“Tell me what your greatest strength is.” Perhaps I shouldn’t admit this, but I always find this an easier interview question to answer than when I’m asked to name my biggest weakness. That’s the paradox of choice for you! While taking a sideways look at economics over a few beers with colleagues recently, I suggested it might be insightful to compare an individual’s assessment of their own professional forté with that attributed to them by their colleagues. The idea wasn’t

As I was swiping decisively through my best friend’s online dating account last Saturday, it struck me that in many respects the online dating market isn’t dissimilar to markets others of us are more familiar with, such as the online shopping market. Indeed, both are booming, with the reasons below being valid for rejecting either a date or a pair of jeans: 1) Too big 2) Too small 3) Not as pictured 4) Doesn't suit me 5) Damaged Another commonality

There are many things that I’ve long admired about British culture. As a young Italian teenager landing on these shores, I vividly remember being blown away (almost literally) by the music scene, not to mention realising that Benny Hill, a popular British export, might not have been the pinnacle of comedic genius. Political satire and debating were the most eye-opening discoveries of all, as I was mesmerised by programmes like ‘The Day Today’ or ‘The 11 O’clock Show’ and ‘Prime

The ‘infinite monkey theorem’ postulates that, given an infinite amount of time, a lowly monkey will eventually be able to reproduce the complete works of Shakespeare merely by jumping around on a keyboard. Used in this context, the monkey is effectively a metaphor for a machine capable of generating a random sequence of letters and characters. It’s what we might refer to today as a random number generator. This metaphor, sometimes credited to French mathematician Emile Borel writing in 1913,

In the film Mary Poppins, our heroine has a tape measure in her enormously capacious bag, which she uses to measure her charges, the children of the Banks family. She employs it in the usual way but instead of reporting their height it reports their character. The scene culminates with the children measuring her and finding her “practically perfect in every way”. However, for the rest of us, a tape measure wouldn’t be a sensible way to measure someone’s character.

Groucho Marx once stated indignantly, in a beautiful paraphrasing of Russell’s Paradox,[1] that: “I wouldn’t be a member of any club that would have me as a member.” It’s important not to confuse Groucho Marx with Karl Marx, the double centenary of whose birth is this year. They share little in common apart from the name and unconvincing facial hair. But there’s a nice application of Russell’s Paradox to what remains of Karl’s legacy. Marxism is bunk. The doctrine of

“Not another article about Donald Trump” — said everyone. Since the election of Donald Trump, the media has been flooded with the trials and tribulations of his ‘stormy’ presidency. We at Fathom have always focused on the economics, such as his tax reforms. However, studying how Mr Trump presents information has led me to some interesting observations about how he exploits a particular branch of economics to influence opinion. The most effective targeted campaigns are those which connect with their

It has been brought to my attention that Bill and Ted will be returning to our screens in the not too distant future and there’s a buzz in the office among the older generation. I must confess, that the names only rang very dim and distant bells for me, but my friend Google has kindly filled in the gaps in my education. In the film Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, Keanu Reeves’ character, Theodore “Ted” Logan, says to his friend

In an increasing number of marketplaces, such as Airbnb and Uber, customers rate their service provider, and get rated in return. Potential downsides from this evolution were explored in a Black Mirror episode that described a future where personal ratings determined everything from which neighbourhood you lived in to the type of car you could rent. But this trend needn’t be scary. In theory, it should lead to efficiencies. Many transactions take place with asymmetries of information. Does this hotel

A friend recently emailed me a link to a golf trolley advertised online. A golf trolley with a difference: in addition to the standard slot for the clubs and scorecard was space reserved for a baby! Apparently, the availability of this single product is key to my mate’s new-found willingness to become a ‘stay-at-home dad’. “Yet another example of new gadgets driving able-bodied folk out of the workforce”, I replied. On a more serious note, since the crisis we’ve seen