Sebastian Buhai
@sbuhai.bsky.social
Academic economist. Bon vivant. "Enfant terrible".
Website: https://sebastianbuhai.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sbuhai
Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@sbuhai
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@sebastianbuhai
Website: https://sebastianbuhai.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sbuhai
Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@sbuhai
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@sebastianbuhai
Pinned
Sebastian Buhai
@sbuhai.bsky.social
· Jul 14
So Science Magazine recently asked this question:
"What one change to scientific policy or culture would substantially decrease incidents of scientific misconduct and/or unethical behavior?"
My very serious answer (which they—seemingly—did not consider serious enough to publish) was:
"What one change to scientific policy or culture would substantially decrease incidents of scientific misconduct and/or unethical behavior?"
My very serious answer (which they—seemingly—did not consider serious enough to publish) was:
Cum bine explică George Jiglău: problema nu e 300 vs 465, ci cine și cum umple fiecare loc. Mai puțini parlamentari, dar aleși tot de pe liste închise, înseamnă aceeași politică, în mai puține costume... Reformă reală = liste deschise și alegere informată.
Reducerea numărului de parlamentari nu e o soluție pentru reala problemă a neîncrederii oamenilor in politicieni. Și o contrapropunere - Contributors
Recent, în discuția publică din România s-a regăsit din nou tema reducerii numărului de parlamentari, sub două forme principale. În primul rând, un proiect de lege depus de USR a propus ca numărul total de aleşi în cele două camere să fie redus la 300 (faţă de cele circa 465 în prezent) – proiect care […]
www.contributors.ro
November 10, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Cum bine explică George Jiglău: problema nu e 300 vs 465, ci cine și cum umple fiecare loc. Mai puțini parlamentari, dar aleși tot de pe liste închise, înseamnă aceeași politică, în mai puține costume... Reformă reală = liste deschise și alegere informată.
Reposted by Sebastian Buhai
Living with the water: the Netherlands’ floating futures – photo essay
Living with the water: the Netherlands’ floating futures – photo essay
Photographer Alessandro Gandolfi’s latest project looks at how sustainable floating neighbourhoods offer a way forward as the sea rises
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Living with the water: the Netherlands’ floating futures – photo essay
Q1 objective: upgrade the C-suite to the sea-suite. #WeekendPacificOffice #ValparaisoVibes
November 8, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Q1 objective: upgrade the C-suite to the sea-suite. #WeekendPacificOffice #ValparaisoVibes
Reposted by Sebastian Buhai
Forthcoming in AER: Insights: "Pricing with Algorithms" by Rohit Lamba and Sergey Zhuk. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
Pricing with Algorithms
(Forthcoming Article) - This paper studies Markov perfect equilibria in a repeated duopoly model where
sellers choose algorithms. An algorithm is a mapping from the competitor’s price to
own price. On...
www.aeaweb.org
November 6, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Forthcoming in AER: Insights: "Pricing with Algorithms" by Rohit Lamba and Sergey Zhuk. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
Excited to release a new working paper: "Real Option AI: Reversibility, Silence, and the Release Ladder" www.sebastianbuhai.c...
Why do AI labs go quiet… then drop a big release… then patch like crazy… then go quiet again? I build a model that makes that cadence optimal.
1/7
Why do AI labs go quiet… then drop a big release… then patch like crazy… then go quiet again? I build a model that makes that cadence optimal.
1/7
November 4, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Excited to release a new working paper: "Real Option AI: Reversibility, Silence, and the Release Ladder" www.sebastianbuhai.c...
Why do AI labs go quiet… then drop a big release… then patch like crazy… then go quiet again? I build a model that makes that cadence optimal.
1/7
Why do AI labs go quiet… then drop a big release… then patch like crazy… then go quiet again? I build a model that makes that cadence optimal.
1/7
Reposted by Sebastian Buhai
David Gale’s work was diverse and impactful in math and econ
#econsky
#econsky
David Gale (1921-2008) remembered, with a (belated) 100th birthday volume
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
November 3, 2025 at 2:24 PM
David Gale’s work was diverse and impactful in math and econ
#econsky
#econsky
Some cities had Halloween; we had SantiagLOWEEN last night: vampires, witches, petro-chic tycoons, marigold-haloed Catrinas & one hard-rock warlock turned the patio into a coven mosh pit; jack-o'-lanterns demanded encores. Trick-or-riff achieved! 🎃🧛♀️🧙♀️🤘 #Halloween2025
November 1, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Some cities had Halloween; we had SantiagLOWEEN last night: vampires, witches, petro-chic tycoons, marigold-haloed Catrinas & one hard-rock warlock turned the patio into a coven mosh pit; jack-o'-lanterns demanded encores. Trick-or-riff achieved! 🎃🧛♀️🧙♀️🤘 #Halloween2025
À voir : T. Gowers, « Quel sera l’impact de l’IA sur les maths? » youtu.be/bcTWVUueai4
À lire : A. Kontorovich, « The Shape of Math To Come » arxiv.org/pdf/2510.1...
