On this episode of Slate Money, Felix Salmon of Fusion, Cathy O'Neil of mathbabe.org, and Slate's Moneybox columnist Jordan Weissmann discuss:

• The economics of partying on New Years Eve in Times Square

• The risky side of derivatives trading

• Warren Buffett and predatory lending

Read about the Gaussian copula function in Felix's piece for Wired.

Check out other Panoply podcasts at itunes.com/panoply.

Email: slatemoney@slate.com

Twitter: @Felix salmon, @mathbabedotorg, @JHWeissmann

Podcast production by Zachary Dinerstein

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The Hogmanay Edition