Showing papers by "Barry Nalebuff published in 2003"

Why Not?: How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big And Small

Abstract: Using this simple, proven method, anyone can come up with novel ideas for solving problems of all kinds. In this refreshing, positive, and powerfully written book, we learn something critical about creativity and innovation - it's not just for engineers and rocket scientists, and it's not just about the cutting edge and the revolutionary. Nalebuff and Ayres show that every one of us can be innovators - changing the world in big and small ways using not the latest technology, but good, old-fashioned ingenuity. The book is packed with examples of how Why Not thinking has helped solve - or could solve problems in business, politics, and everyday life. "Authors Barry Nalebuff and Ian Ayres have produced an engaging - dare we say innovative guide to stoking creativity." - "Boston Globe". "Whew! Barry Nalebuff and Ian Ayres toss out so many ideas, from the oddball to the audacious...that it makes you dizzy. And makes you think, too...Light bulbs pop, and the reader mutters, 'Why not, indeed?'" - "New York Times". Here is a primer for fresh business thinking - for problem solving with a purpose. Illustrated with examples from every aspect of life, this book offers simple techniques for generating solutions to existing problems, and for applying existing solutions to new problems. "Why Not?" will provoke you to find new business opportunities using everyday ingenuity. Great ideas are waiting. Why not be the one to discover them?

Home Equity Insurance: A Pilot Project

Abstract: Home equity is the single largest component of household wealth for the majority of American households. Yet, there is virtually no way for the average family to insure itself against drops in home value and the ensuing destructive financial loss. Much of U.S. housing policy has focused on helping them against the risk that home ownership entails. In this paper, we document the development and implementation of a home equity insurance program launched in 2002 in Syracuse, New York. The range of issues arising from the practical implementation of a home equity insurance program, as well as the institutional challenges offer useful data for further extensions of the program. Highlights of the outcome, to date, of the pilot program include the finding that implementation of the program was feasible on the local level, that customers understand and wanted to take part, and that clean data on housing transactions is a vital component of the future success and expansion of the project.

Joseph Stiglitz and Economics for an Imperfect World

Abstract: The collection of authors in this volume reflects the impact that Joe has had on the profession of economics. They include four Nobel Prize winners, the President of an Ivy League University, the head of an Oxford College, the present Chief Economist of the World Bank, and other recognized leaders in economics from the leading universities around the world. The areas covered in this volume also reflect the “Stiglitzian” influences on much of economics today. The impact of his work is of course most strongly seen in the area of Imperfect Information, for which he won the Nobel Prize. But his influence extends to many other areas, including Macroeconomics, Public Economics and Development Economics, counting in the latter the problems of Transition from centrally planned to market economies. Throughout, Joe’s focus has been on the world as it actually is, with all of its imperfections--whether of information, competition, or government--rather than the world often depicted in the basic economics textbooks. Hence the title of this volume—Stiglitz’s economics is truly Economics for an Imperfect World.