the dark is empty.
most of our heroes have been wrong.
charles bukowski
“person, woman, man, camera, tv”…..covfefe…..donald j. trump, who btw is one of wharton’s finest..,
in america, anyone can become president. that’s the problem.
george carlin
buk… on the importance of commitment devices in a productive and meaningful life…
a portrait of a great behavioral economist as a young horse.
welcome to my webpage
i am currently living in arizona, splitting my time between the valley of fire and the village of christopher creek
i am a member of the economics department at arizona state university in tempe.
my research these days is in economic theory, w/ a majority of my current work focusing on (a) characterizing time-consistent plans in economies where decisionmakers have changing tastes/behavioral discounting, (b) dynastic choice with conflicting intergenerational interests, and/or other models of the dynamically inconsistent choice (c) monotone implicit programming methods for comparing/computing recursive equilibria in various economic models with equilibrium complementarities; (d) modeling memory/multiple equilibria in dynamic models w/ equilibrium price dependent collateral constraints and pecuniary complementarities, and (e) iterative monotone comparative statics.
my current teaching interests are in mathematical methods in economics, microeconomics, and game theory
i like to cook, shoot (cameras, preferably), read, drink obscene amounts of coffee, and have far too many books and CDs/vinyl in every single inch of the house. on rare occasion, i have been known to partake in an adult beverage or three after 5pm
some of my other interests include leica rangefinder cameras, fuji x mirrorless cameras, peter schjeldahl, lee hazlewood, canter’s deli-fairfax, w.g. sebald, laurie lindeen, shane macgowen/pogues, the velvet underground, jelly roll morton, george carlin, james brown, harry crews, cassavetes, gena rowlands, harold and belles/los angeles, charlie haden, richard pryor, bill evans, agnes varda, dick twardzik, julius hemphill, peter brötzmann, dexter gordon, charlie watts, jacques tati, little richard, christopher wool, ada calhoun, jan morris, mile end/candle st, wadada leo smith, dinah washington, raymond carver, nola, dirty coast t-shirts, andrew hill, anita o’day, anthony braxton, oliver lake, larry brown (writer), sonny rollins, croissant d’or, bobby keys, idiots in equilibrium, b.a.g. (of st. louis), art ensemble of chicago, nick cave, marshall sahlins, fellini, hank mobley, louise glück, free lunches, jackie wilson, jim harrison, amalia/fado, ferlinghetti, JR, moki cherry, don cherry, round midnight (tune and film), doris derby, paul weller, henry grimes, billie holiday, jack nicholson, dusty springfield in memphis, dusty springfield not in memphis, grachan moncur, charlie rich, archie shepp, james carroll booker iii, calder, louisiana music factory, bill and george clinton, la posada, mezcal, jackie mclean, nick tosches, paul chambers, floyd’s record shop, ed ruscha, godard, robert frank, slim dunlap, dylan, the next dylan, leonara carrington, arthur kopit, kiarostami, antonio chainho, spiro agnew, man ray, the modern lovers, ken vandermark, jean genet, anne sexton, jardin des plantes, los angeles, x, diana dors, neil young, tony joe white, larry mcmurtry, buttes chaumont, james mcmurtry, westerberg, district four, mac rebennack/dr john, leonard cohen, toko shinoda, milford graves, serge gainsbourg, alejandro escovedo, james baldwin, marguerite duras, goldman thibodeaux, william holden, jean klein, tamayo, lou reed, second lines, bisbee az, david graeber, john fante, jack gelber, chris rose, dick cavett, josh homme, john doe, hedy lamaar, baden-powell, krzysztof komeda, polystyrene/x-ray spex, django, orson welles, r.t. rockafellar, antonin artaud, iry lejeune, karel appel, herbie nichols, the jam, sam cooke, amalia rodrigues again, the last picture show, easy rider, full metal jacket, calvados, ornette coleman, jack gilbert, albert ayler, giuseppi logan, la poussiere in breaux bridge, carl and ryan brasseaux, kona, the pretenders, joni mitchell, pablo picasso (song and artist), elvis, the cult of elvis, ava gardner, brando, nathalie sarraute, jackson pollock, tarski, dr. strangelove, lester bangs, second mesa, johnny thunders, julie london, miles davis, elmo hope, jerry lee lewis, charlie parker, hunter s thompson, louis armstrong, duke ellington, joshua