Earlier today, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics to Americans Thomas J. Sargent and Christopher A. Sims "for their empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy." Sargent, a professor at NYU, and Sims, a professor at Princeton, had looked at how government policies impact the economy; a former Federal Reserve economist told the Wall Street Journal, "They've totally changed the way people do macroeconomics. There's a pre-Sargent/Sims and a post-Sargent/Sims. It's that significant." more ›

Today, President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize from the Nobel Committee in Oslo, Norway. The committee's decision had set off controversy, because Obama hasn't even completed a year in his presidency—something that he acknowledged in October, calling the prize "as a call to action -- a call for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century." In his remarks today, Obama struck a similar tone, "I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility. It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations - that for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice." more ›

Paul Krugman, who won this year's Nobel Prize for economics, told CNBC that the Treasury Department's move to inject banks with $250 billion is better than the original bailout plan. He said, "In the last six days this thing has come together with a plan that really does address the critical problem of inadequate capital at the banks (and) addresses the need for guarantees to calm the markets down. We don’t know this is going to work, I wish we were sure, but this is a much better. For the first time I’m starting to feel that policy is really getting some traction on the crisis.” more ›

Paul Krugman, Princeton University professor and NY Times op-ed columnist, was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics today. The Nobel prize committee gave the award for Krugman's "analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity." In other terms, he's looked at how economics of scale affects free trade and globalization (and urbanization). He told the Times this morning, "It’s been an extremely weird day, but weird in a positive way." more ›

Columbia professor Martin Chalfie (pictured) was named one of the three winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry this year. Chalfie, Osamu Shimomura of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA, and Roger Tsien of University of California, San Diego shared the prize "or the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP." more ›

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THEATER: Over the summer the Belarusian Free Theater was arrested, along with their audience, during a performance of their play Being Harold Pinter, which uses Pinter’s magnificent Nobel Prize acceptance speech as a springboard for theatrical dissent, something the Belarus police state isn't really so into. (For that reason, the company’s performances are normally held secretly in alternating private apartments.) Unable to bring the entire production to New York for his Under the Radar festival, Artistic Director Mark Russell instead invited journalist/playwright Nikolai Khalezin (pictured) to present Generation Jeans, his solo show with DJ; it’s a semi-autobiographical account of a freedom fighter and the beginning of the “Jeans Revolution.” – John Del Signore more ›

People planning weddings - or people wondering why they've seen so many weddings outside lately: Theres a nice article about the trend towards weddings in parks and other public spaces in the city in today's NY Times Style section. With parks - complete with dazzling views - getting cleaner and safer, couples are getting married in Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn and Gantry Plaza in Queens. The most important thing to investigate is the kind of permit or permits you may need (depending on the size of your party, whether you have music, chairs, photographers with tripods, etc.). Here's the Parks Department FAQ about events, including weddings in parks. If you're not having a complicated affair (small, no music, no chairs), it's just a $25 permit. more ›

TIP: Starting tomorrow Opera-For_all begins the first of three nights of performances. For cheap! The New York City Opera is selling tickets to every seat in the house for just $25. Over the course of "opera season" 50 or more seats in the front orchestra will be priced at just $25 as well. As for this week, here's the sched: more ›

We all knew the real estate bubble was causing insanity, but we should have known it's encouraged people to divorce. There's a NY Times Styles section article about some who wait until the market's at its peak to divorce - that way, they can benefit from an even bigger profit when selling their homes. more ›

In the NY Times' Styles section, there's an article about how there may actually be a three-year itch when it comes to relationships. Divorce lawyer Raoul Felder chalks it up to various technological changes in society: "We’re all addicted to a television-clicker lifestyle." Dr. Ruth, though, cautions against believing in a three-year itch, "How dangerous it is to say something like that. From now on, everyone who’s getting married will say it will last three years and then I will have to look for someone else.” more ›

The most powerful suggestions in this week's NY Times Weddings & Celebrations? If you write about dating or a hapless love life, all is not lost! Actually, we got that idea from Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City, too, but not everyone can end up with Mr. Big or marry a hunky principal dancer at the NY City Ballet. Anyway... more ›

DISCUSSION: Noam Chomsky will be taking questions on US foreign policy tonight, following a screening of Harold Pinter's 2005 Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech. Get your questions ready, smartypants. You can watch the video of Pinter's speech here, too. more ›

NY1 has a good look at the differing rules for cell phone use at two very different public schools in the Bronx. One is DeWitt Clinton High School, where classes are frequently overcrowded and there are metal detectors at the entrance. The other is Bronx High School of Science, the magnet school whose has seven Nobel Prize-winning (in physics) graduates. more ›

from the AP: He "challenged prevailing views in the 1960s by developing a new economic model that has helped corporate and government leaders balance inflation and unemployment in decision-making."

