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Questions for Sports Economist Andrew ZimbalistToday

Andrew Zimbalist Andrew Zimbalist is the Robert A. Woods professor of economics at Smith College and one of the most prominent sports economists in the land. (Yes, this is a big day for Andrews.) His most recent book - he's published 18 - is The Bottom Line: Observations and Arguments on the Sports Business. He's written [...]

Can This Possibly Be Legal?Today

Take a look at this story reported at espn.com about the Portland Trail Blazers and Darius Miles. The Trail Blazers declared Miles medically unfit to play and released him. If he had played two more games with the team, his $18 million salary over the next two years would count against the Trail Blazers for the [...]

Who Changes the Kissing Rules?Today

A female friend who I hadn't seen in several months and I greeted each other yesterday with the usual hug and one-cheek kiss. If I had done this in 1970 I would have been looked on as really weird, or I might even have been slapped. The social norm on kissing has changed in the [...]

This Is Your Brain on Prosperity: Andrew Lo on Fear, Greed, and Crisis ManagementToday

Andrew Lo Andrew W. Lo is the Harris & Harris Group Professor at M.I.T. and director of its Laboratory for Financial Engineering. (Here are some of his papers.) To my mind, he's one of the most fluent guides to the state of modern finance in that he combines the rigors of a quant with a behavioralist's [...]

Pittsburgh's Focus: This Is What They Call Market PenetrationToday

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The 15 highest-rated television shows in the local market in 2008 were Steelers games, according to N.F.L. and Nielsen Media Research. The only reason there weren't 16 games is because the September 14 game at Cleveland was not rated because of Hurricane Ike. Once again, the Steelers led the league with the highest [...]