Results for “"Eve Online"” 6 found
Cryptoeconomics!
The crypto market is up! The crypto market is down! The roller coaster can be fearfully thrilling but as thoughtful academics and people interested in ideas let’s look away from the daily ups and downs and focus on the big picture. What is crypto? What is cryptoeconomics?
Tyler and I have written a new chapter for our textbook, Modern Principles. In Cryptoeconomics we explain just enough cryptography–namely cryptographic hash functions and public-private keys–to understand what new forms of communication and organization have been made possible by these breakthroughs. We then use these fundamentals to explain NFTs, blockchains, Bitcoin, smart contracts and decentralized finance–all in a crisp, compact format accessible to everyone.
Not everyone wants to teach crypteconomics, of course, or has the time (scarcity!) so this chapter will be available as an option to anyone using our book and the Achieve online course management system (in fact, it’s available now). Tyler and I have found, however, that our students, colleagues, even people at dinner parties ask us about crypto. Probably your students and friends will ask you as well. Plus our textbook is called Modern Principles so we thought we were obligated to teach these new ideas!
Cryptoeconomics is a good guide to some fundamentally new ways of trading, communicating, and cooperating.
Addendum: If you want to learn more about DeFi, my talk goes into greater depth.
Online Education is Better
The COVID-19 crisis is accelerating a long-term trend, the shift to online education. I’ve long argued that online education is superior to traditional models. In an excellent essay in the New York Times, Veronique Mintz, an eighth-grade NYC student agrees:
Talking out of turn. Destroying classroom materials. Disrespecting teachers. Blurting out answers during tests. Students pushing, kicking, hitting one another and even rolling on the ground. This is what happens in my school every single day.
You may think I’m joking, but I swear I’m not…during my three years of middle school, these sorts of disruptions occurred repeatedly in any given 42-minute class period.
That’s why I’m in favor of the distance learning the New York City school system instituted when the coronavirus pandemic hit.
…Distance learning gives me more control of my studies. I can focus more time on subjects that require greater effort and study. I don’t have to sit through a teacher fielding questions that have already been answered.
…This year I have struggled with math. The teacher rarely had the patience for questions as he spent at least a third of class time trying to maintain order. Often, when I scheduled time to meet with him before school, there would be a pileup at his door of students who also had questions. He couldn’t help us all in 20 minutes before first period. Other times he just wouldn’t show up….With distance learning, all of that wasted time is eliminated. I stop, start and even rewind the teacher’s recording when I need to and am able to understand the lesson on the day it’s taught.
Veronique’s online courses were put together in a rush. Imagine how much more she will learn when we invest millions in online classes and teach at scale. The online classes that Tyler and I teach, using Modern Principles and the Sapling/Achieve online course management system, took years to produce and feature high quality videos and sophisticated assessment tools including curve shifting (not just multiple-choice), empirical questions based on FRED, and adaptive practice–plus the videos are all subtitled in multiple languages, they can be sped up or slowed down, watched at different times of the day in different time zones and so forth. Moreover, technology is increasing the advantages of online education over time.
Economists in the Media
I am quoted on how economists are portrayed in the media:
It is the best of times. It is the worst of times. It is not uncommon, for example, to see critiques of economics in the media which are about as sophisticated as saying “look at those silly physicists who think that a bowling ball and a feather fall at the same rate.” Even people who should know better like David Suzuki say ridiculously, obtuse things when it comes to economics–perhaps for ideological reasons.
At the same time, the quality of the coverage of economics in the media is often excellent and has never been better. Greg Ip, David Leonhardt, Catherine Rampell, Adam Davidson, Stacey Vanek Smith, Cardiff Garcia, Megan McArdle all do superb economic commentary and reporting not just about the economy but about economics. And those are only the people off the top of my head, I could name many more.
The public also has access to top economists through the blogs and social media. I would count Paul Krugman, Tyler Cowen, John Cochrane, and Jeniffer Doleac in this category.
While some people claim that economics is out of touch or obsolete, economics passes the market test. Economists have never been more in demand. Designing new types of markets is a big part of the internet economy and computer scientists, followed by economists, are the leaders in this field. Google and Facebook run billions of dollars of auctions using what was once an obscure economic theory (Vickey-Clarke-Groves auctions). Google, Facebook, Uber and Airbnb all hire economists to better understand data and design new economic mechanisms. Even some online games like Eve Online are hiring economists to help to run virtual economies–one such economist, Yanis Varoufakis, went from a virtual economy to a real economy when he became Greece’s Minster of Finance.
