tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post1222510262964231838..comments2024-01-13T18:57:18.243-05:00Comments on Information Processing: Intergenerational mobility: Bowles and Gintis and ClarkSteve Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02428333897272913660noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-34860549259291444272012-02-21T00:55:27.063-05:002012-02-21T00:55:27.063-05:00If you follow the posts on this blog, a common the...If you follow the posts on this blog, a common theme is that finance has been the way to go to get money in the last couple of decades.. rather than going into fields like science that are more beneficial to the world at large. Not to get into an economics argument, but rewarding and punishing externalities appropriately is known to be a major issue in free market economies, among others.<br /><ben_gnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-71004102926186303852012-02-20T13:20:03.574-05:002012-02-20T13:20:03.574-05:00Most people don't get rich by pursuing money. ...Most people don't get rich by pursuing money. They get rich by being good at something (anything) that has value to others. That's why money is a good reflection of merit.Iamexpertnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-87897220425097962922012-02-20T09:57:27.716-05:002012-02-20T09:57:27.716-05:00Said dearth of meritocracy (as a proxy for the pre...Said dearth of meritocracy (as a proxy for the prevalence of extractive/nepotist elitism) would be an interestingly objective measurement of leadership health. <br />This meritocratic measurement might only be valuable for those who believe that high-g scientific literates *should* tend to be running things. But I think that this position is more common than many suppose, and that it (and by LaurentMelchiorTelliernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-66452515701740634802012-02-20T02:43:31.993-05:002012-02-20T02:43:31.993-05:00Aside from the small role IQ plays in the inherita...Aside from the small role IQ plays in the inheritance of inequality, there is another problem with The Bell Curve-- the Meritocracy Thesis. The Meritocracy Thesis says that as <br />our society gets more fair in terms of environments, outcomes will become more unequal due to genetic stratification based on merit.<br /><br />The idea that equalizing environments increases the importance of genes ben_gnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-4669251121016750252012-02-19T22:37:29.884-05:002012-02-19T22:37:29.884-05:00I think the cushion to fall back on is huge. The ...I think the cushion to fall back on is huge. The wife of a friend has been through at least half a dozen business ideas that have lost money or at best made little more than minimum wage once her time was accounted for. Now she has finally found one that looks like it will make her a substantial return. Without her husband’s substantial 6 figure income to power through those first failures Bobdisqusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-49785736099102693652012-02-19T22:16:47.183-05:002012-02-19T22:16:47.183-05:00Does a 5’6” guy with a weak chin, an asymmetrical ...Does a 5’6” guy with a weak chin, an asymmetrical face, and an IQ of 85 from a working class background really want to know the answer to this? I think he might just prefer to repeat “all men are created equal” a lot.Bobdisqusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-91917224889749419682012-02-19T18:45:52.556-05:002012-02-19T18:45:52.556-05:00I think the correlation between IQ and income is u...I think the correlation between IQ and income is underestimated in a lot of these studies because as Steve H. implies income is a highly unreliable measure varying enormously from year to year, so you really have to average it over time or correct the correlation for unreliability. Also how is income defined? Is it salary, capital gains, insurance, law suit settlements etc? Do we focus on Iamexpertnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-41862688874026617762012-02-19T16:26:33.136-05:002012-02-19T16:26:33.136-05:00There's an upcoming paper about a Finnish twin...There's an upcoming paper about a Finnish twin study reportedly showing that the heritability of lifetime income in Finland is 50% for men and 40% for women. I don't know how much intelligence accounts for that though.puolimielinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-13165940018147192722012-02-19T14:38:14.546-05:002012-02-19T14:38:14.546-05:00Another important example, which has grown enormou...Another important example, which has grown enormously over the past generation, is the role of unpaid "internships" as gateways to many elite or highly-desirable professions. Obviously, individuals from wealthy families can afford such timewise-capital investments much more than young people from humbler backgrounds, especially since the locations are usually in some of the most RKU1noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-48821939797082334262012-02-19T13:53:15.386-05:002012-02-19T13:53:15.386-05:00Having a cushion also helps in enabling long term ...Having a cushion also helps in enabling long term thinking (this overlaps with what both of you are saying). I believe one of the biggest perils of being poor is being "forced" into making decisions based on short term outcomes. (a trivial example is not being able to reduce the price of staples by buying in bulk, your example of accepting reduced present income when starting some Richard Seiternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-88023616403250020272012-02-19T12:51:13.678-05:002012-02-19T12:51:13.678-05:00One shouldn't underestimate the importance of ...One shouldn't underestimate the importance of social networks in maintaining income across the generations. For example, if a family has a sufficient social status for its daughters to marry millionaires in Texas and Louisiana over the generations, it doesn't matter what the academic achievements of these individuals are.