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Billy Beane Speaks - At An Alternative Investment Conference

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"Any Boston fans here?" Oakland A’s general manager asked an audience of more than 700 professionals in Denver a day after he traded for the Red Sox star pitcher Jon Lester. "You guys are so quiet these days." Beane, speaking at the fifth annual Innovative Alternative Investment Strategies conference, would go on to describe the Red Sox as the best run franchise in the United States. More than 700 people attended the conference. That description may reflect an economic behavior trait on Beane’s part because he is a huge fan of behavioral economics and has hired Ph.D’s from the likes of MIT to help run the A’s. The trait would be confirmation bias.