If you want to understand the world and make it a better place there is no better degree than an economics degree because it is so versatile.
Virtual or and Real
A banker has absconded with 86 billion from Dynasty Banking. Dynasty Banking? Is that an obscure Icelandic bank? Almost, it's a bank in the massive world of Eve Online.
Two years ago in a post called The Future of Macroeconomics I wrote the following:
time ever, macro-economists will be able to do experiments. I predict
that we will see some very interesting experiments in the near future.
The massive theft from Dynasty Banking is creating a bank run. There is no FDIC in Eve Online but other banks have agreed to lend Dynasty cash if it is needed – no doubt they fear contagion. No word yet on whether fiscal or monetary stimulus is planned but I will watch the experiment with interest.
If this is not enough to boggle your mind, Eve Online is in fact an Icelandic firm! Which explains why the money in Eve is called ISK, also the code for the Iceland Krona. To bring the story full circle the Icelandic banking collapse is causing problems for the developer.
"The present currency restrictions are putting us in a straitjacket.
We are in talks with the government, but if we can't let capital in, we
might be compelled to leave Iceland, even though this would be against
our wishes."
EVE currently has around 300K subscribers.
Gudmundsson's comments come after those of CCP CEO Hilmar Petursson,
who told Edge in October following the banking collapse, "I’m fortunate
that CCP has hardly been affected by the economic crisis here. We now
have to take advantage of our status as a global company and maintain
our diversified banking relationships."
CCP also has offices in Atlanta and Shanghai.
Finally, in other news, we have this:
Royal Khanid Navy Grand Admiral Zidares Khanid this morning released a
statement claiming that Khanid Kingdom forces yesterday attacked
thirty-three separate Blood Raider Covenant targets – ranging from
unmanned installations to fully-defended outposts – in what the release
terms “an effort to strike a blow against the spreading blight of
willful heresy.”
Just thought you would want to know. Does your head hurt yet?
Thanks to Roger Avalos for the pointer.
The future of macroeconomics
Several months ago I noted that a virtual world, Eve Online, had hired a real economist. Here is his first report. What makes virtual worlds important for economics is that for the first time ever, macro-economists will be able to do experiments. I predict that we will see some very interesting experiments in the near future. In the meantime here is an interesting bit from the report – the laws of supply of demand work in many worlds.
EVE consists of more than 5000 solar systems in 64 regions. The solar
systems are connected in a complex web allowing for goods to be moved
from one end in the Universe to another. Pilots have to be careful
because in low sec and zero-zero security zones there is always the
danger of being attacked by gangs of pirates looking for easy prey….EVE is so large it is difficult for anyone to grasp what is going on
in all the regions at any given time. Yet the markets seem to be very
efficient at distributing information resulting in symmetric prices
throughout Empire space (and even further). This is clearly visible in
figure 11 which shows the price for zydrine in three different Empire
regions.
Examining these time series in more detail reveals the price
difference between regions is declining over time and price
fluctuations within regions are also decreasing. This can be seen as
evidence for increased efficiency in arbitrage trading over time
resulting in symmetric prices and an overall more efficient market.
Thanks to Ambrose for the pointer.
Addendum: Be sure to check the comments for insightful details from Mike K., solarjetman and others.
Virtual Economy Hires Real Economist
The massively multiplayer online game, EVE Online, has hired a PhD economist. Dr. Eyolfur Guomundsson writes:
In the real world, economic information is the cornerstone for our
daily business; everyone takes note when news on inflation, production
and interest rates are announced and traders try to predict beforehand
what the news will be. There is a constant game between the market and
authorities on predicting each other’s move and for that everyone needs
information. Though EVE is a virtual world, the basic needs are the
same. Players, designers and the company leaders at CCP will all
benefit from having a central figure to monitor inflation and trends
and provide a focused insight into what is happening within that
virtual world so that everyone can make better decisions.As the lead economist for EVE, my duties will include
publishing economic information to the EVE-Online community. My duties
will also be to coordinate research cooperation with academic
institutions as the academic world has expressed quite an interest in
doing research on this phenomenon (which shows how important MMOGs
might become in future research into economic and human behavior).
Thanks to Derek Guder for the link.