https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/08/21/dont-fear-the-simulators/

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/08/the-nature-of-pessimism.html

hl CHAPTER 13 Liberty as Means

CHAPTER 13 Liberty as Means
Note:13@@@@@@@@@@@@@Cambiamento sociale e decisione collettiva...libertarismo...prostituzione...paradosso: federalismo o libertarismo

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The Paradox of Liberty
Note:TITOLO. PARADOSSO DELLA LIBERTÀ

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Then how can we decide rationally among alternatives? The simplest answer is to hedge bets whenever possible.
Note:SCOMMESSE

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Various social, economic, and political arrangements have competed for survival, and those that persist therefore embed information about what works
Note:INFO NASCOSTE

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This should lead us to see what is often termed “status quo bias” as, instead, a rational preference for the status quo.
Note:STATUS QUO BIAS

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but is not as simple as saying that the fittest social arrangements have survived, and therefore we live in the best of all possible worlds. First, the environment around us is constantly changing,
Note:EVOLUZNE ED EFFICIENZA

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it renders a verdict on packages
Note:SECONDO PROBLEMA DEL CAMBIAMENTO SOCIALE

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not on individual elements
Note:Cccccccc

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societies that consistently follow the mantra of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” usually will lose out to those who consistently seek opportunities for self-improvement.
Note:VOGLIA DI MIGLIORARE

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it is hard to know what effects a given action will actually have.
Note:DIFFICOLTA DI MIGLIORAMENTO. 1 CALCOARE EFFETTI

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Second, people disagree about what effects constitute improvement.
Note:VALUTARE EFFETTI....LA BATTAGI DEI VALORI

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First, for the reasons described above, in the absence of experimental evidence we should have a rational status quo preference, and therefore place the burden of proof on those who advocate change.
Note:ONERE DRLLA PROVA

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we should as a next fallback try new ideas on a small scale with reduced risk.
Note:PROVARE SU BASSA SCALA

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Sometimes, however, we will face an all-or-nothing reform decision, as in the case of the huge stimulus program the United States launched after the 2008 financial crisis. These types of decisions are dangerous and should be avoided whenever possible.
Note:ALL OR NOTHING

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Our ignorance demands that we let social evolution operate as the least bad of the alternatives for determining what works.
Note:ORDINE SPONTANEO...LEGGE DEL PIÙ FORTE

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Subsocieties that behave differently on many dimensions are both the raw materials for an evolutionary process that sifts through and hybridizes alternative institutions,
Note:COMPETIZIONE TRA SUB SOCIETIES....COMP DI GRUPPO

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We want variation in human social arrangements for some of the same reasons that biodiversity can be useful in genetic evolution.
Note:BIODIVERSITÀ

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But if we take our ignorance seriously, the implications of this insight significantly diverge from much of what the modern libertarian movement espouses.
Note:LIBERTARIAN?...CONFUTAZIONE

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creating the raw material of new ideas
Note:RUOLO DELLA LIBERTÀ

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also provides a mechanism for testing, refining, and applying these new ideas.
Note:Ccccccc

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separate argument for liberty is that it is a metaphysical good—that
Note:VALORE IN SÈ

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I’ll call the more metaphysical argument liberty-as-goal, and the more prosaic argument I have made liberty-as-means.
Note:LIBERTÀ SCOPO O MEZZO?

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But these beliefs often conflict, raising what we could call the paradox of liberty, or more precisely, the paradox of liberty-as-means.
Note:CONFLITTO E PARADOSSO

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Should prostitution be legal? The canonical Libertarian Party position is that prostitution is a consensual act between adults and therefore should not be prohibited by law. The liberty-as-means position is far more tentative. We don’t know the overall effects of legalized prostitution.
Note:ESEMPIO PROSTITUZIONE

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What the liberty-as-means libertarian calls for is the freedom to experiment: let different localities try different things, and learn from this experience.
Note:LIBERTÀ D ESPERIMENTO

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LOCALISMO....SPERIMENTARE ANCHE SOLUZIONI LIBERTARIE....VEDI IL CASO LEVY

