Archive for April 27th, 2007

Time for some Cricket

April 27, 2007

Well, the blog is called mostly economics but as I mentioned at the start I am going to write on some topics that interest me. Cricket is one of them. No matter how the performance of the Indian Cricket team, I try and keep updated on the latest the sport has to offer.

I was just talking to one of my colleagues at IDBI Capital about the huge number of one-sided games in this world cup. However, being more empirically inclined was wondering to look at some statistics to prove the same.

Here is an excellent analysis by S.Rajesh of Cricinfo where he says:

  • Firstly he defines one sided rather conservatively as “a margin of at least 50 runs, or five wickets with 30 balls to spare”.
  • In the 2003 and 2007 WC astounding 72% of the matches were one sided
  • Removing non test playing nations the figure for 2003 is 56% but that of 2007 is still 68% ( this statistic is clearly a better one as it excludes non-test playing nations). In 1987 the % was just 28% which looks like the most hard-fought world cup.

His analysis doesn’t just end with world cup though….He has done an analysis of all the matches so far and well the concerns are there for ICC:

  • In 1980’s the one sided % was 35, in 1990’s 38 and in 200s it has moved to astonishing 49%. Almost 50% of the matches are simply a waste of time in 200s. This is an irony by itself. With so much involvement of professionalism ( batting coaches,bowling coaches, fielding coaches, trainers, etc) in the game we would expect more closely fought matches…
  • He has also given a break up from 2000 onwards and in most of the years the one sided % is hovering around 50. It touches a low of 39% in 2004 and a high of 53% in 2007.

I am waiting for the country wise results analysis. Which country would be involved in most one sided wins and defeats….No guesses for the former ( should by all means by Australia) and for latter there should be a tough fight between India, WI and B’Desh.

Two more prominent awards for Economics

April 27, 2007

Univ of Chicago has given 9 Nobel Prize Winners as per Nobel Prize Committee list (They basically see what Univ is one at at the time of award, so someone who gets an award when he is at MIT but has taught earlier at Univ of Chicago, The committee would cite MIT in its award). This press release from Univ of Chicago tells me till 2004, out of 55 Nobel laureates 23 were associated with Univ of Chicago either as students, associate professors etc. This is quite a number.

Thanks to Economic Principals, I just came to know about 2 more awards:1. Bernácer Prize : awarded by Observatory of the European Central Bank given to European Economist under 40 (similar to Clark Medal). Given every year and is named in honour of Germán Bernácer (1883-1965), the first Spanish economist who made significant contributions to the development of macroeconomic research, the BERNÁCER PRIZE was established in 2001 to recognise the work of young economists from the European Union and to stimulate research on European macroeconomics and financial issues.

There have been 7 winners so far:

Again 3 out of 7 are from Univ of Chicago!! Another thing to note is that where as we have only one woman who has won the Clark Medal. here it pretty Even-Stevens.

2. The Elaine Bennett Research Prize : Awarded by American Economic Association (the one that also gives the Clark Medal) and is awarded every other year to recognize, support, and encourage outstanding contributions by young women in the economics profession. Elaine Bennett, made significant contributions in economic theory and experimental economics and encouraged the work of young women in all areas of economics.

The winners:

Out of the two lists I have only read Esther Duflo( just a bit though) and Luigi Zingales (a little more) . Duflo focuses on development research and Zingales on Financial Economics.

Zingales is a star and his research work on financial markets is quite extraordinary and always provides a lot of food for thought. He has written extensively with Raghuram Rajan and together have written some landmark papers on capital structure, impact of finance on growth, underdevelopment ( I mentioned about their work here and here). His/Their work is a must read for all looking at finance as their careers.

Assorted Links

April 27, 2007
  1. A super speech by Fed Governor Mishkin on Globalisation and Financial Development. He also talks about the role of institutions in financial development, the topics I had blogged on previously (here and here) He is one of my favourite economists. His papers are one of the simplest to read.
  2. On Hedge Funds (By Brad De Long) . On Hedge Fund salaries.
  3. A good review of Susan Athey’s work (mentioned in previous post). Here is David Warsh praising her work. Here is Economist Profiling her work
  4. Lee Iacocca Interview .
  5. Diary of an Investment Banker. How little money they make?
  6. Contronyms?? Find out for yourself

Thanks to Marginal Revolution for 2 (1) & 6, Finance Professor for 2(2), 4 & 5 and New Economist for 3


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