The reaction of many economists to this year’s Nobel prize was “Elinor who?” Vernon, in a commentary for Forbes, nicely says why her work is important and why for many of us she influenced our economic thinking.

All kinds of weird items have shown up on online marketplaces from a glow in the dark real crab necklace to someone's dinner to nothing. Now teacher's are selling their lesson plans.

Check out Dick Thaler's comments on recent auction format

Super Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubnar will be available on 10/20. There is the Freakonomics blog on NYTimes with recent posts about the book.

I am so looking forward to the Nordic Conference on EE at the end of the month in Oslo, Sweden. Plus, we will take a detour to St. Andrews and Edinburgh before -- they are two of my most favorite places!

Alessandra and I have FINALLY finished what we think is an improved version of our network paper! Trouble sleeping -- download it here -- comments welcome

I just came across a link to the most requested articles in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization (for 2003 articles), and my paper with Kevin McCabe and Vernon Smith is #9!

Link here

What would you do with your 60 minutes of fame on the plinth? Only 99 days left to participate!

NPR story “ Real People Fill In for Statue in Trafalgar Square”

Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism (Akerlof and Shiller) is a must read for anyone wanting to learn more about factors influencing our economy for which standard economic theory does not account....

Don Hucks posted a blog on Scientific Blogging featuring my research on giving and social cues, called Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

The Economist printed a story about Econoland “that combines the magic of a theme park with the excitement of macroeconomics,” complete with clickable map. My favorite is the Dow Jones roller coaster in Section A. Have fun exploring!

I am very excited to say Thony accepted a position in the Department of Philosophy at Rutgers University. He is now an Associate Professor. :-) You can see a ranking of departments here

I came across an especially helpful book, How To Write A Lot, written by psychologist Paul Silvia.

A story in the NYTimes, Dieting? Put Your $$ Where Your Mouth Is, discusses a clever website stickK.com (created by Dean Karlan at Yale) where people can create a commitment contract for say losing weight, or quitting smoking, where if you fail, it costs you $$$. You can even assign ahead of time to pay the $$$ to an anti-charity - George W. Bush library is a popular choice!

A recent New York Times article: Is it time to retrain b-schools?

academic coach blog has some helpful advice, including tips for dealing with email addiction!

The Well blog (on the NY Times) reports about new research suggesting fathers are having greater influence on their daughter’s career choices.

Find the paper here.

An interesting blog with a post about coping with Mean Reviews

Interesting NY Times article about Larry Summers, chief WH economic adviser, and the nickname President Obama has for his council -- “the propeller-heads”.

As a side note, when Thony and I met Summers while at Harvard, we were both impressed by how interested he was in research being conducted by faculty. At a party in his house, he made the rounds meeting all new faculty and intensely discussing their research with them -- and I mean intensely.

A new book, Ask For It by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever, is a really good read for women who’d like ideas on improving their negotiation skills.

They also authored the best seller Women Don’t Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide.

If you need a good laugh (it helps if you like cake, but c’mon who doesn’t?!?), then you should definitely check out this blog:

When professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong

My paper, Trust and Reciprocity in Incentive Contracting, is available online now at JEBO:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2009.01.006

In today’s Times there is an imaginative take on NYC using nothing other than legos.

My paper on minimal social cues was accepted today for publication in the Journal of Economic Psychology. :) You can get the latest version here.

Check out the only stand up economist, Yoram Bauman, and his sketch “Principals of Economics, Translated” which is definitely worth a peek.

Shyam Sunder has a review of Vernon’s book, Rationality in Economics: Constructivist and Ecological Forms, in the latest issue of the Journal of Economic Psychology (Feb. 2009, v. 30, 107-110).

The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks is worth checking out.

She posted a picture my husband and I took in London.

In a recent Science (January 23), there is a very interesting News Note providing an overview -- as well as some criticisms -- of the research being conducted on the role social networks play in everything from obesity to happiness

Mary Rigdon (no relation), owner of Decimal Place Farms, was featured recently in AJC. She makes a wonderful variety of cheeses in Atlanta from the milk of a herd of Saanen goats.

An Appreciation of Arizona’s NCAA Streak in the WSJ (sports)