Stanley O'Neal forced out by Merrill's Board

After Merrill Lynch ODed on risky CDOs and posted a record loss, Stanley O'Neal was forced to step down by Merrill's board. The search for a replacement is already under way.

London in October

I was in London from October 3 to October 6 for an ABA conference. I spent most of the time inside unexciting conference rooms, but the little time I had to venture out and explore the city was more than enough for me to get hooked. What a great place. Next time (soon I hope) I am going just to experience the city. Three random shots are attached. The top two are from around Soho (not to be confused with SoHo in New York City they tell me).

First snow of the year

Bulgaria is supposed to have a mild climate, but this year the winter made an early showing. This is what I saw outside my window this morning. There are leaves on all the trees, but the first snow of the year is making the colors somewhat bleaker and subdued. By mid afternoon all snow was gone as is usually the case in mid October. I hope that these legendary cold Sofia winters are going to stay that way - legendary only.

Nobel in Economics goes to Chicago (again)‏

Another University of Chicago economist wins the Nobel Prize for Economics. Roger Myerson together with two other American theorists won this year's top award for his work in mechanism design theory as the Tribune reports. This makes him the 24th Nobel laureate in economics who is associated with U of C. It is pretty amazing when you consider the influence that the Chicago school of thought has had on economic theory. It is even more amazing when you consider that currently the U of C boasts five Nobel laureates in its economics department. I have not check it, but I seriously doubt it that another institution has ever matched or will ever match such a concentration of recognized talent.