for nothing in return steps forward at a hospital and offers to donate a kidney to a complete stranger.
What's rarer still is what has happened at Loyola University Medical Center -- four people have stepped forward and offered to donate kidneys to four complete strangers and none have asked for a thing in return.
"This is completely unique and totally unheard of," said Garet Hill, founder of the nonprofit National Kidney Registry, which coordinated the donations. "We have never had four donors from one institution come forward at one time to offer up kidneys for donation with no strings attached."
The selfless acts by the four have helped Loyola launch its Pay-it-Forward Kidney Transplant Program, the first of its kind in the Midwest, and the largest number of altruistic donors to ever begin such a program in the United States."
Here's a collection of kidney exchange stories and videos from MSNBC, some rather old: http://article.wn.com/view/2010/05/04/Kidney_swap_program_posts_high_success_rate/
And here's a live donor story: From Fear To Elation: Prepping To Be An Organ Donor
Deceased donor allocation policies are also a very big deal. Alex Tabarrok at MR has a thought provoking post on one aspect of the debate: Optimizing Kidney Allocation: LYFT for LIFE which touches on the issue of how it's often difficult to make changes in health care policy that aren't Pareto improvements, even if they are improvements by other measures.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Decent work research prize
When I read that the International Labour Organization had a Decent Work Research Prize, my initial thought was "finally, a research prize for the rest of us." (It's hard to do exceptional work, but doing decent work seems like an achievable goal...)
But that turns out to be a mis-reading: here's the beginning of the prize description.
"The ILO’s International Institute for Labour Studies has created a research prize to annually reward outstanding contributions to the advancement of knowledge on the ILO’s central goal of decent work for all."
That seems like a good goal too:)
But that turns out to be a mis-reading: here's the beginning of the prize description.
"The ILO’s International Institute for Labour Studies has created a research prize to annually reward outstanding contributions to the advancement of knowledge on the ILO’s central goal of decent work for all."
That seems like a good goal too:)
Changing sexual mores in China
Swinger Tests China’s Sex Morals
"On Thursday, a court sentenced Mr. Ma to three-and-a-half years in prison, a severe penalty for a crime that the Chinese government calls “crowd licentiousness.” Mr. Ma, now China’s most famous swinger, remains defiant and plans to appeal, saying his sex life is his own business, not subject to the law as long as he causes no social disturbance, according to his lawyer, Yao Yong’an. "
...
"The case of Mr. Ma, who was arrested last August and went on trial last month, has drawn attention across China not only for its titillating details, but also because it also raises questions about an authoritarian government’s attempts to curb sexual freedom and limit privacy in a society where rapid economic growth and the ubiquity of the Internet have upended traditional values. "
...
"The Communist Party no longer maintains the kind of tight control over people’s private lives that it did decades ago. Yet, some officials still try to prosecute citizens based on laws that seem increasingly out of step with social mores. One example is criminal law 301, under which Mr. Ma and 21 fellow swingers were prosecuted, and which can result in a five-year prison term.
Chinese Internet users and even some official news organizations have debated the case."
...
"The law against group sex, generally interpreted by judges as involving three or more people, is left over from an earlier law against “hooliganism” that was used to prosecute people who had sex outside of marriage, Ms. Li said. The hooliganism law was scrapped in 1997. One notable swingers case took place in the early 1980s, when the leader of a swingers club involving four middle-aged couples was executed, she added.
At least three recent surveys have shown that prosecution of group sex does not enjoy widespread support today.
Several Chinese news Web sites posted editorials echoing that sentiment after the verdict was announced. "
"On Thursday, a court sentenced Mr. Ma to three-and-a-half years in prison, a severe penalty for a crime that the Chinese government calls “crowd licentiousness.” Mr. Ma, now China’s most famous swinger, remains defiant and plans to appeal, saying his sex life is his own business, not subject to the law as long as he causes no social disturbance, according to his lawyer, Yao Yong’an. "
...
"The case of Mr. Ma, who was arrested last August and went on trial last month, has drawn attention across China not only for its titillating details, but also because it also raises questions about an authoritarian government’s attempts to curb sexual freedom and limit privacy in a society where rapid economic growth and the ubiquity of the Internet have upended traditional values. "
...
"The Communist Party no longer maintains the kind of tight control over people’s private lives that it did decades ago. Yet, some officials still try to prosecute citizens based on laws that seem increasingly out of step with social mores. One example is criminal law 301, under which Mr. Ma and 21 fellow swingers were prosecuted, and which can result in a five-year prison term.
