Automated recommendation software can be a very efficient technique to increase revenues and doubly so in the world of click-to-purchase materials and low thresholds for impulsive purchases. However, these algorithms can produce some hilarious results given enough interest. For example, after the jump, see Amazon’s current match for Axelrod’s The Complexity of Cooperation.
Freakonomics allows one question for Prisoner’s Dilemma – Does it Matter?
Dubner at the NYTimes Freakonomics Blog asks the following question to his readers given prisoner’s dilemma problem: Pretend for a minute that you have done something to put yourself in jeopardy and are facing a real-life Prisoner’s Dilemma. Now pretend additionally that you get to choose your partner in the dilemma. There are three people … Read more
I am Easily Distracted by Databases
Jonathan Dingel on Friday stumbled upon a Preferential Trade Agreements Database hosted by the McGill University Faculty of Law which contains the text, or link to the text, of multiple PTAs. Given the abundance of studies that use trade activity as a direct (or proxy) measure for openness, this is an incredible collection that makes … Read more
Interpreting Logged Independent Variables in OLS
Logging data is almost as dangerous as logging trees; if you don’t do either the right way, the consequences could be undesirable. Below I will explain why we log data in OLS. Then I will discuss how to interpret the coefficient of a logged independent variable in an OLS model. The interpretation is not as straight forward as it normally is in a linear OLS model. If it is not done carefully, the results of the model may be difficult to understand.
More following the jump….
Online Shopping, with a Stochastic Element
What’s a way to make online shopping more appealing to game theorists? Make it a lottery, of course! For 10 USD, SomethingStore.com will send you . . . something. According to their website, the company will send you something randomly chosen from their inventory. They make no guarantee of suitability or value, or even that … Read more
Pax Corleone
I could not pass up this article posted on The Monkey Cage yesterday. Hulsman and Mitchell use the movie The Godfather as an analogy for post-9/11 America and each one of the Vito’s potential heirs represents a different theoretical path for America. The article is an interesting treatment of the subject, though not entirely novel. … Read more
Comments
All comments are read by the authors of the blog; they try to respond to comments when both appropriate and time permits. Please comment and do so often as we appreciate feedback, critique, and discussion. However, do not be discouraged if your comment does not receive an immediate response. To maintain a balance of civility … Read more
Daniel Drezner on the Role of Public Intellectuals
Daniel W. Drezner has posted a forthcoming conference paper on the role of public intellectuals 2.0. The basic argument: the internet effectively increases access to academic work by lowering the transaction costs of fnding it and breaking through the jargon of field specialization. Moving beyond a few criticisms of how today’s intellectuals pale in comparison … Read more
The Strategic Logic of Female Suicide Bombers
Yesterday on All Things Considered, NPR aired a detailed depiction of the phenomenon of female suicide bombers in Iraq, including an interview with a woman who intended to become one such human weapon. Strategically, as this story highlights, women are less likely to be searched in Iraq because of cultural reasons. Here is an excerpt … Read more
New Authors
Two new collaborators have joined the Quantitative Peace as founding authors and regular contributors to the project. Cynthia Colley, a researcher of Comparative and World Politics with a focus on Spanish Politics and internal violence. Julie VanDusky, a researcher of Comparative and American Politics with a focus in institutional development with a specific interest in … Read more