On the "it can't hurt to ask" theory, here's my plea: Hire me! (Resume at: http://hanson.berkeley.edu/vita.html)
I'm on the academic job market now, and within two months I'll decide where I'll spend the next six years plus. I
just did conference interviews with 19 schools (UC Berkeley, Columbia U, U Michigan, UT Austin, Vanderbilt U, U Maryland, U Arizona, Case West Res U, U. St. Thomas, SUNY Stony Brook,U Illinois Chicago, George Mason U, U Wisconsin Whitewater, Indiana U So Bend, U Mississippi, UT Arlington, U Arkansas Fayetteville, U No Dakota, Naval Postgrad School) and where I end up at will determine a lot about my research career.
Now what I'd really *love* to research is "economics of future technologies" (see http://hanson.berkeley.edu/econofsf.html). However, while I have allowed myself to spend some time on this recently, that will soon end if I get a standard academic job. My time will be filled up with teaching, family, and building a reputation in some more established research area.
So if you'd like to see me spend time on future economics, help someone invent a position for me somewhere, say where I spend half my time doing whatever they want, and half my time following my research interests. Yeah, it's a long shot, but it can't hurt to ask, can it?
Robin Hanson
hanson@econ.berkeley.edu http://hanson.berkeley.edu/ RWJF Health Policy Scholar FAX: 510-643-8614 140 Warren Hall, UC Berkeley, CA 94720-7360 510-643-1884