Economic Rockstar

Latest Episodes:

025: Dan Hamermesh on the Economics of Beauty: Attractive People Are More Successful Mar 26, 2015

Show notes

Dan Hamermesh is Professor in Economics at the Royal Holloway University of London and at the University of Texas at Austin. Dan researches the economics of beauty. He received his Ph.D. from Yale and has since taught at Princeton, at Michigan State, and at Texas. He has held visiting professorships at universities in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia, and lectured at almost 250 universities in 48 states and 33 foreign countries. His research, published in nearly 100 refereed papers in scholarly journals, has concentrated on time use, labor demand, discrimination, academic labor markets and unusual applications of labor economics (to beauty, sleep and suicide).

Professor Hamermesh has received many notable and distinguished honors and awards in recognition for his contribution to the field of economics. These include the Mincer Award and the IZA Prize in Labor Economics, the John R. Commons Award, as well as many teaching of excellence awards.

Daniel’s teaching include Microeconomics; Macroeconomics; Econometrics; Economics of Labor and Economics of Life.

Daniel is the author of many books including Demand for Labor: The Neglected Side of the Market, Beauty Pays: Why Attractive People Are More Successful, The Economics of Time Use and Economics Is Everywhere. He is also a regular contributor to the Freakonomics blog and podcast.

In this interview, Dan mentions and discusses:

Speculation, inter-temporal maximisation, labor economics, incentives, wages, welfare payments, comparative advantage and externalities.

Find out:

how students of economics can inspire their professors in a two-way mutual learning process.

why we should think about economics in things we see or do in the real world.

how economics can be used beyond the theoretical framework we see in textbooks.

how economics is everywhere - we just need to think, see and interpret.

how economics is enjoying a revival in reaching to mass audiences.

the benefits of economics books like Freakonomics, Beauty Pays, Dollars and Sex and Happiness By Design.

why we should read interesting books on economics.

if happiness is related to how beautiful or attractive you are.why better-looking men are happier.

how to recognise if you are beautiful.

what good-looking attorneys, prostitutes, politicians and NFL quarter-backs have in common.

and much, much more.

Visit: www.economicrockstar.com/danhamermesh to access the shownotes to this episode as well as the links to the books mentioned.

024: Greg Davies on Behavioral Finance and Controlling Your Emotions When Making Trading Decisions Mar 19, 2015

Show notes

Greg Davies is Managing Director and Head of Behavioural Finance at Barclays. He joined the firm in December 2006 to develop and implement commercial applications drawing on behavioural portfolio theory, the psychology of judgment and decision making, and decision sciences.

Today Greg leads a global team of behavioural and quantitative finance specialists, and is responsible for the design and global implementation of Barclays’ Investment Philosophy.

Greg is an Associate Fellow at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and his first (co-authored) book, ‘Behavioral Investment Management: An Efficient Alternative to Modern Portfolio Theory’, was published in January 2012.

He is co-curator and co-creator of Open Outcry - a reality opera based on the stock market trading floor.

Greg has authored papers in multiple academic disciplines, presents at academic and industry conferences, and is a frequent media commentator on Behavioural Finance. He is an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Behavioural and Experimental Finance.

Greg studied at the University of Cape Town and obtained a degree in Economics, Philosophy and Finance. He followed this with an MPhil in Economics and a PhD in Decision Theory and Behavioural Finance from the University of Cambridge.

Find out:

what is Behavioral Economics/Finance

the disconnection between economics and psychology.

how Kahneman and Tversky were ‘swimming up-stream’ to bring common sense to economics.

why viewing the world through biases is harmful to behavioral finance.

why the ever-increasing list of biases may not be good for the behavioral finance field.

about System 1 and System 2 as popularised by Daniel Kahneman.

why it’s good to allow emotions to part of the portfolio decision-making process.

how to acquire the emotional comfort you need for your long-term financial objectives.

how to buy emotional insurance for your long-term investment portfolio.

how to avoid costly short-term emotional mistakes.

how psychometric tests can extract measures of financial personality.

why a set of nudges are designed to help high net-worth individuals to make better decisions.

how to build a tailored portfolio to meet your clients needs.

why you should consider including expected anxiety into your portfolio building along with risk and return.

what an opera experiment has to do with replicating the open outcry system of a trading floor.

how music can control your emotions while trading markets.

how Barclays Capital are improving the understanding of their clients by turning the lens on themselves.

