PhillyInc

If a bunch of economists meet in an online virtual world, does it mean the dismal science is becoming hip? The Conference Board, the folks who bring you the Consumer Confidence Index, is saying it will hold its first “virtual meeting” on June 15. (The people who wrote this “news release” really like “quotation marks.”) Half of the meeting will be hosted online in "Second Life,” the online world in which players choose avatars to represent themselves and then travel anywhere they like and do anything they want in the virtual world. This includes building real-estate empires that involve real dollars, and, um, virtual, shall we say, touching of attractive mates. Donald Trump could live happily in “Second Life.” Technically, it’s not the board itself, but its Council of Telecommunications Executives, that is meeting in Second Life. Participants include professors from Harvard and Fordham and executives from IBM and Linden Labs, which owns the Second Life game. - Miriam Hill