Du tableau noir au CI/CD d’idées : conjecture→issue, preuve→pipeline, et l’intuition reste le commit initial.
À lire : A. Kontorovich, « The Shape of Math To Come » arxiv.org/pdf/2510.1...
Du tableau noir au CI/CD d’idées : conjecture→issue, preuve→pipeline, et l’intuition reste le commit initial.
Quel sera l’impact de l’IA sur les mathématiques dans les prochaines années ? - Timothy Gowers
Colloque de rentrée 2025 : Formes de l’intelligence : IA, connaissance, déduction, apprentissage
Conférence du 16 octobre 2025 : Quel sera l’impact de l’IA sur les mathématiques dans les prochaines années ?
IA et sciences, allers-retours
Conférencier : Timothy Gowers, professeur du Collège de Franc
youtu.be
October 31, 2025 at 12:49 PM
À voir : T. Gowers, « Quel sera l’impact de l’IA sur les maths? » youtu.be/bcTWVUueai4
À lire : A. Kontorovich, « The Shape of Math To Come » arxiv.org/pdf/2510.1...
Du tableau noir au CI/CD d’idées : conjecture→issue, preuve→pipeline, et l’intuition reste le commit initial.
À lire : A. Kontorovich, « The Shape of Math To Come » arxiv.org/pdf/2510.1...
Du tableau noir au CI/CD d’idées : conjecture→issue, preuve→pipeline, et l’intuition reste le commit initial.
Looking fwd to stirring trouble (the good kind) over the next 2 days at the IO Workshop in Chile, hosted by U Los Andes & UC Chile: sites.google.com/uc....
On this occasion I’ll also debut my—preliminary—project, “Real Option AI: Reversibility, Silence, and the Release Ladder” 🤖
On this occasion I’ll also debut my—preliminary—project, “Real Option AI: Reversibility, Silence, and the Release Ladder” 🤖
IO in Chile - Seminars & Workshops
2025
sites.google.com
October 28, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Looking fwd to stirring trouble (the good kind) over the next 2 days at the IO Workshop in Chile, hosted by U Los Andes & UC Chile: sites.google.com/uc....
On this occasion I’ll also debut my—preliminary—project, “Real Option AI: Reversibility, Silence, and the Release Ladder” 🤖
On this occasion I’ll also debut my—preliminary—project, “Real Option AI: Reversibility, Silence, and the Release Ladder” 🤖
RIP Jack DeJohnette. He didn't just keep time: he sculpted space, ignited Miles's fusion storms, painted galaxies on cymbals, made the drums sing. Lucky to have heard him live in Chicago, more than once. Bitches Brew alone makes him a giant, and then he gave us so much more... 🖤
October 27, 2025 at 6:53 PM
RIP Jack DeJohnette. He didn't just keep time: he sculpted space, ignited Miles's fusion storms, painted galaxies on cymbals, made the drums sing. Lucky to have heard him live in Chicago, more than once. Bitches Brew alone makes him a giant, and then he gave us so much more... 🖤
Reposted by Sebastian Buhai
Jack DeJohnette, just one of the deepest musicians ever, and a personal hero. Here is my obituary for NPR Music.
Jack DeJohnette, dynamic and instantly recognizable jazz drummer, dies at 83
Jack DeJohnette, of the most daring and singular jazz drummers of the last 60 years, died on Sunday.
www.npr.org
October 27, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Jack DeJohnette, just one of the deepest musicians ever, and a personal hero. Here is my obituary for NPR Music.
Preliminary notes in High-Altitude Urban Economics: ascend Sky Costanera, see Santiago de Chile like a board game, achieve brief enlightenment (peer review pending), and begin inventing urban policy. For the record: not just for fearless 7-year-old girls—or their moms—I got in 😅
October 26, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Preliminary notes in High-Altitude Urban Economics: ascend Sky Costanera, see Santiago de Chile like a board game, achieve brief enlightenment (peer review pending), and begin inventing urban policy. For the record: not just for fearless 7-year-old girls—or their moms—I got in 😅
This isn't just my A'dam bias (still a world top-5 city for me!): it's the planet’s longest-running climate lab, 750 years of turning floods and rising seas into new islands, proof climate survival means reshaping how we live, not scrambling post factum...