To access the links mentioned in this episode, visit www.economicrockstar.com/gregdavies

To be in with a chance to win this weeks prize, visit www.economicrockstar.com/giveaway

023: Loretta Napoleoni on Financing Terrorism and the Creation of the Islamic State Mar 12, 2015

Show notes

Loretta Napoleoni is an expert on terrorist financing, and advises several governments and international organizations on counter-terrorism and money laundering.

As Chairman of the countering terrorism financing group for the Club de Madrid, Loretta brought heads of state from around the world together to create a new strategy for combating the financing of terror networks.

Loretta is a regular media commentator for CNN, Sky and the BBC and advises several banks on strategies to counter the current ongoing crisis. She lectures regularly around the world on economics, terrorism and money laundering.

Loretta is also a columnist and writes about terrorism, money laundering and the economy for several European financial papers including El Pais, The Guardian and Le Monde.

Loretta began her career as an economist, working for several banks and international organizations in Europe and the US. She has a Phd in economics and a Masters of Philosophy in International Relations and one in terrorism.

She is the bestselling author of numerous books including The Islamist Phoenix, Maoanomics, Rogue Economics, Terror Incorporated and Insurgent Iraq.

Her books are translated into 18 languages including Chinese and Arabic.

“I studied economics because I thought that economics was the way to change the world” - Loretta Napoleoni.

Economic Themes:

In this interview, Loretta mentions and discusses: Islamic Finance, gold, barter, quantitative easing, reserve currency, consumerism, the Marshall Plan, labor, wages, sex trade, slavery, demand, profit, trade unions, capitalism and growth.

Find out:

about Loretta’s involvement in the feminist revolution in the 1970s in Italy where she was one of the founding members of the Italian Feminist Movement.

why she studied economics and the subsequent irony of working for a Russian bank.

why Loretta sold her company to do a PhD in terrorism at the London School of Economics.

about Loretta’s contact with the Italian Marxist organisation, The Red Brigade.

how terrorists fund their activities.

who initially sponsored ISIS or the Islamic State initially and how they may regret this.

why Jihadi John and others were attracted to the Islamic State.

how Saudi Arabia’s sponsor of a war by proxy against the Assad regime in Syria resulted in the creation of IS.

about The Caliphate and why IS wants to re-create a modern version of this region.

about the functioning economy of the Islamic State.

if the Islamic State has a functioning banking system.

if the Islamic State is using gold coins, dollars or a bartering system.

about the how women are treated in the Islamic State.

and much much more. To access the shownotes page and links mentioned in this episode visit http://www.economicrockstar.com/loretta

022: Josh Angrist on Taking the Con Out of Econometrics - Kung Fu Style Mar 05, 2015

Show notes

Master Joshway, better known as Josh Angrist, is the Ford Professor of Economics at MIT and a Research Associate in the NBER's programs on Children, Education, and Labor Studies. Josh received his B.A. from Oberlin College, spent time as an undergraduate studying at the London School of Economics and as a Masters student at Hebrew University. He completed his Ph.D. in Economics at Princeton.

Angrist's research interests include the effects of school inputs and school organization on student achievement; the impact of education and social programs on the labor market; the effects of immigration, labor market regulation and institutions; and econometric methods for program and policy evaluation.

Josh is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, The Econometric Society, and has served on many editorial boards and as a Co-editor of the Journal of Labor Economics.

Josh is the author (with Steve Pischke) of Mostly Harmless Economics as well as Mastering 'Metrics.

Find out in this episode how Josh went from High School drop-out to Professor of Economics at MIT.

Find out:

about Master Joshway and Master Steveway - the Kung Fu Economists.

how Josh went from working in a mental hospital to working in MIT.

where the names Master Joshway and Master SteveFu came from.

why Josh is a critic of macroeconomics.

the difference between traditional applied micro and applied micro today.