Chinese Internet users and even some official news organizations have debated the case."
...
"The law against group sex, generally interpreted by judges as involving three or more people, is left over from an earlier law against “hooliganism” that was used to prosecute people who had sex outside of marriage, Ms. Li said. The hooliganism law was scrapped in 1997. One notable swingers case took place in the early 1980s, when the leader of a swingers club involving four middle-aged couples was executed, she added.
At least three recent surveys have shown that prosecution of group sex does not enjoy widespread support today.
Several Chinese news Web sites posted editorials echoing that sentiment after the verdict was announced. "
Friday, June 25, 2010
Couples match
The University of Alabama at Birmingham magazine (June 2010) writes about the couples match: Match Making--Software Helps Medical Couples Stay Together
(Here's a paper with a more technical description of how the couples match works...
Roth, A. E. and Elliott Peranson, "The Redesign of the Matching Market for American Physicians: Some Engineering Aspects of Economic Design," American Economic Review, 89, 4, September, 1999, 748-780.,
and here's a paper that's about why it works as well as it does...
Kojima, Fuhito, Parag A. Pathak, and Alvin E. Roth, " Matching with Couples: Stability and Incentives in Large Markets," working paper, April 8 2010.)
Thursday, June 24, 2010
NYU in Abu Dhabi
I've blogged before about the problems of establishing and maintaining universities in places whose culture may be antagonistic to university culture.
NYU seems to be attacking that from an interesting angle in it's Abu Dhabi venture, the modal student will be an American: N.Y.U. Abu Dhabi Scours Globe for Top Students
Abu Dhabi "...is where N.Y.U. will open a campus in September with an inaugural freshman class of 150 students from 39 countries."..."Although the students come from 39 countries, with 43 languages, about a third are from the United States. The next four biggest sources are the United Arab Emirates, China, Hungary and Russia. "
...
"Backed by the open checkbook of the Abu Dhabi government, the wealthiest of the seven United Arab Emirates, N.Y.U. Abu Dhabi scoured the planet for candidates. It called on the Institute of International Education, which administers the Fulbright scholarships, to help it identify 900 of the world’s top high schools, and then pressed the schools for their best students.
Though based in Abu Dhabi, students will be encouraged to spend time at some of N.Y.U.’s 16 other sites, on five continents — more traditional study-abroad centers with short-term or narrowly focused programs. In a promotional booklet, the university sketched out a hypothetical plan for film and media majors, with sojourns in Berlin, Buenos Aires, Prague and New York.
The project carries risks. While Abu Dhabi is a relatively modern, multicultural Muslim state, homosexual acts are illegal and the Internet is censored. And there is no guarantee that the seemingly limitless resources of its oil-rich government will remain so, given the precarious global economy and Middle East politics.
But the Abu Dhabi government has agreed to pay for the entire N.Y.U. project, though neither it nor the university has detailed a price. And the emirate has embraced N.Y.U.’s vision of a liberal arts institution with full access to ideas, books and the Internet. "
...
"Some in the new freshman class, including Mr. Aqel, have already used Facebook to discuss a possible civil rights club. “In a way, it’s almost a challenge because we can’t hold protests,” Mr. Aqel said. “But I think we’ll be able to find creative ways to circumvent restrictions while maintaining respect for our host country.” "
You can pick up the thread of previous posts here: Universities and culture.
NYU seems to be attacking that from an interesting angle in it's Abu Dhabi venture, the modal student will be an American: N.Y.U. Abu Dhabi Scours Globe for Top Students
Abu Dhabi "...is where N.Y.U. will open a campus in September with an inaugural freshman class of 150 students from 39 countries."..."Although the students come from 39 countries, with 43 languages, about a third are from the United States. The next four biggest sources are the United Arab Emirates, China, Hungary and Russia. "
...
"Backed by the open checkbook of the Abu Dhabi government, the wealthiest of the seven United Arab Emirates, N.Y.U. Abu Dhabi scoured the planet for candidates. It called on the Institute of International Education, which administers the Fulbright scholarships, to help it identify 900 of the world’s top high schools, and then pressed the schools for their best students.
Though based in Abu Dhabi, students will be encouraged to spend time at some of N.Y.U.’s 16 other sites, on five continents — more traditional study-abroad centers with short-term or narrowly focused programs. In a promotional booklet, the university sketched out a hypothetical plan for film and media majors, with sojourns in Berlin, Buenos Aires, Prague and New York.
