While taking the taxi from the Bund back to the hotel, Vignesh and I talked about the complexity of talks - of TCS and management science. Here’s the conversation. Me: So it was like, for management science, delivery of the talk really matters. For the TCS community it doesn’t seem to matter that much. At least well, to a lesser extent. Vignesh: Yeah it’s true. But usually I’d like to view it from another perspective. In MS or B school people really like to present their work to be as complicated as possible so as to impress others. But I think nowadays what people here are doing is, they try to make their points and proofs so easy that audience are able to understand and do follow-ups. ...

The WINE conference started today, after a day’s tutorial we had a reception - on a yacht on Pudong river, around the Bund. It is by far the fanciest academic event I’ve ever attended. Salute to the organization comittee! Here’s a really impressive occasion I’ve witnessed tonight. Herve Moulin is scheduled on giving the opening keynote talk tmrw morning, and he was on the yacht tonight as well. He was alone for sometime so I went for some casual chatting with this charmingly witted scholar. Then, a student (possibly young phd or undergrad) approached Herve and started to introducing himself and was like “I have been following your work on for pretty long time, read most of your paper in this field blah blah blah and can we talk about it…” ...

Here’s a recap of yesterday’s keynote tutorial given by prof. Saif Benjaafar, based on his MSOM review paper Operations Management in the Age of the Sharing Economy: What Is Old and What Is New?. The paper described three “canonical” applications that have garnered much attention from the operations management community, and used these applications to highlight distinguishing features of sharing economy business models and to point out research questions that are new. The authors put in context some of the recent work on the sharing economy and to showcase the underlying modeling toolkit and identify opportunities for future research. ...

Our paper got second place in the data competition. Coolness.

So it’s an art picking out talks to attend out of all the parellel tracks - after all, why can’t the organizer just pick out a smaller amount of paper and make everyone’s life easier?

As I prepare on an enlightening journey to the National Conference on Supply Chain and Operation Management (ISCOM 2023) and the Conference on Web and Internet Economics (WINE 2023) in Shanghai, I can’t help but feel a buzz of excitement. These conferences are not just events but gateways to new ideas, connections, and insights, and they’re conveniently located for my easy commute anyway. The Art of Conference Attendance: More Than Just Talks ISCOM, for me, is the appetizer in this intellectual feast, a chance to warm up and socialize with like-minded professionals. In contrast, WINE is the main course, a veritable treasure trove aligned perfectly with my interests. Keep an eye out for my upcoming updates for fresh takes and insights from these events! ...

A review of Waldfogel’s 1993 AER paper “The Deadweight Loss of Christmas”.

the unexpected value in gift-giving, beyong deadweight loss

In the bias and wisdom in decision making course that I’ve taken this semester, we featured the topic intertemperal choice today. It’s pretty cliché a topic that, well, usually everything starts with this function: $$ U(\mathbf x) = u(x_0) + \beta\sum_{t = 1}^\infty\sigma^t u(x_t). $$ But something interesting came up today. It’s called the growth curve. Consider choosing from various ways of growing over time - some trajectory is log-like while others can be exponential-like. It’s a trade off between short term fast increment against long term “snow ball” effect. For examples, consider the most extreme cases, like athlete (short term career, income is pretty much log-like) compared against docter (long term career growth whlie slow at the beginning). ...

Music is not just sound; it’s a tapestry woven from varied chords, voices, and instruments. In a pop melody like some Mariah Carey ballad, the lead vocal takes center stage, supported by complex add libs and rhythmic undercurrents. Not to mention classical pieces which are an intricate dance of harmonies, each note a thread in a larger musical fabric. Yet, even the finest audio technology falls short in unraveling these layers completely, and as audience distinguishing every element remains a challenge. Often, it’s the melody or the primary voice that captures our attention, leaving subtler nuances unnoticed. Moreover, even worse, our listening rituals often relegate music to a mere background score for life’s routine acts - commuting, working, or household chores. Even in concert halls, the visual spectacle can overshadow the auditory experience, leaving the rich tapestry of sound unexplored. ...