Josh’s views on using assumptions in microeconomics.

how to design an microeconomics experiment using randomized trials.

why Freakonomics is a must read for students or potential students of economics.

why being born later in the year is good for your educational attainment.

about Josh’s lucky breaks in life.

why Josh dropped out of school at 16 and about his army sergeant stripes.

about Josh’s hyper Jim Kramer-like teaching style.

about an amazing list of economists that have personally influenced Josh.

what helps Josh clear his head and keep in shape.

and much much more.

Visit www.economicrockstar.com/joshangrist to read the shownotes page and to find all the images and links mentioned in this episode.

021: Paul Dolan on the Economics of Happiness Feb 26, 2015

Show notes

Paul Dolan is an internationally renowned expert on happiness, behaviour and public policy. He is currently a Professor of Behavioural Science in the Department of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Paul has previously held academic posts at York, Newcastle, Sheffield and Imperial and he has been a visiting scholar at Princeton University, working with Daniel Kahneman.

Professor Dolan has over 100 peer-reviewed publications which cover many topics including behavioural science, subjective wellbeing, equity in health and health valuation.

Paul is currently a Member of the World Economic Forum Panel on Behavioural Science, the Chief Academic Advisor on Economic Appraisal for the UK Government's Economic Service. He is also a member of National Academy of Sciences Panel on Wellbeing and of the Measuring National Wellbeing Advisory Forum for the Office for National Statistics in the UK.

Paul is the author of ‘Happiness by Design’.

Find Out:

How Paul evolved from a health economist to a behavioral economist.

How many years of your life would you be willing to give up to avoid being anxious or being down.

if Aristotle and other philosophers are right in saying that happiness can only be defined on a death-bed when reflecting upon your life.

how to create a pleasure-purpose balance that’s right for you.

how you can use the production function process to produce happiness.

what is this production process that makes us happy.

if money makes you happier.

how happiness studies influence policy decision-making.

about the limitations to happiness research and what can be done to make better research.

what nudging is.

how nudging by policy-makers can make you happier.

about the morality of nudging.

how supermarkets can nudge you into buying their breads and cakes.

why self-help books are a waste of money as they try to change your mindset.

why Paul’s book, ‘Happiness By Design’ will help you to change what you do.

about Paul’s ‘3 Pillars of Happiness’ - Deciding, Designing and Doing.

how designing your life to make things simple and easy can help you achieve your goals.

about the essence of mindfulness.

why people who are easily distracted are more likely to be less happy.

if your phone can make you unhappy and what you should do about it.

why Paul is a ‘Happy Hammer’ (West Ham fan) despite never winning the league.

how the power of ‘hope’ can make you happy by allowing your imagination run freely.

For the shownotes visit www.economicrockstar.com/pauldolan

020: George Magnus on The Age of Ageing, China and the EU Feb 19, 2015

Show notes

George Magnus is an independent economist, consultant and commentator. He has a distinguished career that started with some teaching assignments but was spent mostly in the financial services industry.

Before going solo in 2012, George was the Senior Economic Adviser at UBS Investment Bank having previously been the Chief Economist for 10 years. In almost 30 years of working experience in the City, he has held senior positions at SG Warburg, Chase Manhattan Bank and Bank of America. He is a well-known and highly regarded economist in the financial community and has won many accolades in professional surveys as one of the top global economists.

George is well known for his commentaries and interviews in newspapers, journals, TV and radio, most notably for the Financial Times, CNBC and Bloomberg.

George, gained widespread acclaim for declaring in early 2007 that we would face a Minsky Moment - or systemic banking crisis - and a decade of slow growth, has extensive experience of writing on, explaining and speaking about the global economy.

His first book, The Age of Ageing: How Demographics Are Changing The Global Economy And Our World was published in 2008. His latest book, Uprising: Will Emerging Markets Shape or Shake the Global Economy was published at the end of 2010, and assesses, in particular, whether China is set to dominate the world system.

Find Out:

about bubbles and why we never learn from them.

how demographics are changing the world economy through declining fertility and rising life expectancy.

about the need for a policy agenda to cope with an ageing society.

why age-related commitments and promises such as pensions and health care schemes are unaffordable.

why there is a pension crisis to come and how it mimics a Ponzi-scheme.

about the fastest ageing country - China - and what problems will exist in the future.

if economies can experience positive growth rates if population declines by relying on robotics.

how the second machine age may bring problems to those whose jobs have been automated.

if there will be a strong Luddite presence in the future given the pace of technological change.

about the failure of the BRIC emerging countries to live up to their expectations.

if China is all hype.

what the real problem is in Europe in terms of its monetary union.

why the EU should have started with a fiscal and political union first and then build a monetary union on top.

about George Magnus’ band ‘Prisom’ and his love of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.