<br /><br />Why do people do genealogy anyway?JustinLoenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-56028048534198955462012-02-19T10:27:42.969-05:002012-02-19T10:27:42.969-05:00If...the genetic inheritance of IQ were the only m...<i>If...the genetic inheritance of IQ were the only mechanism accounting for intergenerational income transmission,then the intergenerational correlation would be 0.01, or roughly two percent the observed intergenerational correlation...The estimate results from the fact that IQ is just not an important enough determinant of economic success.</i><br /><br />Offhand, this seems like a devastating RKU1noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-48802105346526350862012-02-19T00:26:52.699-05:002012-02-19T00:26:52.699-05:00I think Bowles and Gintis are careful to distingui...I think Bowles and Gintis are careful to distinguish income and earnings. The former could come partially from inheritance. But you're right that having a cushion to fall back on also helps in starting a career, and hence boosts earnings as well.steve hsuhttp://duende.uoregon.edu/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-84200596044416389152012-02-19T00:15:24.441-05:002012-02-19T00:15:24.441-05:00I don't have the time to read this paper but t...I don't have the time to read this paper but this is certainly counterintuitive:<br /><br />negative correlation of abstract reasoning ability with conscientiousness:"Abstract reasoning significantly correlated with Conscientiousness (r -.26, p < 0:001)" http://www.psytech.com/Documents/Conscientiousness%20and%20Intelligence%20-%202004.pdf sample size: 201JustinLoenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-68182662132834629362012-02-19T00:09:40.619-05:002012-02-19T00:09:40.619-05:00The big question that would sell a lot of books is...The big question that would sell a lot of books is what can parents do for their kids after they are born. For example, what's the long run ROI on orthodontia? Steve Sailernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-76048609622984441102012-02-19T00:07:31.727-05:002012-02-19T00:07:31.727-05:00I've often wondered how accurately psychologis...I've often wondered how accurately psychologists can distinguish IQ and Conscientiousness. People will score higher on an IQ test because they conscientiously work hard at it, and people will score higher on a Conscientiousness test if they are smart enough to figure out what kind of answers would look good. Steve Sailernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-23202153207500716712012-02-19T00:04:21.223-05:002012-02-19T00:04:21.223-05:00Thanks.
Don't discount the role of plain old...Thanks. <br /><br />Don't discount the role of plain old cash inheritances, especially in facilitating creative and intellectual careers. Steve Sailernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-76678301099830230312012-02-18T22:49:34.965-05:002012-02-18T22:49:34.965-05:00Interesting post. I'll mention that I think it...Interesting post. I'll mention that I think it's interesting that a lot really can be judged by a person's face. It makes sense that people would have evolved an ability to make snap judgement about others. Physiognomy is not a pseudoscience like some say, and like many things that were known in the past, they have to be relearned. <br /><br />I am guessing that a lot of those Terman Sam Hhttp://profiles.google.com/samh550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-67640959160284925542012-02-18T22:28:06.775-05:002012-02-18T22:28:06.775-05:00RE: dating, OK Cupid may have done something like ...RE: dating, OK Cupid may have done something like this.<br /><br />I agree, it's a feasible project and the outcome would be quite interesting.<br /><br />What about NFL combine or college stats as predictors of NBA/NFL outcomes? I'm sure that's been looked over pretty carefully.steve hsuhttp://duende.uoregon.edu/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-56709872954611379022012-02-18T22:20:32.151-05:002012-02-18T22:20:32.151-05:00I think one of the most interesting studies psycho...I think one of the most interesting studies psychology could do would be to take a bunch of traits known to influence income, for example your combination of IQ and personality measures, and see how much of the variance in income could be explained by them.<br /><br />A similar study could be done for the dating game: take height, income, physical attractiveness ratings, symmetry, personality ben_gnoreply@blogger.com