Ray Fisman, an associate professor in the Finance and Economics Division, was named to an economics “Dream Team” by a Russian business magazine owned by the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal. The team includes 11 innovative economists under the age of 40. Fisman was recognized for his research on the value of political connections in Suharto’s Indonesia. His study showed that the stock prices of well-connected companies fell on days when the press reported Suharto was sick. Since it was published in 2001, other researchers have adapted Fisman’s method, using surprise election outcomes to study corruption in various parts of the world. The Dream Team roster also includes Steven D. Levitt, coauthor of the wildly popular Freakonomics, and Roland Fryer Jr., one of Fortune magazine’s “rising stars.” The article, which was published by Russia’s SmartMoney during the World Cup, includes a sketch of 11 men in cleats chasing ardently after a globe. “In science, as in soccer, there are no ideal criteria for choosing a team that satisfies everyone,” reads a translation. “Any ‘best of’ compilation has a certain level of arbitrariness,” Fisman says. “But this is very flattering, and it certainly made my mother proud.”