We analyze the Celebrity 100 annual list of the world's most "powerful celebrities" compiled and published by Forbes Magazine. The lists provide an interesting collection of people, that includes their earnings, and the perception of citizens concerning the attributes that made them become...

In this paper, we analyze the careers from a sample of more than 1,000 top French chefs over more than twenty years and link it to the success or reputation of the restaurants where they have worked. This allows us to test what are the determinants of success but also to investigate the dynamics...

We discuss the records of some great investors and hedge fund managers. Their graphs of wealth over time leads us to a search for smooth monotone paths and how we might fairly evaluate superior as opposed to average investors. Some investors prefer high long run growth and accept bumps, rather...

The chapter describes the different techniques that may be used to measure the short-term economic fallouts of cultural events and, in particular, of music and opera festivals. It tries to distinguish failsafe methods — which are unfortunately not always easy to use — from more doubtful...

Exploiting a natural experiment for New York City restaurants we analyze whether consumers’ quality perception is influenced by newly appearing expert opinion. As the leading restaurant guide Zagat has rated New York City’s restaurants since 1979 by drawing on consumer surveys. In 2005, with...