Visit www.economicrockstar.com/georgemagnus to view all the links mentioned in this episode.

You Are An Economic Rockstar!

019: Mark Thornton on the Decriminalization of Marijuana and the Skyscraper Curse Feb 11, 2015

Show notes

Dr. Thornton has withdrawn himself from politics and concentrates now on education, primarily of the general public because the Austrian perspective says:

"the world works according to the ideology of the masses so we have to change that mindset of the masses before we’re ever going to get political reform of the type Austrians would like to see" - Dr. Mark Thornton.

This is the part 2 of an interview with Mark. Part 1 can be found as episode 18 on iTunes, Stitcher Radio or at www.economicrockstar.com/markthornton

Check out the competition to win a 1-year online course at the Mises Institute at www.economicrockstar.com/mises (Closing date is February 20th, 2015).

In the episode find out:

a little about Dr. Mark Thornton’s ancestral history.

Mark’s views on why Ron Paul should be the next US President or even the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

the Skyscraper Index and how a correlation exists between a record-setting height and a global economic crisis.

how Mark predicted the economic crises from 2007/08.

how the ending of the alcohol prohibition in 1933 cut homicides by 50% and how the countries can learn from this with the drugs industry.

the social-economic benefits of the decriminalization of drugs in Portugal.

the benefits of marijuana and why it should be legalized.

To read the shownotes to this episode, please visit www.economicrockstar.com/markthornton2.

Don't forget to 'Like' Economic Rockstar on Facebook.

You Are An Economic Rockstar!

018: Mark Thornton on Austrian Economics and Why the Nazi's and the KGB Wanted Mises Papers Feb 05, 2015

Show notes

Dr. Mark Thornton is an economist who lives in Auburn, Alabama. Mark is Senior Fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute and serves as the Book Review Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics.

Mark’s publications include The Economics of Prohibition; Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation: The Economics of the Civil War (2004), The Quotable Mises (2005),The Bastiat Collection (2007), An Essay on Economic Theory (2010), and The Bastiat Reader (2014).

Dr. Thornton served as the editor of the Austrian Economics Newsletter and as a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Libertarian Studies. He has served as a member of the graduate faculties of Auburn University and Columbus State University. He has also taught economics at Auburn University at Montgomery and Trinity University in Texas.

Mark served as Assistant Superintendent of Banking and economic adviser to Governor Fob James of Alabama (1997-1999), and he was awarded the University Research Award at Columbus State University in 2002. Mark is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and received his PhD in economics from Auburn University.

Economics Themes:

In this interview, Mark mentions and discusses: Competition, Entrepreneurship, comparative economic systems, economic history, business cycles, value theory, population policy, purchasing power, deflation, monetary policy and bitcoins.

Economists and Economic Schools:

In this interview, Marina mentions: Ludwig von Miss, Friedrich Hayek, David Hume, Israel Kirzner, Carl Menger, Richard Cantillon, Friedrich von Wieser, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Joseph Schumpeter, Fritz Machlup, Adam Smith, Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Irving Fischer, Milton Friedman, Ben Bernanke, Scott Sumner, George Soros, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Jim Rogers, Paul Krugman, Austrian Economics, Merchantilists, Physiocrats, French Liberals and Classical Economists.

Find out:

about the Greek and Roman philosophical roots of Austrian Economics.

about the importance of deduction and logic in Austrian thinking.

the limitations to Austrian Economic thinking.

about Irish economist Richard Cantillon, who remains quite elusive in economics.

who Richard Cantillon influenced through his writings.

why the Austrian School of Economics is given its name.

how von Mises' papers got in the hands of Nazi Germany and then the Soviets.

whether von Mises or Irving Fischer was right about the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the subsequent Great Depression.
who would support Bitcoins - von Mises or Fischer?

why bitcoins were created.

how similar bitcoins are with gold and the Gold Standard.To access the shownotes to this epsiode, visit www.economicrockstar.com/markthornton

017: Marina Adshade on Understanding Economics the Sexy and 'Hard' Way Jan 29, 2015

Show notes

Dr. Marina Adshade engages in original economic research in the area of women in the economy. She has a Ph.D. from Queen’s University in Ontario Canada and currently teaches economics at the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia.

