Fri 26th Feb 2010 - The future of academic publication

This week, Patrick will start the discussion on the future of academic publication.

Publication is an integral part of the growth of academic knowledge. But there has been raising concerns that the usual process is flawed and is becoming slowly irrelevant: too expensive, too slow, too opaque.
We will discuss the merits and relevance of the current system, examine alternatives put forward to improve it (electronic diffusion, open access, open peer-review system, etc.) and whether they can really make a difference.

A few very interesting background readings:

• The slowdown of the Economics publishing process (maybe is this optimal?)
• The very complete The economics of scholarly journal publishing
• An apology for the Open-process academic publishing process
  
• And the (tragically) funny How to publish a scientific comment in 1 2 3 easy steps

As usual, we will meet in STICERD common area this Friday at 6pm over drinks and nibbles.

Fri 19th Feb - Greece and the Euro-integration

In this week's Happy Hour, Ameet will ask whether the Greek situation is really threatening the Eurozone integration.

Some background readings:

• The Economist : "Domino Theory"
• The Wall Street Journal : "As Greece Burns, Hazards Remain in the U.S."
• Voxeu.org: "Eurozone deficits: facts and myths"

As usual, we meet this Friday in STICERD common area at 6pm.

Friday 12th of February: If all models were fat would you still care about dieting?

This week Luca will introduce the question "If all the models were fat, would you still care about dieting? A discussion on the regulation of the models’ size on the catwalks"

Some interesting background readings to get you in the mood:

-A campaign for curvier models: http://www.millionlooks.com/outfits/%E2%80%98curves-ahead%E2%80%99-campaign-pros-and-cons/
-The Oliviero Toscani Ad: http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,507842,00.html
-An LSE master thesis on the topic http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/mediaWorkingPapers/MScDissertationSeries/Abravanel_final.pdf
-A paper on alternative normative approaches in health economics:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6V8K-4R7NPWM-S-1&_cdi=5873&_user=1177143&_pii=S0167629607000902&_orig=search&_coverDate=03%2F31%2F2008&_sk=999729997&view=c&wchp=dGLzVtb-zSkzk&md5=4c1a28eabd1c137100834dea0df81115&ie=/sdarticle.pdf

As usual, we meet in STICERD common area at 6pm sharp; please be on time.

We look forward to seeing you all there,

Patrick, Nathan and Miriam

Fri 5th Feb - Should religious leaders have their say in politics?

After the recent condemnation by Pope Benedict XVI of the UK Equality Bill, Stefanie will start the discussion on a much debated question: the involvement of religious leaders in political affairs.

A few readings on the topic:

• The Pope is correct: the Equality Bill is Un-British
• The Equality Bill is no attack on religion
• Bishops against politics for religious leaders

As usual, we will meet in STICERD common area on Friday 6pm.