tree inn, pugs, keith richards, keith richards quotes, prine, richard pryor, the kinks, tarski iterations, hud, roy stryker/fsa photographers, evan johns/the h-bombs, sister rosetta, carlos paredes, art ensemble of chicago, dave and phil alvin, ray davies, sinatra (capitals), sinatra (reprise), bogart, joan didion, gram parsons, the band, tony bennett, les blank, ionesco, chilton, ny dolls, satyajit ray, sylvain sylvain, grothendieck, nick lowe, the ramones, herman brood, r.l. burnside, iggy/stooges, nat cole, ischia, napoli, big star, camelia beans, anson mills, raymond cauchetier, king cakes, scott walker (the walker bros), little walter, bertrand travenier, john cage, christopher hitchens, bechet, bud powell, sergio leone, uncle tupelo, richard hell, louis malle, huey piano smith, jay farrar, kubrick, tav falco, excello, warhol, george jones, cedric watson, memphis, paris, porto, ennio morricone, juliette gréco, the doors, alex chilton, ensenada, truffaut, elvis costello, david johansen, all sounds/cuisines of louisiana, stax, mr. bingle, dennis hopper, peter fonda, burroughs, jacque demy, jean renoir, kohala coast, hank williams (sr), howlin wolf, marfa, springsteen, claude chabrol, james dean, community coffee, alain resnais, corsican food/wine, skip james, dl menard, professor longhair, all things beaujolais, d’artagnan, napoli, pulp fiction, ali-akbar khan, lazy lester, memphis, richard hugo, karlin/all things total positivity, veinott’s notes, ky fan, everything ever written by marcel (ket) richter, albert camus, warren zevon, the replacements, otis redding, glen david andrews, valcour records, waits, calcutta/kolkata, clifton chenier, miro, and the greatest behavioral economist of them all, charles bukowski
the top photograph is of a porcelain collectible depicting a FEMA trailer decorated for mardi gras, a day of great importance on all catholic calendars. it was discovered while eating the "makin' groceries" traditional king's cake from haydel's bakery in new orleans during the 2007 carnival season.. yeah, the good ol’ days, when the world just worried about hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and other more mundane ways that the gods of our choice stomped the hell out of us.
the second photograph is of myself, at cafe du monde, new orleans la, the greatest city in the world, during mardi gras season, celebrating life after recovering from a near death experience, soon to be heading for an oyster po-boy and dixie at domilise located at corner of annunciation and bellecastle
the next photo is “hula trump”, the great state of hawaii’s homage to our ex supreme leader here in the united states of america, donald j trump, who btw is one of the wharton school of the university of pennsylvania’s finest alumni…as you see from the photo, “hula trump” is an extremely tasteful rendering of former president in one of his more pensive presidential moments, doing his famous "screaming trumpolini” w/ surfboard. the design of “hula trump” is both inspired and representative of the great state of hawaii where ex-president donald j. trump shall always have tremendous "aloha". i should mention, this lovely dashboard doll comes in a cheap plastic box aptly stamped on the bottom: "beware: choking hazard. made in china"
next, a short interview w/ bukowski on time consistency, commitment devices, and the creative process….very useful for all who are young and aspiring to be behavioral economists.
the last photograph is, of course, mr. ed...every professor's dream phd student, and my choice for every year’s Nobel Prize in Economics..my suggested citation: for contributions to random behavioral decision theory with attention “issues” (aka RUM with inattentive idiots)… and also, ironically, for being a god damn smart talking horse
if you need to reach me, and i am not answering either my asu email (kevin dot reffett at asu dot edu), or either of my gmail addresses (reffettkevin at gmail dot com or newleopardskinpillboxhat at gmail dot com), it means i am busy seeking deliverance from these return to MAGA-perilous times via ridiculous amounts of my most recent “drinkable god”, montelobos pechuga blanco mezcal..in a clay cup…many clay cups….just trying to forget that when soon our little orange mussolini will return to the 1600 pennsylvania with his cabinet full of little orange “mussolini-lets”
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