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This leads then to a call for “states as laboratories of democracy” federalism in matters of social policy,
Note:FEDERALISMO

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The characteristic error of the contemporary Right and Left in this is enforcing too many social norms on a national basis.
Note:NATIONAL BASIS

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What if social conservatives are right and the wheels really will come off society in the long run if we don’t legally restrict various sexual behaviors? What if some left-wing economists are right and it is better to have aggressive zoning laws that prohibit big-box retailers?
Note:IL DILEMMA DEI LIBERTARI

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The freedom to experiment needs to include freedom to experiment with different governmental (i.e., coercive) rules.
Note:ECCO ALLORA IL PARADOSSO DELLA LIBERTÀ

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Three Limits to Liberty
Note:TITOLO. LIMITI DELLA LIBERTÀ

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Freedom of subsocieties to enforce (or not enforce) coercive rules on people
Note:IL PRINCIPIO....A SEGUIRE...LE SUE LIMITAZIONI

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one of the primary mechanisms by which more successful methods of organization win out over others in evolutionary competition is through people voting with their feet.
Note:PREMESSA AL PRIMO LIMITE...COME VALUTARE.LA COMPETIZIONE DI GRUPPO

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So, one limit on the freedom to experiment is that subsocieties should not be allowed to trap adults.
Note:PRIMO LIMITE

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This does not imply a fully corresponding right of entry.
Note:Ccccccccc

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A second limit can be created by external threats, of which one important type is foreign aggression, and another is rapid change in the physical environment.
Note:SEVONDO LIMITE: SICUREZZA E GUERRA

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military attack,
Note:CccccccESEMPIO 1

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killer asteroid hurtling
Note:CccccccccESEMPIO 2

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Throughout most of human history, leaders have used the threat of future foreign aggression to justify state control, but in modern Western democracies, long-term threats to the physical environment are also used for this purpose. Characteristically, though not universally, the political Right cites threats of foreign military action, and the political Left cites threats to the physical environment.
Note:DESTRA: MINACCIA SICUREZZA. SINISTRA: MINACCIA AMBIENTE

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The third limit on liberty is created by the evolutionary desirability of collective action. In a competitive environment, societies can create advantages through various means that require some amount of coordination across the bulk of the society. Two key examples are economies of scale, and social cohesion to improve efficiency.
Note:TERZO LIMITE: BENI PUBBLICI. ECONOMIE DI SCALA E COESIONE SOCIALE

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Variation directly threatens economies of scale.
Note:PURTROPPO

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The Nature and Importance of Social Cohesion
Note:Ttttttttttt UN CASO CONTROVERSO

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Suppose that US jurisdiction X, where you do not live and will never visit, decides to make orphanages mandatory for all children born out of wedlock.
Note:ES DELL ORFANATROFIO

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Suppose they then institute a system of corporal punishment for the children in them.
Note:Cccccccccf

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“Some of the children traumatized into serial criminality by growing up in such orphanages are likely to leave this place and move to where I live,
Note:ESTERNALITÀ...ANCHE SOLO IN TERMINI DI DISGUSTO

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Like science, which requires a community of scientists who share a specific morale, all real organizations that succeed over time are held together partially by common assent to ideals, and are not perceived by the participants as merely rational deals between entirely self-interested parties.
Note:LA COMUNITÀ VA OLTRE LA RAZIONALITÀ

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collective—IBM, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the US Marine Corps, the University of Cambridge, or the United States of America—appeals to the rational self-interest of its members but also creates a sense of irrational identification with the enterprise.
Note:IDENTIFICAZIONE

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I define social cohesion as the amalgamation of this subjective attitude (the combination of irrational loyalty to a collective and a belief of “we’re all in it together”), the widespread expectation that this attitude is shared, and the behaviors that flow from it.
DEFINIZIONE DI CULTURA

HL 1 Who Pays for Your Coffee?

