September 29, 1997 Volume 87, Number 4 | Prev | Next | Index
Princeton University Office of Communications, Stanhope Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544
Gamblers bet on good causes
By Mary CaffreyResearch provides insight into why and how lotteries raise money
If you've ever watched the nightly televised drawing for the Pennsylvania Lottery, you've probably heard the announcement, "Lottery proceeds benefit older Pennsylvanians." The statement may sound like simple public relations, but research by Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Affairs John Morgan shows why there's much more to it than that.
In a paper submitted to the Review of Economic Studies, Morgan and Martin Sefton of the University of Manchester have tested Morgan's theory that lotteries can successfully finance public services not only because they tap participants' love of gambling, but also because a good cause helps draw bettors. The theory evolved from Morgan's interest in auctions. Auctions exists in nature, he says: for example, when there is competition for food, and everyone pays something in a "war of attrition. In a lottery, everyone pays some price to improve his or her chance of winning, just as animals do." (Photograph by Denise Applewhite)Do we need to know?
By Carol CarlsonSloan Foundation grant funds professors' research into concept of unknowability
Most people are aware that water boils under certain conditions and at a certain temperature, and this knowledge makes boiling a predictable and controllable phenomenon. But even scientists do not know the detailed movements of every molecule of boiling water in a kettle. That level of detail is unpredictable, unknowable -- and probably unimportant.
Cool in summer, warm in winter
By Caroline MoseleyHVAC manager Joe Flatley oversees temperature regulation systems in 55 buildings and 37 dorms on campus
He keeps us cool in summer and warm in winter. He is Joe Flatley, manager of HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) trades for Grounds and Building Maintenance (r, with Steve Deleo).
A game of shifting geometry
By Ben KesslerPrinceton's field hockey team hopes to reach NCAA championship
again this yearThose of us who are used to spending at least a few autumn afternoons at Palmer Stadium are faced with the prospect of empty Saturdays while we wait for a new facility to be built, and the football team plays all its games on the road. No doubt the team will bear watching, but only by those who are willing to log a lot of miles or wait for C-Tec broadcasts on Tuesday nights.
Others might consider this suggestion: watch the women who play field hockey. Princeton fields no ordinary team; last season it reached the NCAA championship game, knocking off the second and third-ranked teams in the nation before finally being beaten by top-ranked North Carolina. Guided by Beth Bozman, voted Coach of the Year by her peers, the team returns this season virtually intact, ready to make its way to the top.