In an odd choice, the Royal Swedish Academy awarded the Nobel Prize in economics to Eugene Fama, whose life’s work shows that markets are rational in the short run, to Robert Shiller, who says that markets are often irrational over long periods, and to Peter Hansen, who developed a statistical approach to study asset prices, and thus see if markets are behaving a la Fama or a la Shiller.
Tag Archives: economics and elliot eisenberg
Spectacular Sailing
In a remarkable comeback, Team USA reeled in eight straight wins to capture the America’s Cup competition 9 to 8. They actually won 11 races but were docked two wins for infractions before the series began. The $300 million US entry, Oracle Team USA, which sailed at speeds of 50 mph, was financed by Larry Ellison, the world’s eighth richest man. Sadly, just one of the 11 crewmen was American.
Going, Going, Gone!
The Friday File: After travelling for 36 years and 12 billion miles, NASA just confirmed that on August 25, 2012 (yes 2012), Voyager 1 became the first human-made object to depart the solar system. It’s so far from earth it takes 17 hours travelling at the speed of light to send/receive signals from Voyager. To date, the total cost of the mission is $1 billion or about 8.3 cents/mile. Thrifty!