Who Pays for Your Coffee?
Note:Tema: il valore. Come si fanno i soldi sul mercato? Scarsità + richiesta...Il potere dela scarsità richiesta: sul mercato guadagnano solo consumatori e monopolisti...Vuoi sapere se sei sfruttata? Controlla di che genere è il monopolio che realizza quei profitti x cui paghi...Perchè i pop corn costano di più al cinema? Perchè è lì che i consumatori li vogliono mangiare! Location location location...Chi paga la regolamentazione sulla sicurezza? I consumatori + deboli (i prodotti ideali x loro nn si trovano) o + attenti (i prodotti ideali x loro costano di più). Premiato il consumatore facoltoso e distratto...Gang e Mafia: la violenza crea monopoli. la violenza può essere condannata x motivi etici oppure x' rovina il gioco della competozione e quindi dell'efficienza...Oltre alla violenza ci sono altri modi x eliminare la competizione. Per esempio attraverso i sindacati. Recentemente il metodo è entrato in crisi poichè la competizione è internazionale mentre i sindacati nazionali. Altre volte padroni donamici in espansione e monopsonisti distruggono i sindacati penalizzandoli. Ci sono forme occulte di sindacalizzazione: albi, formazione, patenti...Immigrazione. Gli immigrati ci rubano il posto? Di solito l'immigrazione è vista male dalla popolazione + rozza e bene dalla pop. + raffinata. E nn certo xchè i + rozzi giudichino rozzamente...L'analisi standard: il razzismo è frutto dell' ignoranza, tanto è vero che alligna tra le classi + basse che si oppongono all'immigrazione. L'analisi corretta: vista la matura migratoria è normale che ad opporsi siano le classi basse ma x una questione fi interessi nn di razzismo...La scienza economica è neutrale? Spesso no: il mezzo di analisi influenza il giudizio che diamo del mondo. Gli economisti lottano contro i protezionismi e i sindacati ma lo fanno in nome delle ipotesi sottostanti ai loro modelli...

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1@@@@@@@sfruttamento copetizione e monopolio...immigrazione

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According to economics professor Brian McManus, mark-ups on coffee are around 150 per cent
Note:MARK UP SMISURATI

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So somebody is making a lot of money. Who?
Note:MA I BARISTI NN SI ARRICCHICONO

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location, location, location.
Note:RIPETILO

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simply remember that there are thirteen coffee bar entrepreneurs on one side of the negotiating table and on the other side is a manager who owns a single, perfect coffee-bar site.
Note:CONCORRENZA E MONOPOLIO

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By playing them off against each other, the Network Rail manager should be able to dictate the terms,
Note:Ccccccccc

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if there’s a profitable deal to be done between somebody who has something unique and someone who has something which can be replaced, then the profits will go to the owner of the unique resource.
Note:LA LEGGE

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Strength from scarcity
Note:Tttttttttt

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Bargaining strength comes through scarcity: settlers are scarce and meadows are not, so landlords have no bargaining power.
Note:LA LEGGE DELLA SCARSITÀ

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Why is coffee expensive in London, New York, Washington or Tokyo? The common-sense view is that coffee is expensive because the coffee bars have to pay high rent. David Ricardo’s model can show us that this is the wrong way to think about the issue, because ‘high rent’ is not an arbitrary fact of life. It has a cause.
Note:XCHÈ IN CENTRO MILANO IL CAFFÈ È CARO

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prime coffee-bar locations will command high rents only if customers will pay high prices for coffee. Rush-hour customers are so desperate for caffeine and in such a hurry that they are practically price-blind. The willingness to pay top whack for convenient coffee sets the high rent, and not the other way around.
Note:LA SPIEGA....MONOPOLIO

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Portable models
Note:Ttttttttt

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Economics is partly about modelling, about articulating basic principles and patterns that operate behind seemingly complex subjects like the rent on farms or coffee bars.
Note:COME RAGIONA L ECONOMIA...IL MODELLO DEL COFFEE BUSINESS

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Ricardo’s model is useful for discussing the relationship between scarcity and bargaining strength, which goes far beyond coffee or farming and ultimately explains much of the world around us.
Note:IL MODELLO VINCENTE

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A word of caution is appropriate, though. The simplifications of economic models have been known to lead economists astray.
Note:NELLA TRAPPOLA CADDE RICARDO STESSO

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A unified agricultural sector had nothing to gain from improving the land’s productivity with roads or irrigation, because those improvements would also reduce the scarcity of good land.
Note:APPLICANDO ALLA LETTERA IL SUO MODELLO...ES PERCHÈ COSTRUIRE AUTO SE HO IL MONOPOLIO SU CARROZZE E CAVALLI?

