tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post2559150761981178329..comments2024-01-13T18:57:18.243-05:00Comments on Information Processing: Real wealthSteve Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02428333897272913660noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-62454488546830752412011-08-15T08:13:07.299-04:002011-08-15T08:13:07.299-04:00Yan, you should check the US census for household ...Yan, you should check the US census for household income broken down by race. If you really believe the stuff you write; you're gonna be jumping for joy. Asians do rather well in the income category. I'm sure if they got rid of the lesser asians like the Vietnamese (my ethnicity) and pacific islanders; your group (East Asians or Chinese?) would be even farther up the ladder. Luke Nguyenhttp://www.facebook.com/lukevnguyennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-52194615290356010772011-08-13T14:42:35.827-04:002011-08-13T14:42:35.827-04:00There are two sides to the coin, for sure. Those ...There are two sides to the coin, for sure. Those super-rich who engage in philanthropy and development of new technologies (think Gates foundation, Tesla motors, et. al.) certainly have a positive effect on society. But then you have the Koch brothers, the Mellon and Coors foundations, etc., and it's an open question whether this kind of wealth is a net positive.<br /><br />Personally, I jeembynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-39822574195292705922011-08-12T15:31:34.913-04:002011-08-12T15:31:34.913-04:00Thank you.
The accumulation of money in the hands...Thank you.<br /><br />The accumulation of money in the hands of the few rich and powerful may also have some positive side, because it is such money that created the venture capital and angel investment industry. They also donate a large amount of money to research (stem cell and etc), and top universities (such as Stanford) have almost all their buildings named after such donors. <br /><br />stephen zhangnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-61417190151008305052011-08-12T14:58:12.738-04:002011-08-12T14:58:12.738-04:00William Domhoff's "Who Rules America?&quo...William Domhoff's "Who Rules America?" is probably the best starting point.jeembynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-40146432820931095482011-08-01T13:43:31.490-04:002011-08-01T13:43:31.490-04:00I might have admin privileges that ordinary users ...I might have admin privileges that ordinary users don't. I seem to be able to edit my comments after posting them. I think I added the sentence you mentioned a day or two later.steve hsuhttp://duende.uoregon.edu/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-67548202709347398822011-08-01T07:22:03.828-04:002011-08-01T07:22:03.828-04:00This seems also true in Germany, at least at the l...This seems also true in Germany, at least at the local (Land) government level. If you wish to gain power, you have to engage in politics, become well-known in the community, network a lot with public officials etc. Personal wealth doesn't equal power/influence and by "showing off" too much you risk alienation. There is social stratification which resembles the British - the silkophttp://cleeray.myopenid.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-11220348538134243272011-07-31T21:49:42.689-04:002011-07-31T21:49:42.689-04:00All that's happened is that the advent of fast...All that's happened is that the advent of fast communications makes the economy a game of winner take all. J K Rowling makes more money than any other author because books, and other ideas, are distributed worldwide, to larger markets than ever before. Finance is a source of wealth because it allows a single person to take a cut of performance from a large pile of assets- just an economy of Richard Lubmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-48507503152471136052011-07-31T21:19:06.581-04:002011-07-31T21:19:06.581-04:00Self-promotion: http://www.gwern.net/Spaced%20repe...Self-promotion: http://www.gwern.net/Spaced%20repetitiongwern0noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-62933970433475786112011-07-31T18:02:39.705-04:002011-07-31T18:02:39.705-04:00Discus is a rather counter-intuitive comment syste...Discus is a rather counter-intuitive comment system. While it's great to be able to edit comments, I noticed the other day that on my Blackberry, I only see the first draft. And I don't understand how long you're allowed to edit a comment. For example, when did you add the second sentence about upstairs people not returning phone calls? (A very apt indicator of the social distance Sethhttp://pulse.yahoo.com/_JSJHOQSVP6IS42RDBH7Y2FL7MInoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-60174075133030411872011-07-31T13:14:10.158-04:002011-07-31T13:14:10.158-04:00BS Yan. Asians (both Mongoloids and Indians) are o...BS Yan. Asians (both Mongoloids and Indians) are overrepresented at Harvard, Yale, etc. They just aren't AS overrepresented as their gpa + SAT would predict.<br /><br />If you want Harvard, Yale etc to be 50% Asian and you're going to whine until that's the case then FU. Asians are like kudzu, the zebra muscle, or English ivy. They're an invasive species in the US academic MtMorunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-16297744600088662092011-07-31T13:09:49.146-04:002011-07-31T13:09:49.146-04:00"...good for society if those that are most c..."...good for society if those that are most capable of value creation are kept out of elite finance jobs..."