Gaia Interactive announced Stanford professor will become chairman of the Council of Economic Adviso

Gaia Online will hire one a Hoover senior fellow and Stanford professor as their economist. SNEWS report this news as title 'Big-shot economist to advise teen virtual world 'Gaia Online''. 

What might you expect to be the next career move for a man whose resume includes stints as a U.S. Council of Economic Advisors chairman, a Hoover Institution senior fellow and a Stanford University economics professor?

Try chief economist for a teen-oriented virtual world.

Gaia Interactive announced Monday morning that Michael Boskin, still a Hoover senior fellow and Stanford professor, will become chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors for Gaia Online, a virtual world that attracts 2.5 million monthly participants who engage in more than 100,000 daily transactions.

In its announcement of the new council and Boskin's leading role, Gaia Interactive said the new organization would be tasked with providing "ongoing analysis and guidance" of the virtual economy.

Boskin said he would remain in his Hoover and Stanford positions.

In recent years, the economies of virtual worlds have become increasingly complex and varied and have attracted significant amounts of popular and media attention. Economies like those of Second Life regularly see more than $1 million day in user-to-user transactions. Anshe Chung, who became a millionaire by developing and selling real estate in Second Life, was even featured on the cover of Business Week.

Despite the growing importance of these economies, it surprises some to see a heavy-hitter like Boskin taking on such an important advisory role for a virtual world catering to teens. After all, this is a man who, in addition to his academic positions, serves on the boards of companies like Exxon Mobil, Oracle and Vodafone. According to his Hoover Institution biography, he also serves "as an adviser to presidents and prime ministers, finance ministries, and central banks around the world, from the United States to China."

Gaia Online, said Boskin, is just another economic environment--populated by real people doing real things--worthy of study.

"I find it very interesting how many people are willing to spend time" in the virtual world, Boskin told CNET News.com, adding that he was attracted to his new role by "how the economy of these sites, and in particular of Gaia, have evolved; how people are making decisions on how to spend their time, (and) how much time to spend."

Essentially, Boskin said, an economy is an economy, regardless of whether the participants are teens in a virtual world or captains of industry in the physical world.

"The fundamental similarity is people making decisions about how to allocate their time and use their skills," Boskin said. "That is at the core of what is similar about them. There's some things we can learn about what (is going on) in the real economy by what is going on in Gaia.

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14.10.2007. 00:03