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Ricardo failed to realise that thousands of landlords competing with each other would make different decisions than a single one.
Note:CcccccccccRICCARDO FALLISCE NEL PREVEDERE L INNOVAZIONE NN DISTINGUENDO TRA CONCORRENZA E MONOPOLIO

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If applied correctly, it shows that environmental legislation can dramatically affect income distribution.
Note:COSA CI FA SCOPRIRE IL MODELLO DI RICARDO

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Different reasons for high rent
Note:TttttttttttttttIL MISTERO DEI POPCORN

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why popcorn is so expensive at the cinema – there was no popcorn shortage
Note:I MISTERI

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Let’s say landlords get together and manage to persuade the local sheriff that there should be what in the UK is called a ‘green belt’, a broad area of land around the city on which property development is very strongly discouraged by tough planning regulations.
Note:TORNIAMO A VEDERE COME SI CREANO LE RENDITE...PIANO REGOLATORE

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So we’ve found two reasons why rents might be high. The first is that it’s worth paying a lot for good land, because the grain that good land produces is so valuable. The second is that it’s worth paying a lot for good land because the alternatives that should be available are not.
Note:DUE FATTORI DI RENDITA...PRODUTTIVITÀ E REGOLE

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effect is to transfer a massive amount of money from London tenants to London landlords:
Note:UN EFFETTO DEL PIANO REGOLATORE

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it is important that when we are weighing the pros and cons of legislation like the Green Belt, we understand that its effects are more than simply to preserve the environment.
Note:QUESTA NN È UNA CRITICA AI PIANI MA...

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improvements in the quality and price of the commuter train services that bring people into London’s mainline stations,
Note:UNA MALEDIZIONE X I PROPRIETARI

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The answer is that improved public transport increases the alternatives to renting a place in the city.
Note:Cccccccccccc

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Are we being ripped off?
Note:Tttttc è mo nopolio e monopolio

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How can we tell the difference between things that are expensive because they are naturally scarce, and things that are expensive because of artificial means – legislation, regulation or foul play?
Note:NATURA E REGOLE

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Without perpetrating too much intellectual violence, we can replace ‘rent’ with ‘profit’
Note:RENDITA E PROFITTO

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a ‘sustainable competitive advantage’, meaning the sort of edge over the competition that will produce profits year in and year out.
Note:PROFITTO MERITATO SUL MERCATO

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The newspapers often point to high corporate profits as a sign that the consumer is being screwed. Are they right? Only sometimes.
Note:C È PROFITTO E PROFITT

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But high profits are not always earned so fairly; sometimes the newspaper outrage is justified. There’s a second explanation for high corporate profits. What if a kind of banking ‘green belt’ completely excluded Cornelius’s bank from the market?
Note:I PROFITTI DA REGOLAMENTAZIONE

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If I want to know whether I am being ripped off by supermarkets, banks or drug companies, I can find out how profitable those industries are. If they are making high profits, then initially I am suspicious. But if it seems that it is fairly easy to set up a new company and compete, I become less suspicious. It means that the high profits are caused by a natural scarcity: there are not many really good banking organisations in the world, and good banking organisations are much more efficient than bad ones.
Note:UN CRITERIO XGIUDICARE LO SFRUTTAMENTO

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Resource ‘rents’
Note:Ttttttttttttttt

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people who like to avoid competition
Note:IL CATTIVO

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Trade unions, lobby groups, people studying for a professional qualification
Note:CHI OPERA IN VISTA DI MONOPOLI

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‘rent-seeking’.
Note:Ccccccccccc

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It’s not easy to do this. It turns out that the world is a naturally competitive place,
Note:X FORTUNA...TUTTO COMPETE CON TUTTO

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farmland.
Note:I GRANDI MONOPOLI DEL PASSATO

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oil.
Note:Ccccccccc

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Until 1973, the world’s oil supply was produced by ‘oil meadows’, largely in the Middle East.
Note:STORIA DEL PETROLIO

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The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, which was sitting on most of the oil meadows, decided in 1973 to take some of its own meadows out of commission, by ordering each member country to restrict oil production.
Note:1974

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short run
Note:Ttttttt

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To keep prices high, OPEC was forced to accept a smaller and smaller share of the world oil market. Eventually Saudi Arabia broke ranks in 1985 and expanded production.