Europe’s Original Climate-Resilient City Has a Lesson for Us All
On Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary, it continues to be a leader in climate adaptation — showing how a city can thrive in overcoming existential challenges.
www.bloomberg.com
October 26, 2025 at 9:53 PM
This isn't just my A'dam bias (still a world top-5 city for me!): it's the planet’s longest-running climate lab, 750 years of turning floods and rising seas into new islands, proof climate survival means reshaping how we live, not scrambling post factum...
Reposted by Sebastian Buhai
In August, two mathematicians found a shape that puts an end to a centuries-old geometric mystery. @ericaklarreich.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/first-shape-...
First Shape Found That Can’t Pass Through Itself | Quanta Magazine
After more than three centuries, a geometry problem that originated with a royal bet has been solved.
www.quantamagazine.org
October 24, 2025 at 2:30 PM
In August, two mathematicians found a shape that puts an end to a centuries-old geometric mystery. @ericaklarreich.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/first-shape-...
Call it the ultimate elevator pitch. Without endorsing crime, a Böcker lift produced an exogenous PR shock. This is an event study: treatment=viral exposure, outcomes=impressions+mentions. Thieves unwittingly delivered the treatment. External validity TBD!
‘Quiet as a whisper’: German firm launches campaign after lift was used in Louvre heist
After watching the news about the Paris robbery, managers at Böcker decided to make the most of the publicity
www.theguardian.com
October 23, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Call it the ultimate elevator pitch. Without endorsing crime, a Böcker lift produced an exogenous PR shock. This is an event study: treatment=viral exposure, outcomes=impressions+mentions. Thieves unwittingly delivered the treatment. External validity TBD!
Reposted by Sebastian Buhai
How do vendors decide how to price their goods? Colluding with other businesses to rig higher prices could land them in jail. Computer scientists are sorting out how to stop algorithms from creating unexpected rip-offs. @benbenbrubaker.bsky.social reports:
www.quantamagazine.org/the-game-the...
www.quantamagazine.org/the-game-the...
The Game Theory of How Algorithms Can Drive Up Prices | Quanta Magazine
Recent findings reveal that even simple pricing algorithms can make things more expensive.
www.quantamagazine.org
October 22, 2025 at 2:06 PM
How do vendors decide how to price their goods? Colluding with other businesses to rig higher prices could land them in jail. Computer scientists are sorting out how to stop algorithms from creating unexpected rip-offs. @benbenbrubaker.bsky.social reports:
www.quantamagazine.org/the-game-the...
www.quantamagazine.org/the-game-the...
Keep wolves as a call option with teeth: low premium, high upside; fewer deer-on-bumper crashes today, compounding ecosystem dividends tomorrow. Save the fang, save your fender.
Wolves found only north of the Saint Lawrence River in Canada reduce animal-related vehicle collisions by 5 percentage points—providing an empirical quantification of quasi-option value, from Eyal G. Frank, Anouch Missirian, Dominic P. Parker, and @jenraynor.bsky.social www.nber.org/papers/w34377
October 21, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Keep wolves as a call option with teeth: low premium, high upside; fewer deer-on-bumper crashes today, compounding ecosystem dividends tomorrow. Save the fang, save your fender.
Reposted by Sebastian Buhai
But here's where it gets truly shocking...
For agents with strictly quasi-convex preferences (think: aversion to randomisation, common in many behavioural models), designers can extract ALL private information at ZERO COST.
Yes. Zero. Cost.
For agents with strictly quasi-convex preferences (think: aversion to randomisation, common in many behavioural models), designers can extract ALL private information at ZERO COST.
Yes. Zero. Cost.
October 21, 2025 at 11:54 AM
But here's where it gets truly shocking...
For agents with strictly quasi-convex preferences (think: aversion to randomisation, common in many behavioural models), designers can extract ALL private information at ZERO COST.
Yes. Zero. Cost.
For agents with strictly quasi-convex preferences (think: aversion to randomisation, common in many behavioural models), designers can extract ALL private information at ZERO COST.
Yes. Zero. Cost.
Reposted by Sebastian Buhai
New paper by Rivera Mora & @philippstrack.bsky.social Strack challenges everything we thought we knew about mechanism design beyond expected utility. The results are wild. 🤯
Paper: "Mechanism Design Beyond Expected Utility Preferences" (Sept 2025) static1.squarespace.com/static/62d2f...
Paper: "Mechanism Design Beyond Expected Utility Preferences" (Sept 2025) static1.squarespace.com/static/62d2f...
static1.squarespace.com
October 21, 2025 at 11:54 AM
New paper by Rivera Mora & @philippstrack.bsky.social Strack challenges everything we thought we knew about mechanism design beyond expected utility. The results are wild. 🤯
Paper: "Mechanism Design Beyond Expected Utility Preferences" (Sept 2025) static1.squarespace.com/static/62d2f...