In 2008, Marina developed a unique specialization in the economics of sex and love and launched an undergraduate course titled ‘Economics of Sex and Love’, which invited her students to approach questions of sex and love through an economist’s lens. The class was an immediate hit with students and, by the time the first term started, had generated international media attention.

This culminated in the publication of her first book in 2013, ‘Dollars and Sex: How Economics Influences Sex and Love’. Marina converts economic theory into a sexy science by applying the principles of supply and demand and other market forces to matters of love, courtship, sex, intimacy, and marriage.

Find out:

why we should use sex and love in economics.

why Dr. Adshade decided to use the topic of sex in teaching economics.

why international media attention from Korea and Russia brought a spotlight to Marina's Module.

why Malthus called economics a dismal science.

how sci-fi novels are better at predicting new technologies more so than social change.

about the future of sex with androids.

how the male contraceptive can increase the bargaining of power of men over women.

how economic growth results in liberal attitudes.

if there is a causal relationship between economic growth and gay marriage.
who makes a better saver: men or women?
how Orgasms can be used to explain Game Theory.
how the market for sex and love is like a barter economy.
the similarities between Economics and Biology.
if you met somebody that had a variety of qualities that you valued but didn’t love, would you still marry that person?
about the Big Mac Index and the Blow Job Index.
For shownotes and links to all books and resources mentioned in this episode visit: www.economicrockstar.com/marinaadshade

016: Jack Schwager on How You Can Become a Market Wizard with Fundseeder.com Jan 22, 2015

Show notes

Jack Schwager, author of Market Wizards,is a recognized expert in the futures and hedge fund industry. He is the co-portfolio manager for the ADM Investor Services Diversified Strategies Fund and is a Co-Founder and Director of Trader Development at FundSeeder.

Jack has previously spent 22 years as a director of futures research at some of Wall Street’s leading firms and 10 years as a partner in a hedge fund advisory firm.

Jack’s name is synonymous with futures and trading, due to his compelling books that are frequently cited by the trading community. Perhaps Jack is best known for his Market Wizards series books in which he interviews some of the greatest hedge-fund managers. Altogether, his books have sold nearly 2 million copies worldwide. He is credited by many traders as being instrumental in the launch of their trading career.

Jack is a frequent seminar speaker and has lectured on a range of analytical topics including the characteristics of great traders, investment fallacies, hedge fund portfolios and technical analysis.

Jack holds a BA in Economics from Brooklyn College and an MA in Economics from Brown University.

Economic and Finance Themes:

In this interview, Jack mentions and discusses: chartists, technical analysis, fundamentals, futures, normal distribution curve, options, Black-Scholes Options Pricing Model, option warrant trading, efficient market hypothesis, probability, negative externalities, fiscal responsibility, Keynesianism, deficits and demand.

Find out:

why Jack chose economics at University.

about the similarities between Physics and Economics and why they are so different as a science.

if there is a certain personality that is required in trading financial markets.

if there is a holy grail to trading the markets.

about the importance of discipline.

how an $18 'Job Wanted' ad in the New York Times landed Jack a position as a key analyst.

the one trader that particularly impressed Jack.

about the different strategies of some of Jack's Market Wizards.

why normal distribution tail events can have a higher probability of occurrence than is lead to believe.

about the tragic ending of Market Wizard John Bender and the current case against his wife by the Costa Rican authorities for his 'murder'.

about Fundseeder - the world's first search engine for undiscovered trading talent.

about Jack's forthcoming book with the working title 'Undiscovered Market Wizards' and how you could possibly feature it.

about the Market Wizards Roadshow coming soon in 2015.

why Jack wrote his book 'Market Sense and Nonsense'.

about the debunking of the efficient market hypothesis.

what a negative externality is in the context of economic theory.

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