mercoledì 2 aprile 2014
Finanziamenti e campagne elettorali
Does Campaign Finance Buy Power? Results? http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BleedingHeartLibertarians/~3/RvgyPL85CLY/
Dubbi sugli studi preschool
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/brown-center-chalkboard/posts/2014/04/02-dubious-prek-science-whitehurst#.UzxP9DQ5jN4.twitter
Why Lesbians Aren't Gay
Steve Sailer: "Why Lesbians Aren't Gay" National Review 5/30/94; From "Pervert" to "Victim:" The Media's Continued One Dimensional Stereotyping of Homosexuals:
'via Blog this'
DILEMMA: perché non si affrontano le sostanziali differenze tra gay e lesbiche?
DIFFERENZE NEGLI HOBBIES. As with any other large collection of people, numerous fault lines divide homosexuals, but the most remarkable is the one separating gay men from lesbians. What are we to make of all this? What does it say about human nature that so many enthusiasms of the average lesbian and the average gay man diverge so strikingly?
UN CONFINE ARTICOLATO. It’s important to note that the different inclinations of gays and lesbians do not follow easily predicted lines. In roughly half the traits, homosexuals tend to more resemble the opposite sex than they do the rest of their own sex... Yet, for many other traits, homosexuals exhibit their own sex’s tendencies to a heightened degree. For instance, all great classical composers have been male. At least since Tchaikovsky, though, an impressive number of leading composers have been gay or bisexual (e.g., Britten, Copland, Barber, Poulenc, Corigliano, and Bernstein).
LATINI E ANGLOSASSONI. The best criticism of this article’s gay vs. lesbian dichotomy would be that it doesn’t go far enough. For example, people raised in Latin countries might think it peculiar that Americans insist on labeling as “gay” both Truman Capote and that exemplar of murderous masculine charisma, Alexander the Great. Latins are inclined to care less than Americans about whom a man goes to bed with and more about what he does there
STAMPA FALLACE. Rather than help educate the public to think in terms of bell-shaped curves and individual variances, the press instead warns us to abstain altogether from noticing average differences between groups.
FATTI E MORALE. Are homosexuals fairly common, like, say, tax-cheaters, lefthanders, or tithe-givers? Or are they fairly rare, like prison inmates, identical twins, or clergy? This is certainly an interesting topic, but why this purely empirical question is thought to possess such moral consequence that many people feel compelled to lie about it is beyond me
EFFETTI DELL'IGNORANZA. One of the cruelest effects of ignorance about homosexuals’ propensities is the heartbreak it causes both a homosexual and his or her parents when the adult child finally reveals the Surprising Truth. We are told that if only the parents hadn’t been socialized to hold outdated prejudices, the surprise would not be disappointing. Disappointment, however, is inevitable: the desire to pass on your genes to grandchildren is bedrock human nature. What is far more avoidable, though, is the surprise
POLICY. Gay vs. lesbian distinctions are also important for thinking about public policies. Homosexual-related issues like gays in the military, AIDS, and same-sex marriages cannot be discussed realistically without acknowledging the wide differences on average between gays and lesbians. For example, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, and the newsweeklies have been trumpeting, despite the highly preliminary nature of the findings, evidence that homosexuality has biological roots. Generally overlooked, however, is that most of the research was performed on gay male subjects by gay male scientists and then hyped by gay male publicists... Going largely unreported is the lesbian population’s profound ambivalence about this half-scientific, half-political crusade. (For example, an attack on the theory that lesbianism has biological causes is one of the main themes of Lillian Faderman’s fine history of American lesbians, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers.). Many lesbian-feminists deny that their sexual orientation is biologically rooted, attributing it instead to what they perceive as our culture’s decision to socialize males to be domineering.
DUTTILITA' DELLA NATURA UMANA Beyond homosexual-related issues, this gay vs. lesbian dichotomy can cast new light on many social questions. Fundamentally, as Thomas Sowell has pointed out, almost all American social controversies rest on conflicting assumptions about human nature. Is it infinitely malleable? If not, what are its constraints?