The project carries risks. While Abu Dhabi is a relatively modern, multicultural Muslim state, homosexual acts are illegal and the Internet is censored. And there is no guarantee that the seemingly limitless resources of its oil-rich government will remain so, given the precarious global economy and Middle East politics.
But the Abu Dhabi government has agreed to pay for the entire N.Y.U. project, though neither it nor the university has detailed a price. And the emirate has embraced N.Y.U.’s vision of a liberal arts institution with full access to ideas, books and the Internet. "
...
"Some in the new freshman class, including Mr. Aqel, have already used Facebook to discuss a possible civil rights club. “In a way, it’s almost a challenge because we can’t hold protests,” Mr. Aqel said. “But I think we’ll be able to find creative ways to circumvent restrictions while maintaining respect for our host country.” "
You can pick up the thread of previous posts here: Universities and culture.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Debra Satz on noxious markets
The Stanford class day speech: Satz to graduates: Some goods should never be for sale by Stanford philosopher Debra Satz, whose interests extend to sales of kidneys
Debra Satz (2008). The Moral Limits of Markets: The Case of Human Kidneys. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 108 (1pt3):269-288.
From the news story on her class day address:
"What are the different characteristics of markets? Why do some exchanges prompt "extreme revulsion"? Among the examples Satz raised: child labor, body parts, reproductive services, international arms, addictive drugs.
"What makes particular markets appear undesirable or, in my terminology, noxious?" she asked. The intrinsic nature of certain goods – friendship, a person's good name, various prizes and honor – can immediately diminish their value when they are sold.
There are also extrinsic reasons that make markets noxious, and this was Satz's focus. Is the agent fully aware of the consequences of his or her actions? Do all agents have the same information? Does the market cause extreme harm to individuals? And how extreme does it have to be to make it noxious? Does it cause harm to society?
As Satz said – with a nod to Tolstoy's line about unhappy families – "Each noxious market is noxious in its own way," and there will not be agreement on these issues. For example, the sale of kidneys is among one of the most difficult questions. Sales are illegal in every developed society, she said. Kidneys can be donated altruistically while the donor is alive or after death, but no society makes donation mandatory, even in death. Some would argue that with two kidneys people have more than they need. As of June 10, more than 80,000 Americans were on the waiting list for a kidney, and many of them will die waiting, Satz said. "...
"In closing, Satz threw up two final challenges: "Noxious markets" reflect some of the most fundamental problems of our globe, and they will not go away unless and until the underlying problems are addressed. That will require public debate and a willingness to confront hard issues."
Debra Satz (2008). The Moral Limits of Markets: The Case of Human Kidneys. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 108 (1pt3):269-288.
From the news story on her class day address:
"What are the different characteristics of markets? Why do some exchanges prompt "extreme revulsion"? Among the examples Satz raised: child labor, body parts, reproductive services, international arms, addictive drugs.
"What makes particular markets appear undesirable or, in my terminology, noxious?" she asked. The intrinsic nature of certain goods – friendship, a person's good name, various prizes and honor – can immediately diminish their value when they are sold.
There are also extrinsic reasons that make markets noxious, and this was Satz's focus. Is the agent fully aware of the consequences of his or her actions? Do all agents have the same information? Does the market cause extreme harm to individuals? And how extreme does it have to be to make it noxious? Does it cause harm to society?
As Satz said – with a nod to Tolstoy's line about unhappy families – "Each noxious market is noxious in its own way," and there will not be agreement on these issues. For example, the sale of kidneys is among one of the most difficult questions. Sales are illegal in every developed society, she said. Kidneys can be donated altruistically while the donor is alive or after death, but no society makes donation mandatory, even in death. Some would argue that with two kidneys people have more than they need. As of June 10, more than 80,000 Americans were on the waiting list for a kidney, and many of them will die waiting, Satz said. "...
"In closing, Satz threw up two final challenges: "Noxious markets" reflect some of the most fundamental problems of our globe, and they will not go away unless and until the underlying problems are addressed. That will require public debate and a willingness to confront hard issues."
HT: Michael Ostrovsky
And here's Megan McArdle on Satz: What We Should Feel and What We Should Not Sell
She quotes Satz's book Why Some Things Should Not Be for Sale: The Moral Limits of Markets on the following juxtaposition of moral positions:
"[T]here is a dilemma for those who wish to use the mother-fetus bond to condemn pregnancy contracts while endorsing a woman's right to choose an abortion. They must hold it acceptable to abort a fetus but not to sell it."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
