Dear readers:

Symposium Magazine is on hiatus, with the aim of re-launching in 2015. All articles published since the July 2013 launch will remain available, with older issues stored on the menu under “Current Issue,” while the home page will rotate the most popular articles. Please check this site for updates going ahead.

The goal for the upcoming year is to re-introduce the site with more content and a broader mix of features, but the mission will remain the same: Symposium will serve as a common address for academics of all ranks to write about their research for a broader non-specialist audience, as well as engage colleagues across disciplines. For more about the background of Symposium, you can read the editor’s note here.

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have suggestions or questions about next year’s plans, as reader feedback will be valuable going ahead. Thank you for visiting Symposium, and we look forward to having you come back next year.

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Game Theory Is Useful, Except When It Is Not

Ariel D. Procaccia

Game Theory Is Useful, Except When It Is Not

Nobel prize laureate John Forbes Nash, mathemetician and game theorist, in May, 2005. (China Photos/Getty Images)

The study of strategic interactions is gaining popularity across disciplines, but that does not mean its relevance is universal.

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About The Author:

Ariel D. Procaccia is assistant professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. He writes frequently for the blog Turing’s Invisible Hand.

Still Waiting for Change

Sylvia A. Allegretto

Still Waiting for Change

When generous tipping is not the answer: Waitress at Denny's in Emeryville, Calif., 2009 (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Economists are ignoring a class of workers whose wages have been frozen for decades.

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About The Author:

Sylvia Allegretto, Ph.D., is an economist and co-chair of the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics at the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, University of California, Berkeley. You can follow her on The Berkeley Blog.

Understanding the Irrational Commuter

David M. Levinson

Understanding the Irrational Commuter

Night traffic in Tokyo, Japan, July, 2009. (Photo by Kimimasa Mayama/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The increasing sophistication of data collection and analysis gives us deeper insights into human behavior — and how we make decisions about everyday travel.

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About The Author:

David M. Levinson is the Richard P. Braun/CTS Chair in Transportation Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He blogs at The Transportationist, and you can follow him on Twitter @trnsprttnst.

Why Write the History of Capitalism?

Louis Hyman

Why Write the History of Capitalism?

Where is agency when you need it? A bank run in Massachusetts, October 1929. (OFF/AFP/Getty Images)

A new generation of scholars is rewriting the story of capitalism by shaking off the old assumptions of both the Left and Right.

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About The Author:

Louis Hyman is assistant professor of History at the ILR School, Cornell University. You can follow him on Twitter at @louishyman.

A Scientist Goes Rogue

Euny Hong

A Scientist Goes Rogue

Ethan Perlstein, "gentleman scientist" and digital native. (Photo courtesy of Ethan Perlstein)

Can social media and crowdfunding sustain independent researchers?

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About The Author:

Euny Hong is the author of the novel Kept: A Comedy of Manners as well as a forthcoming book on South Korea’s national strategy to become the world’s top exporter of popular culture. She previously worked at France 24 in Paris and at The Financial Times. You can follow her on Twitter @euny.

Why U.S. Financial Hegemony Will Endure

Sarah Bauerle Danzman and W. Kindred Winecoff

Why U.S. Financial Hegemony Will Endure

Still at the center. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Newsmakers)

The United States not only continues to dominate global finance but has become even more central since the 2008 crisis. How did this happen?

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About The Author:

Sarah Bauerle Danzman is a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. W. Kindred Winecoff is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Indiana University Bloomington. This piece is adapted from an article in the March 2013 edition of Perspectives on Politics.