Everything about Luck
Concept that defines the experience of notably positive, negative, or improbable events
Luck is a phenomenon or belief that humans may associate with experiencing improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative events. Philosophical naturalism, eschewing any supernatural explanations, might suggest that positive or negative events may happen at any time, and that even improbable events can happen by random chance. In this view, the epithet "lucky" or "unlucky" is a descriptive label that refers to an event's positivity, negativity, or improbability. Wikipedia →
🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path
- Read the overview: LuckA 5-minute orientation
- Skim a recent paper: Cancers make their own luck: theories of cancer originsInfluential work since 2022
- Pick up a classic book: Hard LuckThe most-reprinted book on the subject
- Read the landmark paper: Strategic Factor Markets: Expectations, Luck, and Business StrategyCited 3,691 times
- Go sideways: List of bad luck signsA closely related topic
- Go sideways: Japanese superstitionsA closely related topic
📖 Definitions
Noun Something that happens to someone by chance, a chance occurrence.
Noun A favourable chance occurrence.
Noun A superstitious feeling that brings fortune or success.
Noun Success.
🗂️ The subject at a glance
🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)
Strategic Factor Markets: Expectations, Luck, and Business Strategy
Luck versus Skill in the Cross‐Section of Mutual Fund Returns
Are CEOs Rewarded for Luck? The Ones Without Principals Are
False Discoveries in Mutual Fund Performance: Measuring Luck in Estimated Alphas
Explanations of successful performance on sex-linked tasks: What is skill for the male is luck for the female.
Just Luck: An Experimental Study of Risk-Taking and Fairness
Good policy or good luck?
Asymmetric benchmarking in compensation: Executives are rewarded for good luck but not penalized for bad
🆕 Influential since 2022
Cancers make their own luck: theories of cancer origins
How Do Investors Evaluate Past Entrepreneurial Failure? Unpacking Failure Due to Lack of Skill versus Bad Luck
Specificity, length and luck drive gene rankings in association studies
Lensing or luck? False alarm probabilities for gravitational lensing of gravitational waves
Luck versus Skill in the Cross Section of Mutual Fund Returns: Reexamining the Evidence
📚 Books worth reading
Hard LuckJeff Kinney · 2013
Lucky YouCarl Hiaasen · 1997
Big Nate in the ZoneLincoln Peirce · 2007
My Little PonyRuth Benjamin · 2004
Mary Anne's Bad-Luck MysteryAnn M. Martin · 1988
FortunatelyRemy Charlip · 1964
Rotten School - Calling all birdbrainsRobert Lawrence Stine, Trip Park · 2007
The jade dragonJessica Sarah Gunderson, Caroline Hu · 2008
Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.
🔗 Related topics
- List of bad luck signs Bad luck is an unpredictable outcome that is unfortunate. This is a list of signs believed to bring bad luck according to superstitions. Breaking a mirror…
- Japanese superstitions Japanese superstitions are rooted in the culture and history of Japan and the Japanese people. Some Japanese superstitions are meant to teach lessons or…
- List of superstitions A superstition is "a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation" or…
- Superstition A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural. It is commonly applied to beliefs and practices…
- Friday the 13th Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day in Western superstition. It occurs when the 13th day of the month in the Gregorian calendar falls on a Friday…
- Knocking on wood Knocking on wood (also phrased touching wood or touch wood) is an apotropaic tradition of literally touching, tapping, or knocking on wood, or merely stating…
- Superstition in Turkey Turkey is a country full of many traditions, its superstitions not being far behind. The superstitions are believed to be based on myths, legends, fables…
- Moral luck Moral luck describes circumstances whereby a moral agent is assigned moral blame or praise for an action or its consequences, even if it is clear that…