I would like to share with the readers my thoughts about three different issues I have recently been asked to consider and express my opinion about. I believe many of us encounter these questions, and some may have very different answers. The first issue involved hiring new faculty. Candidates were considered for a job opening in my department. As is so often the case, two leading candidates emerged. One of them is doing highly interesting work, and pursuing issues that seem to me important. The other's work is somewhat less exciting, but is considered to better fit the departmental "needs". I argued in favour of the former candidate, apparently weighting the intrinsic value of theresearch over and above the matching of the candidate's interests with those of the department.

Everyone has been affected - one way or another - by the financial crisis that hit the world in 2008. To me, the most amazing phenomenon has been the inability of the world's leaders (whether social scientists, government officials, or business executives) to predict what was going to happen and to take protective actions in time. Sure, there had been many warnings that house prices were overvalued in many parts of the world and that people had been borrowing too much. However, no one really foresaw how quickly everything would unravel and the mammoth consequences that occurred. Indeed, if you had been given an accurate forecast about a year ago, it is quite likely that you would have not known what to make of it. After all, there is always somebody who is making "outlandish" predictions.