Knowing and Making

Loved this headline: Bernanke Beats Schumacher in Korea as Brains Finish First . I don't really know what else to say about it. I'll post something more intelligent tomorrow.

If you didn't see the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday and you're still planning to watch it, look away now. But really . It's been three days. So for those who didn't see it and are not planning to watch it, think about this question. Should the order in which drivers are placed affect the aggregate happiness of all fans? (Assume for now that all drivers and teams have the same number of fans.) Surely not, right? No matter whether Rubens Barrichello wins or Robert Kubica does, people will be - on average - equally happy. There's a certain utility gained from your driver coming first, a lower amount for coming second, third, and so on. The total utility gained by all fans is the sum of U(first) + U(second) ... + U(20th), and the only difference is the distribution of happiness between people. And yet. On Sunday, Lewis Hamilton was running in third place and ready to get on the podium. He entered the last lap a couple of seconds behind Jenson Button and trying to catch...