DIFFERENZE PER L'ASPETTO FISICO. TIPICO SOLO DEL SESSISMO? For example, Feminists tirelessly denounce the fashion and beauty industry for brainwashing American men into craving skin-deep feminine beauty. But which is truly the cause and which is the effect? Luckily, the curious analyst can study people who have rejected heterosexual socialization: among homosexuals, the distinctiveness of men’s and women’s basic sexual urges is especially vivid. Since “Women Seeking Women” don’t need to entice men’s visually-focused desires, their newspaper personal ads tend toward wistful vagueness: Attractive SWF, bi, seeking SF, feminine & discreet, any race, for friendship and possible rltnshp. In contrast, the “Men Seeking Men” classifieds bristle with statistics quantifying appearance: John Wayne-type (41, 6’3″ 210#, C 46″ W 35″, brn/grn) seeks Steve Garvey-type (muscular, str8-acting, 20-30, under 6′ & 185#, blu eyes a +). ven more egregiously swept under the rug by feminists like Naomi Wolf (author ofThe Beauty Myth) is the central creative role of gay men in the fashion business.
'via Blog this'
DILEMMA: perché non si affrontano le sostanziali differenze tra gay e lesbiche?
DIFFERENZE NEGLI HOBBIES. As with any other large collection of people, numerous fault lines divide homosexuals, but the most remarkable is the one separating gay men from lesbians. What are we to make of all this? What does it say about human nature that so many enthusiasms of the average lesbian and the average gay man diverge so strikingly?
UN CONFINE ARTICOLATO. It’s important to note that the different inclinations of gays and lesbians do not follow easily predicted lines. In roughly half the traits, homosexuals tend to more resemble the opposite sex than they do the rest of their own sex... Yet, for many other traits, homosexuals exhibit their own sex’s tendencies to a heightened degree. For instance, all great classical composers have been male. At least since Tchaikovsky, though, an impressive number of leading composers have been gay or bisexual (e.g., Britten, Copland, Barber, Poulenc, Corigliano, and Bernstein).
LATINI E ANGLOSASSONI. The best criticism of this article’s gay vs. lesbian dichotomy would be that it doesn’t go far enough. For example, people raised in Latin countries might think it peculiar that Americans insist on labeling as “gay” both Truman Capote and that exemplar of murderous masculine charisma, Alexander the Great. Latins are inclined to care less than Americans about whom a man goes to bed with and more about what he does there
STAMPA FALLACE. Rather than help educate the public to think in terms of bell-shaped curves and individual variances, the press instead warns us to abstain altogether from noticing average differences between groups.
FATTI E MORALE. Are homosexuals fairly common, like, say, tax-cheaters, lefthanders, or tithe-givers? Or are they fairly rare, like prison inmates, identical twins, or clergy? This is certainly an interesting topic, but why this purely empirical question is thought to possess such moral consequence that many people feel compelled to lie about it is beyond me
EFFETTI DELL'IGNORANZA. One of the cruelest effects of ignorance about homosexuals’ propensities is the heartbreak it causes both a homosexual and his or her parents when the adult child finally reveals the Surprising Truth. We are told that if only the parents hadn’t been socialized to hold outdated prejudices, the surprise would not be disappointing. Disappointment, however, is inevitable: the desire to pass on your genes to grandchildren is bedrock human nature. What is far more avoidable, though, is the surprise
POLICY. Gay vs. lesbian distinctions are also important for thinking about public policies. Homosexual-related issues like gays in the military, AIDS, and same-sex marriages cannot be discussed realistically without acknowledging the wide differences on average between gays and lesbians. For example, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, and the newsweeklies have been trumpeting, despite the highly preliminary nature of the findings, evidence that homosexuality has biological roots. Generally overlooked, however, is that most of the research was performed on gay male subjects by gay male scientists and then hyped by gay male publicists... Going largely unreported is the lesbian population’s profound ambivalence about this half-scientific, half-political crusade. (For example, an attack on the theory that lesbianism has biological causes is one of the main themes of Lillian Faderman’s fine history of American lesbians, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers.). Many lesbian-feminists deny that their sexual orientation is biologically rooted, attributing it instead to what they perceive as our culture’s decision to socialize males to be domineering.
