Valve Hires In-House Economist To Study Virtual Economies

Greek economics theory professor Yanis Varoufakis will research the political economy of Valve's in-game currencies and report his findings weekly in the Valve Economics blog.

The hire is in-line with Valve's decision to move to free-to-play.  Valve sought out Varoufakis after Gabe Newell became interested in the professor's personal economics blog, which he used to comment on the European debt crisis. 

Valve hopes Varoufakis can help the company better understand the complexities and future of shared currencies in games and overall internal game economies.

[Source: GameSpot]