Research and Baby-Carrying Storks
How to Find a Research Topic
Today’s video continues my series on how to stand out as an economics student. One of the best ways to stand out is by doing self-directed research. But how do you find a research idea? In the video, I start from scratch and give myself one hour to find a research topic. If you want a research topic for personal development or even for a class, try the process for yourself.
Epic vs Apple
Here is a striking statistic I read on Apple:
The Epic vs Apple battle will be an interesting anti-trust case to follow. One month ago, Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic, gave a great interview on his views of the online virtual economy, and in it he outlined some of the views guiding his fight against Apple. (Keep in mind, the interview was before the actual suit filed against Apple.)
Do Storks Bring Babies?
I have a lot of YouTube videos this week. This one comes from economist Tim Harford who uses statistics to decide whether storks bring babies. It’s a good little video on the perils and pitfalls of statistics.
Leisure Smoothing
There is a concept in economics called consumption smoothing. Instead of eating a carton of ice cream today, you spread it out over a week or two. Consumption smoothing works because of diminishing returns: if you eat all of the ice cream tonight, you’ll feel awful, but if you spread it out you can get lots of enjoyment every time.
Well the same concept applies to leisure. If you take all of your vacation time in one go, you will regret it later when you are desperate for a break. But what if we smoothed more than just vacation time? What if we could do better at smoothing our weekly leisure? YouTuber CGP Grey argues we could do better at how we distribute our weekends. I had a professor who followed the practice 10 years ago and said it was one of the best things he did for his family and career.