<br /><br />The programmers do nearly all the value creating in elite and ordinary finance. Quants who would have spent their professional lives as professors of physics or mathematics can create more than they would have but more often don't.MtMorunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-64507020424156397652011-07-31T12:28:41.926-04:002011-07-31T12:28:41.926-04:00Yes, actually one of the big advantages of the HP ...Yes, actually one of the big advantages of the HP virtual conferencing rooms (do you have them at GS?) is that the optics are supposedly set up so that you can do eye tracking -- you can see which person on your side of the conference a person on the other side (who you see on the HD screen facing your half of the conference table) is actually looking at. This apparently makes communication much steve hsuhttp://duende.uoregon.edu/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-49052703640308556242011-07-31T10:27:43.770-04:002011-07-31T10:27:43.770-04:00There is a reason that our sclera are bright white...There is a reason that our sclera are bright white and very exposed. You can't notice that over the phone ...Paul Youngnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-11007038698025330502011-07-31T08:32:07.919-04:002011-07-31T08:32:07.919-04:00It's a rather perverse way to look at the situ...It's a rather perverse way to look at the situation, but it would be good for society if those that are most capable of value creation are kept out of elite finance jobs. <br /><br />"Does anyone know whether or not Asian Americans also face discrimination<br /> when being admitted to MBA programs, as opposed to merely elite <br />undergraduate universities?"<br /><br />Elite MBA Dawg_from_Hell 2010noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-38792195047720225732011-07-31T04:49:24.426-04:002011-07-31T04:49:24.426-04:00Great point regarding the confusion of wealth and ...Great point regarding the confusion of wealth and income.<br /><br />The problem is conflation of the function (net in-place liquidation <br />value of assets) with the derivative (income, capital gains, value <br />added, sales, etc.).<br /><br />The result of this conflation is a brain-dead discourse in political economy.<br /><br />OF<br /> COURSE people who have vast property rights should Matt Simpsonhttp://pulse.yahoo.com/_XKZB25IIVGWR7KXE7Q5CKFPSJMnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-52630685373340365212011-07-31T02:49:02.340-04:002011-07-31T02:49:02.340-04:00This is one of my pet peeves--most writers don'...This is one of my pet peeves--most writers don't seem to perform better than random chance when it comes to discreet/discrete. Another common mistake is confusing principal/principle.Christopher Changhttp://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=723726480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-46895652996346435932011-07-30T23:22:57.378-04:002011-07-30T23:22:57.378-04:00It also doesn't help when elite firms tend to ...It also doesn't help when elite firms tend to recruit mostly from a few of the top schools and Asian Americans are disproportionately shut out of those schools due to racism. See this earlier Steve Hsu post.<br /><br />http://infoproc.blogspot.com/2011/01/credentialism-and-elite-employment.html<br /><br />It doesn't take much to put two and two together here and surmise that affirmative Yan Shenhttp://profiles.google.com/yanshen71786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-49293535079011420532011-07-30T20:54:24.761-04:002011-07-30T20:54:24.761-04:00I don't think there is much more social mobili...I don't think there is much more social mobility. Inequality is similar. I just know that I don't have even a million dollars and yet I can get to meet and talk with the head of a government department at a lunch or whatever because of my academic position. This isn't true of most academics in the system of course. Having money per se doesn't make a lot of difference unless you David Sternnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-1234312445990249582011-07-30T12:53:52.439-04:002011-07-30T12:53:52.439-04:00Seth,
Thanks, that's a very useful mental mod...Seth,<br /><br />Thanks, that's a very useful mental model.Stevehttp://pulse.yahoo.com/_UJDYBGSS6KHCMUU2RCLMMXDEF4noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-61806868500090968912011-07-30T00:16:15.664-04:002011-07-30T00:16:15.664-04:00Good point. I think they both apply about equally....Good point. I think they both apply about equally.Allan Folznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-58062587311481784572011-07-29T16:57:06.584-04:002011-07-29T16:57:06.584-04:00I wish I didn't have to travel so much. But be...I wish I didn't have to travel so much. But believe it or not, to get anything done involving organizations or teams of collaborators there is no substitute for two apes meeting face to face. Even for highly abstract subjects like theoretical physics, in-person interactions are far more effective than the alternatives.steve hsuhttp://duende.uoregon.edu/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-31808274127097380232011-07-29T16:45:10.628-04:002011-07-29T16:45:10.628-04:00"A highly complex and largely discrete set of..."A highly complex and largely discrete set of laws and exemptions from laws has been put in place by those in the uppermost reaches of the U.S. financial system."<br /><br />I think the author meant "discreet", but perhaps not. Perhaps he meant these laws are one-off, bespoke favors for campaign donors.MtMorunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-4526789233761462902011-07-29T16:41:52.105-04:002011-07-29T16:41:52.105-04:00Although income inequality is similar in Australia...Although income inequality is similar in Australia, there is much more social mobility in Australia than there is in the US. I don't think this is eliminated when only white Americans are considered. The same is true for NZ and even more so when the Maori are excluded. <br /><br />ANZ is very lucky. You're Mexicans are Chinese.MtMorunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-76317768529076086112011-07-29T16:38:13.477-04:002011-07-29T16:38:13.477-04:00I think that's cheating. If those same countie...I think that's cheating. If those same counties or what were the equivalent of those counties had been removed from previous analyses what would the trend be then?MtMorunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-84851721138559015182011-07-29T16:35:44.924-04:002011-07-29T16:35:44.924-04:00I think Steve prefers the old standby, amphetamine...I think Steve prefers the old standby, amphetamines.<br /><br />How else could he travel so much unnecessarily?MtMorunoreply@blogger.com