The Year in Research

A wholly subjective list of the 10 most interesting/provocative/unique pieces of academic economic and finance-related research this year, in no particular order:

The Bonds of War
What studying the bond markets can tell us about:

• The Civil War
• World War II
• The war in Iraq (follow ups: 1, 2)

The Quant Bloodbath of August 2007
And how hedge funds have become more dangerous since LTCM.

Tax the Tall
A convincing argument for higher taxes for the tall and rebates for the short.

Justin Wolfers
The Wharton economist had two controversial pieces of research this year:

• In Racial Discrimation Among NBA Referees, Wolfers and coauthor Joe Price found that referees call more fouls against players from other ethnicities.
• And in The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness, Wolfers and coauthor/wife Betsey Stevenson show that women have become unhappier over the past 35 years, both in absolute terms and relative to men.

The Economics of Art
Five papers from one of my favorite economists, University of Chicago labor economist David Galenson:

• Why it's becoming more acceptable to coauthor artwork.
• Who was the greatest female artist of the 20th century? Cindy Sherman.
• Why do some artists lose their vitality faster than others?
• Why the pursuit of financial renumeration by artists shouldn't be stigmatized.
• How the evolution of song-writing careers changed over the 20th century.

The Small World of Investing
Unique empirical evidence of insider trading.

Giffen Goods Behavior
The existence of Giffen Goods (when the demand for an inferior product goes up as its price goes up) has been a paradox of economics since Alfred Marshall briefly mentioned it in his Principles of Economics in 1871. Two papers this year argued that it's more important to look at the behavior which brings about Giffen Goods rather than the goods themselves.

Has Sarbanes-Oxley Made New York Less Competitive?
In a word, NO.

The Economics of Stripping
How menstrual cycles effect earnings.

Are the Ugly Delusional?
What happens when economists get access to data from Hot or Not? They start trying to prove whether ugly people are deluded about the attractiveness of the people they date.

And a couple of honorable mentions:

Intellectual Property and Magicians
How do magicians manage to hold on to their secrets in the absence of intellectual property protection?

C.E.O.s and Their Mansions
Why investors should sell when the C.E.O. buys a giant new home.