Phelps told reporters in his New York apartment that he learned of the prize in a phone call from Sweden shortly after 6 a.m. He said he had waited for the award for a long time, but wasn't expecting it this year. more ›

MUSIC: Doug Martsch of Built to Spill performs a stripped down acoustic set tonight before heading over to Irving to play with the band. This will be pretty amazing, so even if you missed out on tickets to the show at Irving, try to catch him solo. more ›

Ah Tuesday, how we love you. One day closer to the weekend, one day further from the regrets of last weekend, and the day that brings us the New York Times Science Section. For those too busy or cool to read it, allow us break it down for you. more ›

Leave it to the Wall Street Journal to spend 2000+ words complexifying a a relatively straightforward question: what's the best way to split up a cab-fare when everyone is going in the same direction? We've faced this problem literally dozens of times, and usually end up with one of two situations: the person who gets off last pays for the entire thing (as an act of generosity, figuring that giving a lift to the other person going in the same direction hasn't actually increased his fare), or the two people split the fare (thus avoiding the embarassment of arguing over who has saved more and why.) Of course, economists love to argue. Here are their methods:

1. The trip-leg method: "Before consulting with economists, my sense was that all three passengers should evenly split the first leg of the trip to A's house, because each one needed to go that far anyway. Then B and C should split the leg from A's house to B's, and C should pay for the rest." more ›

While it seems unlikely a bill like this would ever get passed, but just the idea that the City Hall is considering some sort of toll for drivers to enter the city and create more congestion makes us excited. The NY Times looks at how various groups are looking at using congestion pricing in NYC to encourage people to use mass transit and carpools, versus driving their cars in and thereby promoting traffic, increasing cancer-causing agents, and slowing down buses. The Partnership for New York City, which is run by city business leaders, has been investigating the proposition for many months, and the ideas are still in the works (some highways would be free - FDR, West Side Highway - but driving in some parts of the city would be less expensive than others...and it's unclear whether city driver would have to pay a flat fee for keeping a car in a the city or get a discount versus commercial drivers) - read the article, it's all very fascinating stuff. This quote from Ernert Tollerson of the Partnership says it all:

"Is there an opportunity to create a congestion-relief zone that would help this global city? This is a city that wants to add tens of thousands of jobs, but we can't continue to build streets and roads. For the long-term growth of the city, we need demand-management tools."

After hearing last week that Harold Pinter won the Nobel Prize in literature, we immediately wondered how long it would be before one of his plays was on a New York stage again. Thanks to a quick visit to nytheatre.com, which looks ahead farther and more nimbly than we can, we’re able to inform you that the Atlantic Theater Company will be staging not one Pinter play but two, and in a very interesting combination: his first (The Celebration) and most recent (The Room; we won’t say it’s his last because even though he’s indicated that he doesn’t expect to write more for the theater, you just never know, and we don’t want to jinx anyone). The shows begin Nov. 16; this scheduling strikes Gothamist as pretty lucky for the Atlantic, which couldn’t have known when it was drawing up the season bill that Pinter would get the Nobel. Now there’s sure to be vastly more interest in the production than there might have been, especially since it provides an opportunity to see the way Pinter’s changed (or not) in style and ideas over the years. more ›

Finally-- a post that should offend just about everyone! This week's cover story in New York Magazine tackles one of the most pressing questions of our day: are Jews smarter than everyone else, and if so, by how much?. The original title of the article was "One more reason to hate the Jews", but apparently the far blander "Are Jews Smarter?" won out. The article goes on to make a fairly dispassionate argument-- presenting and then debunking some recent scientific studies that connect Ashkenazi genes to higher intelligence. An excerpt: more ›

He had taught at Columbia and received a National Medal of Science in 1997. Read the Columbia coverage. His son, Columbia graduate Robert C. Merton, won the Nobel Prize in Economics. The elder Merton had just received word his book on serendipity would be pubilshed...a little more on the word serendipity. more ›