EconStories.tv has created an alternative way to learn about economics, check out “Fear the Boom and Bust” a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem.

New article published by Professor Philip Hancock in the Operations Management and Strategy department in the UB School of Management:

• Title: Analysing Communication in a Complex Service Process: An Application of Social Network Analysis in the Scottish Prison Service
• Authors: Hancock PG (Hancock, P. G.), Raeside R (Raeside, R.)
• Source: JOURNAL OF THE OPERATIONAL RESEARCH SOCIETY
• Volume: 61    Issue: 2    Pages: 265-274    Published: FEB 2010
• Abstract: This article utilizes social network analysis (SNA) and associated statistical techniques to examine a complex process known as Sentence Management in a Scottish Prison Service facility. Findings indicate that communication did not always follow the formal hierarchical process defined by that organization, significant fragmentation existed between certain key roles, and four central actors controlled much of the process. This research demonstrates the applicability of the SNA as an operations management tool to analyse structural communication patterns. This case study further suggests that SNA may be particularly applicable to the public service sector, to better understand informal communication networks within operations that are largely dependent on human performance.
• Link to full-text: http://www.palgrave-journals.com.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/jors/journal/v61/n2/abs/jors2008145a.html

New article published by professors Sharman and Rao in the UB School of Management:

• Title: Security Protection Design for Deception and Real System Regimes: A Model and Analysis
• Author(s): Ryu C (Ryu, C.), Sharman R (Sharman, R.), Rao HR (Rao, H. R.), Upadhyaya S (Upadhyaya, S.)
• Source: EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
• Volume: 201; Issue: 2; Pages: 545-556
• Published: MAR 1 2010
• Abstract: In this paper, we model a possible deception system with the explicit purpose of enticing unauthorized users and restricting their access to the real system. The proposed model represents a system designer’s defensive actions against intruders in a way that maximizes the difference between the intruders’ cost and the system designer’s cost of system protection. Under the assumption of a dual entity system, the proposed model shows that intruders differ in behavior depending on the system’s vulnerability at the time of intrusion as well as depending on their own economic incentives. The optimal results of the proposed model provide the system designer with insights on how to configure the level of protection for the two systems. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
• Link to full text of article: http://search.ebscohost.com.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=44417298&site=ehost-live&scope=site

The usual flood of best-of-biz-books lists are in.  If we don’t own them yet, we likely will soon.  Not all of the books listed are from 2009 and there are some out-of-the-ordinary inclusions.  Here are some highlights.

USA Today has a nice list of the Year’s Best Business Books to Make Sense of the Financial Crisis.  Not on the list is Margaret Atwood’s “Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth.”  Did you know this prolific novelist pretty much predicted the current financial crisis?

strategy + business (free registration required) has some great lists.  My favorite inclusion is Lawrence Lessig’s “Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy.”

Financial Times…  one of the most watched lists provides no real surprises, with the “FT and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award” going to the unanimously lauded “Lords of Finance.”

The Economist, as always, provides a much needed global perspective, but I’d recommend going for some business fiction and check out “American Rust” about the close-to-home rust belt.

Listeners of American Public Radio’s Marketplace chime in…  one listener suggests the interesting memoir “Cheerful Money: Me, My Family, and the Last Days of Wasp Splendor.”

Time.com… most surprising book on list?  “Ayn Rand and the World She Made.”

McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin…  surprising inclusion: “Martha Rules: 10 Essentials for Achieving Success as You Start, Grow, or Manage a Business.”

Fuqua’s Ford Business School Library at Duke provides a list of five important recent biz books.

There are many more!  In fact, once you’ve read all the best recent biz books, find more by reading “The 100 Best Business Books of All Time: What They Say, Why They Matter, and How They Can Help You.“  Check out the book’s web site for even more.

Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) has a new website and new procedures for accessing it.  These new procedures do not affect faculty and PhD students who have their own accounts (your same username and password will continue to work).

New access procedures:

1. When you first go to the website, you will be asked to enter your email address in the left hand column.
2. Enter your UB email address (@buffalo.edu) — it must be your UB email address (not a Gmail or other account).
3. You will then get an email form WRDS with “WRDS Day Pass” in the subject line.
4. Use the link in that email to access WRDS.  That link will work for 24 hours.
5. After 24 hours, you will need to repeat this procedure.

It’s a bit cumbersome, but necessary from WRDS’s perspective.

If you’ve never used WRDS before, it takes data from a variety of sources (called datasets) and makes it searchable from a single interface.  WRDS is perhaps most often used here at UB to download company financials (the Compustat dataset) and stock prices (the CRSP dataset). You wanna see the course that Lehman’s stock took as it headed toward collapse — it’s in there.  You want M&T’s balance sheet for the last twenty years — it’s in there.

WRDS, like most data tools, can be tricky to use.  But the new website makes it a bit easier and is more intuitive.  Plus, WRDS provides good support for users.  I’m always available to try to helps as well.

If you have any questions on all this, feel free to contact me (see the top of this page).