Paper: "Mechanism Design Beyond Expected Utility Preferences" (Sept 2025) static1.squarespace.com/static/62d2f...
Ce n’était pas l’enjeu principal, mais je suis tout de même heureux : la Roumanie s’est hissée en finale face à de vrais supermen du tennis de table ! Kudos aux Bleus, et bravo à mes concitoyens !
Tennis de table : l’équipe de France des frères Lebrun sacrée championne d’Europe par équipes
En dominant la Roumanie ce dimanche en finale du Championnat d’Europe, les Bleus emmenés par les frères Lebrun sont sacrés champions par équipes.
www.lefigaro.fr
October 19, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Ce n’était pas l’enjeu principal, mais je suis tout de même heureux : la Roumanie s’est hissée en finale face à de vrais supermen du tennis de table ! Kudos aux Bleus, et bravo à mes concitoyens !
JSB would have surely added ‘sempre Víkingur’ in the margin! www.youtube.com/watc...
(x.com/sbuhai/status/...)
(x.com/sbuhai/status/...)
Víkingur Ólafsson - Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier I: Prelude No. 9 in E Major, BWV 854
Discover full concert performances and operas on STAGE+, the new streaming service from Deutsche Grammophon: https://www.stage-plus.com/
This video is taken from Víkingur Ólafsson's upcoming album "Opus 109": https://dgt.link/olafsson-opus109
The Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson is one of the m
www.youtube.com
October 17, 2025 at 7:27 PM
JSB would have surely added ‘sempre Víkingur’ in the margin! www.youtube.com/watc...
(x.com/sbuhai/status/...)
(x.com/sbuhai/status/...)
Reposted by Sebastian Buhai
🎓 Les cours du Pr Philippe Aghion, prix Nobel d'économie 2025, sont en accès libre et gratuit, et disponibles sur www.college-de-france.fr
#PrixNobel #NobelPrize #Économie
#PrixNobel #NobelPrize #Économie
October 14, 2025 at 2:13 PM
🎓 Les cours du Pr Philippe Aghion, prix Nobel d'économie 2025, sont en accès libre et gratuit, et disponibles sur www.college-de-france.fr
#PrixNobel #NobelPrize #Économie
#PrixNobel #NobelPrize #Économie
Reposted by Sebastian Buhai
What a great day: legends of innovation economics Mokyr, Aghion and Howitt win the Nobel. Joel was a PhD advisor of mine, so need a full article! Included: good & bad explanations of the Indus Rev, Aghion's charisma, influence of Jon Hughes, French fashion houses: kevinbryanecon.com/mokyraghionh...
A Nobel for Innovation: Mokyr, Aghion, and Howitt
kevinbryanecon.com
October 14, 2025 at 12:41 AM
What a great day: legends of innovation economics Mokyr, Aghion and Howitt win the Nobel. Joel was a PhD advisor of mine, so need a full article! Included: good & bad explanations of the Indus Rev, Aghion's charisma, influence of Jon Hughes, French fashion houses: kevinbryanecon.com/mokyraghionh...
A passing remark, with a nod to dark-humor gravitas: a few allegedly “serious” outfits underwrite peak performative idiocy, never gaudier than during Econ Nobel week (and yes, I assume the de-growthers booked the wake). 🎭🤡📣🍿⚰️
October 13, 2025 at 3:53 PM
A passing remark, with a nod to dark-humor gravitas: a few allegedly “serious” outfits underwrite peak performative idiocy, never gaudier than during Econ Nobel week (and yes, I assume the de-growthers booked the wake). 🎭🤡📣🍿⚰️
Reposted by Sebastian Buhai
🏆 L’administrateur, les professeurs et toute la communauté du Collège de France se réjouissent de l’attribution du prix #Nobel d’économie 2025 au Pr Philippe Aghion, titulaire de la chaire #Économie des institutions, de l’#innovation et de la croissance !
👉 https://tinyurl.com/4t8vkpfm
#Nobelprize
👉 https://tinyurl.com/4t8vkpfm
#Nobelprize
October 13, 2025 at 11:04 AM
🏆 L’administrateur, les professeurs et toute la communauté du Collège de France se réjouissent de l’attribution du prix #Nobel d’économie 2025 au Pr Philippe Aghion, titulaire de la chaire #Économie des institutions, de l’#innovation et de la croissance !
👉 https://tinyurl.com/4t8vkpfm
#Nobelprize
👉 https://tinyurl.com/4t8vkpfm
#Nobelprize