Re: Murray/Hernstein
On the adequacy of M/H's SES measure, I know list member Bill Dickens has done a lot of work on this. He revised their measure to include more information. Better if Bill summarizes, but on the whole I'd say he concluded that M/H's SES moderately understates the importance of SES, but intelligence still matters a great deal. On the other hand, as behavioral geneticists (and Chris?) will point out, since SES partially reflects genotype, this measure *understates* the real importance of intelligence. -- Prof. Bryan Caplan [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/bcaplan "We may be dissatisfied with television for two quite different reasons: because our set does not work, or because we dislike the program we are receiving. Similarly, we may be dissatisfied with ourselves for two quite different reasons: because our body does not work (bodily illness), or because we dislike our conduct (mental illness)." --Thomas Szasz, *The Untamed Tongue*
Re: Murray/Hernstein
On Fri, 27 Oct 2000, Bryan Caplan wrote: more information. Better if Bill summarizes, but on the whole I'd say he concluded that M/H's SES moderately understates the importance of SES, but intelligence still matters a great deal. Don't get me wrong: I'm not claiming that intelligence doesn't matter. What I'm claiming is that disentangling the marginal effect of intelligence from other factors that influence various outcomes is not "pretty easy." In particular, the approach taken by M/H is so statistically inept that it's impossible to discern from their work whether intelligence matters directly, and if it does, by how much. Chris Auld (403)220-4098 Economics, University of Calgarymailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Calgary, Alberta, CanadaURL:http://jerry.ss.ucalgary.ca/
Re: Top 10 Economic Puzzles
One more big puzzle: 8) Why do people have fewer children as they get richer? David Friedman wrote: 4) Why do people agree to disagree? Haven't you published a solution to that problem? No what I've written just undermines one proposed solution. I have my own pet theory, as you have for many of these questions. And I very much like your creativity and coming up with theories to consider. But until we can convince more other people to favor our theories, we have to still call them open questions. Robin Hanson [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://hanson.gmu.edu Asst. Prof. Economics, George Mason University MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030- 703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323
