Grew up in Iowa, went to school in California, now in the West Village and loving everything about living in New York. Worked in finance for a bit, now working on a start-up.

I am fascinated by markets all of kinds: supermarkets, capital markets, labor markets, emerging online markets and open-air markets in other countries. Perhaps surprisingly, I generally dislike farmers' markets.

I love to travel and have visited every continent other than Antartica. Recently returned from a trip across Asia and would highly recommend Shanghai, Tokyo and Bangkok if you've never been. (Istanbul, Prague and Barcelona are some of my other favorite cities). I'm looking forward to checking out Croatia this May but really I want to figure out a way to visit Myanmar in the near future.

If you've ever read MarginalRevolution.com you'll understand my basic outlook on the world.

surrounding myself with people who are smarter than me

completely embarrassing myself while having a blast on the dance floor

grown-up intramural kickball (member of the 3x ZogSports champion team Kick It Nasty) and the less-sober version known as sloshball

cooking without measuring cups

functioning on very little sleep (usually with the help of coke zero or four loko)

thinking logically

my big, goofy grin

Books:
-- East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
-- The Elusive Quest for Growth (William Easterly)
-- The Undercover Economist (Tim Harford)
-- Factory Girls (Leslie Chang)
-- The Box (Marc Levinson)
-- River Town and Country Driving (Peter Hessler)
-- Beyond the Beautiful Forevers (Katherine Boo)

Movies:
-- Thank You for Smoking
-- Charlie Wilson's War
-- The Big Lebowski
-- Igby Goes Down
-- Good Will Hunting
-- The Dark Knight

how the world works - especially as it relates to technological change and economic growth.

drinking and eating delicious ethnic food with a group of friends before going out in the east or west village.