The Big “C”

The “Big C”: Identifying and Mitigating Contagion

In the Showtime TV series “The Big C,” the main character is diagnosed with a deadly cancer—the “Big C.” In response, this suburban housewife suddenly takes out-of-character, impulsive actions—from buying a bright red sports car to putting a large pool in her tiny backyard to having an affair with a painter. She denies the severity of her disease and undergoes alternative treatment (such as bei...

Big Changes Are Coming in Hepatitis C

The story of hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapy is about to add one of its biggest chapters. From the serendipitous beginnings in the 1980s when investigators noted that interferon improves liver enzymes in non-A, non-B hepatitis, to the discovery and naming of the hepatitis virus, to the addition of ribavirin, to the pegylation of interferon, and now to the first direct-acting antivirals (DAA), t...

Leader Ethos and Big-C Character

Commentary: The “Big C”: Identifying and Mitigating Contagion

There is a large literature on contagion. It is perhaps the most important systemic risk to the financial system. The term is widely used so this covers many topics. The paper starts with a discussion of exactly how the term is used. Perhaps most importantly it is used to refer to the spread of crises from one country to another through real links such as trade, through portfolio rebalancing an...

Beyond Big and Little: The Four C Model of Creativity

Most investigations of creativity tend to take one of two directions: everyday creativity (also called “little-c”), which can be found in nearly all people, and eminent creativity (also called “Big-C”), which is reserved for the great. In this paper, the authors propose a Four C model of creativity that expands this dichotomy. Specifically, the authors add the idea of “mini-c,” creativity inher...