Regarding your PS: Valve hired him as "cheif economist". This article explains it all: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/it-all-began-with-a-strange-ema

Regarding your PS: Valve hired him as "cheif economist". This article explains it all: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/it-all-began-with-a-strange-email/ http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/it-all-began-with-a... I seem to recall an HN discussion about it, but am too lazy to track it down :).