What we’re reading (10/12)
“Nobel Prize In Economic Sciences Is Awarded To U.S. Academics” (Wall Street Journal). “U.S. academics Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson shared the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for new insights into how auctions work, and how different auction designs can help buyers and sellers meet their goals…[b]oth winners are professors at Stanford University.” In a great summary of Milgrom’s work, GMU professor Tyler Cowen writes, “[b]asically Milgrom was the most important theorist of the 1980s, during the high point of economic theory and its influence… [a] very good choice and widely anticipated, in the best sense of that term.”
“New Questions About Leon Black’s Ties To Jeffrey Epstein” (Dealbook). “Shortly after Jeffrey Epstein was arrested last year on sex-trafficking charges, Leon Black, Apollo’s billionaire C.E.O., was asked about his decades-long ties with the financier. Mr. Black played it down, but The Times reports that the two had a far deeper relationship than previously known, in which Mr. Black paid tens of millions to Mr. Epstein over a decade.”
“Southwest Pilots’ Union Bristles At 10% Pay Cut Proposal” (CNBC). “Southwest Airlines pilots’ union is pushing back on a company proposal to cut pay by 10% to avoid furloughs through the end of next year, the latest wrinkle in the Dallas-based carrier’s efforts to cut costs in the pandemic. Southwest is trying to preserve its record of never having furloughed workers in its nearly 50 years of flying, but its CEO Gary Kelly warned earlier this month that it would seek concessions from the labor unions that make up the bulk of its workforce.”
“Wall Street Layoffs A Matter Of When, Not If, Sources Say” (New York Post). “With the markets near all-time highs, IPOs booming and dealmaking such as Morgan Stanley’s purchase of Eaton Vance picking up, it would seem like layoffs would be the last thing that big banks and investment houses are weighing. But those who run Wall Street never let a serious crisis go to waste. Cutting jobs is exactly what every major firm is looking at as the pandemic continues to ravage the US economy.”
“A Farewell To The NBA Bubble After Three Grueling And Exhilarating Months” (Washington Post). “The bubble opened with an overwhelming rush of media interest that mostly consisted of morbid curiosity and rubbernecking. I did countless interviews about my seven-day quarantine inside a hotel room, and everyone asked about what would happen if someone got sick or died. Once it became clear that the NBA’s stringent health protocols were working, the ambulance chasers moved on. Now, physical and mental exhaustion reign, and it has become clear that the bubble was meant for die-hards.”
