amateurpolymath

5 ms·

1.
by amateurpolymath 9y ago
I don't see this as evidence that economists => inequality. Even if we accept the notion that economists are directly responsible for growing inequality, it's worth remembering that there are disagreements within their ranks. I
2.
by amateurpolymath 9y ago
In the US, our democratic process has delegated all these roles to regulatory agencies that are staffed with economists. The FTC, FCC, Justice Dept., etc. all employ many PhD economists. Whether their bosses and the politicians listen to th
3.
by amateurpolymath 9y ago
Whether people are upset by price discrimination or not depends on how it is perceived. For example, no one seems upset at discounts for seniors, students, or military, despite this being a form of price discrimination. To your second point
4.
by amateurpolymath 9y ago
> Intelligence is the capacity to achieve your goals. Intelligence is highly heritable. A goal of most people is to become wealthy. So people who acquire wealth tend to be much more intelligent than average, as wealth is graded on a curv
5.
by amateurpolymath 9y ago
I've taught many MBAs and I can attest to their disappointing analytical skills. However, a company like Amazon already has plenty of analytically skilled employees. What they need from the MBAs are their management skills. I suspect A
6.
by amateurpolymath 9y ago
My impression when reading this was that the author intended it to be taken seriously. It is written with a decidedly "academic" tone. However, it is very light on actual research and evidence. Author says "Humans are inheren
7.
by amateurpolymath 9y ago
I can't help but wonder how the author would respond to having zero men awaiting her swipe.
8.
by amateurpolymath 10y ago
> Monopolies don't last. This is simply untrue.
9.
by amateurpolymath 10y ago
I think many people who are physically unable to take a hike (disabled, elderly, ill, etc.) would appreciate a VR system that can closely mimic a real hike. Also, if a VR system can perform well as a hiking simulator it would be able to rea
10.
by amateurpolymath 10y ago
I recently listened to an interesting discussion[1] about VR on a friend's recommendation. One of the guests had a great test for quality VR: can it perform as a hiking simulator? Can it mimic all the qualities of a good hike -- visual
11.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
Economists Ted Bergstrom and Preston McAfee (currently at Microsoft) have long studied journal pricing. Here is Ted's page on the matter: http://www.econ.ucsb.edu/%7Etedb/Journals/jpricing.html His table of p
12.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
This stuff is rampant because the incentives are there. Academia values original publications all else. Tenure, promotion, and respect of your peers depends almost entirely on publication in academic journals. Doing replications is not cons
13.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
I don't see the problem. Fred can sell his time/labor to make up the difference. If that is not possible for some reason, Fred could also default on the debt. Then the lender takes what she can get and learns not to make loans tha
14.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
No, it is predicated on the assumption that $500 at time t is worth $600 at time t+1.
15.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
I was homeschooled my entire life. I taught myself how to read as a toddler, so my parents decided that I needed to have a great education. However, they had no faith in public education and no money for private school. I'm currently f
16.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
I can't speak for other states, but in Florida it's very easy to do dual enrollment, possibly the best option for a gifted high school student. As long as your courses are at a public university or community college, your tuition
17.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
Procreation is not needed for survival.
18.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
These crowdfunding platforms heavily rely on trust between backers and creators. I wonder how many failed projects, scams, etc. it will take before that trust is eroded? If fraud isn't policed better, Kickstarter will permanently lose
19.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
They do. Broadband access in rural US is terrible [1]. [1] http://www.ibtimes.com/rural-broadband-access-still-lacking-...
20.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
University of Virginia does this as well: "Out of respect for the founder of the University who did not have a Ph.D., University faculty are referred to as Mr. or Mrs. instead of Doctor, even if they have a Ph.D. Students and faculty h
21.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
At my university it is already hard to get students to fill out the evaluations (they aren't mandatory but probably should be). Asking them to do so a year later would result in a near 0 response rate. Even if evaluations were mandator
22.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
Ability in physics could be considered a proxy measure of student ability to understand abstract mathematical models. Or perhaps it's just another "are you smart?" filter.
23.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
I really like that you aren't simply offering unpaid internships. A lot of people fail to realize that high school kids from low income families often have to take on summer jobs to help support themselves and their family. The stipend
24.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
That's impressive! I'm skilled in math but a novice programmer, so I've not gotten far (yet! still hopeful).
25.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
"There is no room to expand without replacing something that’s already there. Since few of the Victorian residences that give the city its character are taller than three stories, housing is perpetually in short supply." The probl
26.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
I see you are a fellow Project Euler-er! How far have you gotten?
27.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
Good to see Florida is determined to remain a national joke.
28.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
There has been plenty of debate about this in other fields as well. Deirdre McCloskey and Stephen Ziliak have a particularly well-written paper titled "The Cult of Statistical Significance" on this very topic. Their main point is
29.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
From the article (EDIT: emphasis mine): "Uber screened and trained its drivers, and drivers could get deactivated by Uber for having their rating dip below what local managers set as a cut-off, for not accepting a certain percentage o
30.
by amateurpolymath 11y ago
I don't see the problem. If Uber's costs will go up if they are no longer able to classify their employees as contractors, they can simply raise their prices. Uber appears to provide both a lower price and higher quality taxi serv

More ›