For those of you who grew up in the past 20 years or so, you’ve probably heard of or played Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Well, just in case you were wondering if an economist would ever become as cool as an actor, the Wall Street Journal has published an article on how economists are (apparently) playing the same game with Joseph Stiglitz and, before him, with Paul Erdos.

It seems as though this game could be played in any field or industry, merely by choosing one of the most prolific and well known figures in that particular group of people (assuming different members of this group collaborate or interact on a regular basis).

Playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, however, sounds much more enticing as Kevin Bacon almost rhymes with Separation, and they both have the same syllabic count. “Six degrees of Paul Erdos” just doesn’t seem to stick - much like wet masking tape, but that never stopped economists before!

Thanks to Mia for pointing this article out to us