disEquilibrium

Bureaucrats and geometry

mike — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:16:13 +0000

I needed a passport photo. Beyond my usual photographic concerns (the fact that photos of me all seem to bear an unfortunate resemblance to me), I was required to ensure my photo’s conformity with State Department standards. They photo must be two inches in each dimension, featuring a correctly-proportioned forward-facing non-tilted expressionless face. To provide [...]

Superfluous engineering

mike — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:14:52 +0000

My wife regularly contends that while my abstract inapplicable research is pursued entirely for self-gratitude, her chosen field leads to practical, human-benefiting innovation. Economists, you see, are motivated by results that are “cool” but useless, while engineers (clearly not motivated by coolness) pursue practicality. A counter-example: The glass tank is a purported marvel of fluid [...]

Top Ten Things about Business I Learned in Business School

mike — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 20:46:26 +0000

It takes the sustained effort of many people to create a positive corporate culture. It takes a few people no time at all to ruin it. When someone starts a sentence with “We benchmarked our performance against …” it means they screwed up, and are now covering their asses. Trying to build consensus where none [...]

Unreasonable expectations

mike — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 03:38:00 +0000

Financial “analysis” like this makes my head spin: Earnings … were expected to beat expectations. [The Street] The S&P 500 fell last week … It’s not that most companies are failing to beat expectations, but that they may not be blowing them out. [The Globe and Mail] Front Barnett Associates in Chicago, an investment advisory firm [...]

Search costs, collusion, and moral banter

mike — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 01:10:00 +0000

Think of the Children! (But only on Sundays, say area liquor stores) Connecticut is considering a law lifting the ban on Sunday liquor sales. The current prohibition is a throwback to the religious blue laws. Of course, like most legislation that comes under the banner of morality, someone is sneering and profiteering. Opposed to the [...]

All asterisks lead to contradictions

mike — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:26:00 +0000

Free!* No money Down!* Satisfaction Guaranteed!* Those ubiquitous asterisks used to point to standard disclaimers about war, riots, or force majeure, but the small print at four point font now occupies tomes. There is a fine line between disclaimers, limitations, conditions, restrictions, and outright fraud. The following examples are nowhere near that line. Accident Forgiveness… [...]

Gaming the rankings

mike — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:04:00 +0000

Among the many issues with ranking schools, one of the most glaring is incorporating the input of those who are impacted by the result. Students reporting on MBA programs or University presidents ranking schools all put people influenced by the result in a position to influence the results. This creates quite the incentive problem. Recent [...]

Circular reasoning and the debasement of science

mike — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:15:00 +0000

Ranking journals is a popular pastime among academics. Each of us has a favorite ranking, largely chosen by the results fitting with our favorite publication outlets. There are more debates over the methodology of journal rankings than of ranking business schools. There may be no universal agreement on the right method but there certainly is [...]

I blame the public schools

mike — Sun, 10 May 2009 16:10:00 +0000

Preparing for my upcoming Canada trip, I initiated an online chat with a Sprint rep to find out the roaming voice and data rates. Sending an average-length email would, according to the agent, cost somewhere between a few cents and a few hundred dollars. Transcript below the jump. Me: Hi, I will be going to [...]

If "English Only" passes

mike — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:26:00 +0000

This Thursday, Nashville votes whether to prohibit public business from being conducted in any language other than English. In an impassioned speech, Councilman Eric Crafton contends that newcomers to foreign lands must learn the local language. Strangely, this sentiment was not expressed in Cherokee, Iroquois, or Choctaw! Exhibiting his penchant for irony, Crafton delivered the [...]