Category Archives: Aside
Dealing with Risk
Lately I’ve been monitoring my risk aversion. I want a life that is achievable only by taking a large number of major risks, yet I have a risk averse disposition. I uncovered today what I think is another one of … Continue reading
Charity Auctions on Social Networks
Did this paper provide an early proof for the Groupon model? Conitzer and Sandholm introduced the idea of using auctions to allow individuals to offer to match the contribution of others. We explore this idea in a social network setting, where … Continue reading
Thick, Uncongested and Safe
Successful marketplaces require three key elements. “They must be thick, uncongested, and safe,”… Having sufficient “thickness” means there are enough participants in the market to make it thrive. “Congestion” is what can happen when markets get too thick too fast: … Continue reading
Markets, Hierarchies & Distributed Networks
For thousands of years, markets and hierarchies were the only alternatives when it came to aggregating human effort. Now there’s a third option: real-time, distributed networks. – Gary Hamel I love this comment. The only exception I take to it is … Continue reading