DUTTILITA' DELLA NATURA UMANA Beyond homosexual-related issues, this gay vs. lesbian dichotomy can cast new light on many social questions. Fundamentally, as Thomas Sowell has pointed out, almost all American social controversies rest on conflicting assumptions about human nature. Is it infinitely malleable? If not, what are its constraints?
DIFFERENZE PER L'ASPETTO FISICO. TIPICO SOLO DEL SESSISMO? For example, Feminists tirelessly denounce the fashion and beauty industry for brainwashing American men into craving skin-deep feminine beauty. But which is truly the cause and which is the effect? Luckily, the curious analyst can study people who have rejected heterosexual socialization: among homosexuals, the distinctiveness of men’s and women’s basic sexual urges is especially vivid. Since “Women Seeking Women” don’t need to entice men’s visually-focused desires, their newspaper personal ads tend toward wistful vagueness: Attractive SWF, bi, seeking SF, feminine & discreet, any race, for friendship and possible rltnshp. In contrast, the “Men Seeking Men” classifieds bristle with statistics quantifying appearance: John Wayne-type (41, 6’3″ 210#, C 46″ W 35″, brn/grn) seeks Steve Garvey-type (muscular, str8-acting, 20-30, under 6′ & 185#, blu eyes a +). ven more egregiously swept under the rug by feminists like Naomi Wolf (author ofThe Beauty Myth) is the central creative role of gay men in the fashion business.
martedì 1 aprile 2014
HFT for dummies
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-03-31/michael-lewis-doesn-t-like-high-frequency-traders
altro link: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303978304579475102237652362?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop&mg=reno64-wsj
In un certo senso sembra che HFT sia un po' come la colt: ci rende tutti più uguali. Speriamo sia un po' meno pericoloso.
altro link: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303978304579475102237652362?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop&mg=reno64-wsj
In un certo senso sembra che HFT sia un po' come la colt: ci rende tutti più uguali. Speriamo sia un po' meno pericoloso.
lunedì 31 marzo 2014
Marx sopravvalutato
New York Times Debate on “Was Marx Right?” http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BleedingHeartLibertarians/~3/daiwStsvDso/
Votate il mercato
Vote Markets http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BleedingHeartLibertarians/~3/KYko7goWzg0/
Economia classica e comportamentistica
Al fine di screditarla, si dice spesso che l' economia classica postuli un inverosimile uomo razionale e perfettamente informato (homo economicus).
In realtà si postula ben altro, ovvero che noi non possediamo una "teoria degli errori".
L' economia comportamentista crede invece di avere in mano una teoria degli errori, e la ricava per lo più dalla psicologia evolutiva.
Mentre l' economia classica postula un uomo con obiettivi che intende raggiungere (ipotesi debole), l' economia comportamentista supportata dalla psicologia evolutiva va oltre ipotizzando che l' uomo abbia un fine ultimo specifico: riprodursi.
In realtà quello sarebbe il fine dei geni, i quali "costruiscono" gli uomini come fossero robottoni utili a conseguire l' obbiettivo finale.
Ma l' economia comportamentista supportata dalla psicologia evolutiva procede proponendo una specifica teoria degli errori: noi, rispetto al nostro obbiettivo, ci comportiamo razionalmente rispetto al contesto di 20.000 anni fa (il contesto in cui si è formato il nostro cervello) e non rispetto al contesto in cui viviamo ora, da questa discrepanza derivano tutte le nostre irrazionalità (tra cui anche quella per cui l' uomo moderno fa meno figli di prima pur potendone fare di più).
