Author name: Michael Giberson

Outsourcing the Corn Lobby to the Hedge Fund Industry

Michael Giberson Felix Salmon writes that “It’s Time for Political Event Swaps.” Why? Well, he says, “companies with political-event risk get to hedge it, while hedge funds and other investors get to invest in an asset which is completely uncorrelated with anything else.” If you’ve been keeping up with your financial econ studies, you know …

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A Blogger’s Reason for Trying the Shangri-la Diet

Michael Giberson Today I did something new. Something I’ve never tried before. I walked into the local Barnes and Noble bookstore and bought a diet book. I’ve never really though of myself as overweight. For most of my life I haven’t been overweight. For the last few years, however, I have thought of myself as …

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Prediction Markets Vs. the Pundits in the French Election

Michael Giberson On prediction market group blog Midas Oracle (and also posted at the NewsFuture blog), Emile Servan-Schreiber offers an assessment of “prediction markets vs. the pundits” after the French presidential campaign debate between Ségolène Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy: After the debate, the pundits were all agreed that Royal had scored some points, and even …

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Auctioning the Airwaves, Google Style, Ii

Michael Giberson The tech trade press seems abuzz with speculation over Google’s interest in the FCC’s spectrum auction rules. Google phone? Google wireless? Google the spectrum monopolist? Google turning your cell phone into a mobile AdWords delivery device? All of this wild-eyed speculation seems a bit over the top to me, perhaps because the essential …

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Auctioning the Airwaves, Google Style

Michael Giberson Google filed a proposal on Monday with the Federal Communications Commission calling on the agency to let companies allocate radio spectrum using the same kind of real-time auction that the search engine company now uses to sell advertisements. The NYTimes article is a little short on the technical details of the proposal (I …

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Vernon Smith Podcast on Experimental Economics

Michael Giberson At EconTalk, Russ Roberts talks with experimental economics pioneer Vernon Smith. It is a friendly interview, Roberts doesn’t hit Smith with tough questions or challenge his explanations, but it is a good introduction to Smith’s views on the field and its development.

Inkling & Surowiecki & Safeway at Bnet

Michael Giberson The folks that do technology site CNET have launched an online business magazine at www.BNET.com. Among the items of interest (at least to me) now on BNET: A discussion with the CEO of Erickson Retirement Communities which covers, among other things, practical applications of prediction market Inkling. A podcast that includes New Yorker …

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