Do they have luck or not?

It is rare for the same team to win two Ig Nobel prizes. However, this year the jury has considered the work, and not the luck, makes Andrea Rapisarda and Alessandro Pluchino deserving of a new award in Economics.

Andrea, CSH external professor, and Alessandro, together with Alessio Biondo, insist on a new investigation that luck determines success over talent.

The authors of the study, from the University of Catania, created a mathematical model that quantifies the role of talent and luck in career success. Their model demonstrates the importance of lucky events, which is frequently underestimated, in determining individual success levels.

The study warns against “naive meritocracy”, which “fails to give honors and rewards to the most competent people, because it underestimates the role of randomness among the determinants of success.”

The Italian team is one of 10 to be recognized at this year’s Ig Nobel awards for research that “first makes you laugh, then makes you think”. The prizes, announced last Thursday, are intended to celebrate “the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology.”

Congrats, Andrea, Alessandro and Alessio!

Learn more about their new study about the role of randomness in success.

And see Andrea and his colleagues receive their Ig Nobel Prize at the (extremely fun to watch!) online ceremony (starting at 1:12:15).