Un esempio?: la eoria "delle code prevedibili". Perché esistono code prevedibili quando si potrebbe evitarle alzando i prezzi di cio' che viene offerto? Semplice, perché nel nostro cervello esiste il concetto di "prezzo equo" (di solito equivale al prezzo comunemente praticato). Alzare i prezzi in certe circostanze è considerato iniquo anche se nel nostro contesto sarebbe considerato perfettamente razionale.
Altri esempi sono costituiti dalle preferenze intertemporali: se esiste un fattore di sconto cablato nei nostri cervelli è assurdo aggiungerne uno nei calcoli, e questa assurdità da vita a molti esempi tipici.
In realtà si postula ben altro, ovvero che noi non possediamo una "teoria degli errori".
L' economia comportamentista crede invece di avere in mano una teoria degli errori, e la ricava per lo più dalla psicologia evolutiva.
Mentre l' economia classica postula un uomo con obiettivi che intende raggiungere (ipotesi debole), l' economia comportamentista supportata dalla psicologia evolutiva va oltre ipotizzando che l' uomo abbia un fine ultimo specifico: riprodursi.
In realtà quello sarebbe il fine dei geni, i quali "costruiscono" gli uomini come fossero robottoni utili a conseguire l' obbiettivo finale.
Ma l' economia comportamentista supportata dalla psicologia evolutiva procede proponendo una specifica teoria degli errori: noi, rispetto al nostro obbiettivo, ci comportiamo razionalmente rispetto al contesto di 20.000 anni fa (il contesto in cui si è formato il nostro cervello) e non rispetto al contesto in cui viviamo ora, da questa discrepanza derivano tutte le nostre irrazionalità (tra cui anche quella per cui l' uomo moderno fa meno figli di prima pur potendone fare di più).
Un esempio?: la eoria "delle code prevedibili". Perché esistono code prevedibili quando si potrebbe evitarle alzando i prezzi di cio' che viene offerto? Semplice, perché nel nostro cervello esiste il concetto di "prezzo equo" (di solito equivale al prezzo comunemente praticato). Alzare i prezzi in certe circostanze è considerato iniquo anche se nel nostro contesto sarebbe considerato perfettamente razionale.
Altri esempi sono costituiti dalle preferenze intertemporali: se esiste un fattore di sconto cablato nei nostri cervelli è assurdo aggiungerne uno nei calcoli, e questa assurdità da vita a molti esempi tipici.
L' arte nello spazio tempo
L' arte del 900 è "contestuale". All' artista del passato è richiesta una "buona mano" (Vasari), a quello contemporaneo è richiesto di centrare una coordinata spazio-temporale.
E' richiesto "tempismo": fare qualcosa al momento giusto e nel luogo adatto.
Tu dici "l' avrei saputo fare anch' io"? Forse avresti saputo imitare il gesto ma non avresti mai saputo collocarlo nel posto e nel momento esatto.
Immagina la famosa "rovesciata di Parola" (quella effigiata sulle bustine di figurine Panini). Un gesto atletico passato alla storia. Ma perché esaltare il gesto di Parola? In fondo sono in molti a poterlo riprodurre. Anche molte persone normalissime, non parliamo poi di atleti. I ginnasti saprebbero fare cose ben più strabilianti. Tuttavia, nessuno di costoro sa compiere quel gesto nel momento giusto (in modo da incocciare il pallone con la giusta angolazione in modo da infilarlo nel sette) e nel posto giusto (uno stadio di calcio gremito di spettatori).
E' richiesto "tempismo": fare qualcosa al momento giusto e nel luogo adatto.
Tu dici "l' avrei saputo fare anch' io"? Forse avresti saputo imitare il gesto ma non avresti mai saputo collocarlo nel posto e nel momento esatto.
