Closers in sales are valuable. Closers in baseball are not so valuable.
Jonathan Papelbon, the closer for the Boston Red Sox pitching staff is pulling the “I’ve got to do what’s best for my family so I’m asking for a humongous raise” routine. Admittedly, he is one of the best young arms in baseball regardless of pitching role. He is also a unique talent in the world of dance. He joined the Red Sox a couple of years ago and, through unforeseen circumstances, found himself entrenched in …

Two finance professors from UCLA and the Helsinki School of Economics released a study exploring the correlation between individuals prone to getting speeding tickets and the tendency to churn investment portfolios. They conclude that an average investor’s portfolio saw an 11 percent increase in the turnover ratio for each additional ticket received. This is a highly significant finding according to statistical methods.
A couple of possible explanations the academics propose are overconfidence and thrill seeking behavior. Although overconfidence might play a small explanatory role, they find that the trait of thrill …