Immagina la famosa "rovesciata di Parola" (quella effigiata sulle bustine di figurine Panini). Un gesto atletico passato alla storia. Ma perché esaltare il gesto di Parola? In fondo sono in molti a poterlo riprodurre. Anche molte persone normalissime, non parliamo poi di atleti. I ginnasti saprebbero fare cose ben più strabilianti. Tuttavia, nessuno di costoro sa compiere quel gesto nel momento giusto (in modo da incocciare il pallone con la giusta angolazione in modo da infilarlo nel sette) e nel posto giusto (uno stadio di calcio gremito di spettatori).
Dealing with Climate Change: Prevention vs Adaptation
Ideas: Dealing with Climate Change: Prevention vs Adaptation:
'via Blog this'
Due vantaggi dell' adattamento: 1) internalizza costi e benefici 2) si concentra sul negativo dei mutamenti climatici (senza bisogno di oscurare il positivo).
'via Blog this'
Due vantaggi dell' adattamento: 1) internalizza costi e benefici 2) si concentra sul negativo dei mutamenti climatici (senza bisogno di oscurare il positivo).
venerdì 28 marzo 2014
Tassare il capitale?
Too Little Faith in People, Tax Policy Edition http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2014/03/too-little-faith-in-people-tax-policy.html
Scommetti con Pascal? Allora scommetti anche con me!
'via Blog this'
Tutti conoscono la scommessa pascaliana. C' è chi dice che sia razionale scommettere per l' esistenza di Dio. A costoro si puo' proporre:
The following offer should be irresistible to anyone who accepts
Pascal’s wager as sound. Many philosophers do in fact think that
Pascal’s wager is sound but for those who do not think so I suggest
below why the offer should be accepted by anyone who thinks there
is some probability that Pascal’s wager might be sound, no matter
how small the probability.
The offer is as follows. For a fee of all your wealth I will use my
line to God to put in a word on your behalf. I assert that individuals
for whom I put in a good word are more likely to enter heaven and
receive everlasting joy than are other individuals. Table 2 shows
the different possible outcomes, their utilities, and in brackets some
probabilities to be discussed below.
Since my offer applies to those who accept Pascal’s wager as
sound they expect an infinite utility from believing in God whether
or not my offer is accepted. The table suggests, therefore, that
paying the fee is dominated by not paying the fee. The inference,
however, is incorrect. Paying the fee is infinitely better than not
paying the fee as becomes clear once we introduce probabilities.
If God exists and my line to God is open someone who pays the fee
enters heaven with probability p1 but someone who does not pay
the fee enters heaven with only probabilityp2 withp2 < p1:If God
exists but my line to God is broken then with probabilityp3 both the
payer and non-payer enter heaven. With probability p4 neither the
payer nor the non-payer enter heaven but the non-payer is better off
by amount w.
...
Pascal’s wager is initially compelling because “believing” in God
appears to be costless.6Believing in the possibility of infinite utility,
however, implies that the believer is willing to accept any finite cost
to achieve any positive probability, no matter how small, of attaining
infinite utility. The offer makes this latter point particularly clear
Possibile significato: la scommessa di Pascal ha poco senso se presa isolatamente ma assume senso in un contesto di teologia naturale: ha perfettamente senso dare tutto di se stessi ma occorre dare se stessi secondo la modalità più ragionevole. In altri termini: la scommessa di Pascal è sensata se posso dire qualcosa di quel dio per cui scommetto.
Perché proteggere con brevetto idee che non sono costate niente?
'via Blog this'
According to the economic theory of patents, patents are needed so that
pioneer rm have time to recoup their sunk costs of research and development.
The key element in the economic theory is that pioneer rms have large, hard
to recoup, sunk costs. Yet patents are not awarded on the basis of a rm's sunk
costs. Patent law, in fact, ignores costs. The disconnect between patent law and
patent theory suggests either that modifying patent law so that it better ts with
patent theory would reduce the costs and ine ciencies associated with current
patent practice or that the standard economic theory of patents is wrong.
Iscriviti a:
Post (Atom)