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FINE

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In the last couple of years we have been tripped up by a combination of unexpectedly high demand in China with disruptions in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Nigeria and Venezuela,
Note:SVILUPPI DELL IMPENNATA RECENTE

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When does crime pay?
Note:Tttttt

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people have to find other ways to prevent competition. One popular method is through violence,
Note:VIOLENZA E MONOPOLIO

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Drug dealers prefer not to have competitors driving down the price of drugs.
Note:ESEMPIO

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if you’re risking prison anyway, there is little point in using half measures.
Note:GIÀ CHE SIAMO CRIMINALI

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the ‘foot-soldiers’ sometimes take home as little as $1.70 an hour. Promotion prospects are good, considering the rapid turnover of gang membership (people leave, or get killed, quite often); but even considering these prospects, the average wage is less than $10 an hour. This is not much given that over a four-year period, the typical gang member can expect to be shot twice, arrested six times and has a one-in-four chance of being killed.
Note:SOLO LA PROSPETTVA DI UN MONOPOLIO FA TIRARE AVANTI

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Mafia groups often get involved in legitimate businesses, such as wholesale laundry, which can make big profits only if entry is deterred.
Note:DETERRENZA

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Mafia provides overpriced laundry services to restaurants as a way of extorting money.
Note:Ccccccccc

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‘Conspiracies against the laity’

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it does not mean that people have not worked out other ways to keep competitors at bay. Trade unions are an obvious example.
Note:METODI LEGALI X ESCLUDERE

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Without unionisation, wages could be kept very low. With it, competition could be excluded and wages would rise
Note:Ccccccc

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anti-trust laws designed to prevent collusion between large companies were also directed against unions. But as the political climate changed, these laws were ruled inapplicable and trade unions grew in strength.
Note:Cccccccc

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When unions are perceived as making unreasonable demands, causing prices to rise to a level that’s deemed unacceptable by a large portion of the public, the public in turn puts pressure on politicians to regulate the unions.
Note:Ccccccccc

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Sometimes the unions have their scarcity challenged by international competition,
Note:IL NEMICO DEI SINDACATI

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teachers’ wages were kept low for years – and declining relative to average earnings – in spite of the fact that there was a shortage of qualified teachers. This is because the government, the single employer, has massive bargaining power.
Note:INSEGNANTI

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And now for something controversial
Note:Ttttttttt immigrazione

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do immigrants steal our jobs?
Note:PROBLEMA

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Well-educated workers
Note:UN GRUPPO DI LAVORATOEI

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tend to welcome immigration as part of an enriching process

Note | Location: 511

Ccccccc

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poorly educated workers tend to reject any further immigration by unskilled immigrants on the grounds that ‘they steal our jobs’.
Note:SECONDO GRUPPO

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As one of those skilled workers I dislike resistance to immigrants and would like to see more immigration.
Note:CONFLITTO INTERESSE

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If the country is short of unskilled shelf-stackers, their wages will have to rise to attract people into the job. But if the country is short of skilled managers and full of unskilled shelf-stackers, I’ll be paid well for my scarcity value,
Note:DOV È LA SCARSITÀ RELATIVA?

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Some blame resistance to immigration on the racism of the unedu cated. An alternative, and more convincing, theory suggests that everybody is acting in his own self interest. New workers are good for people who have assets that become relatively scarcer,
Note:TESI SULLE SIMPATIE IMMAGRIZIONISTE

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In the UK, the salaries of nurses in the National Health Service have been kept low by the influx of thirty thousand foreign nurses;
Note:ES PRECLARO

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What should economists do?

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Some economists would claim that there is no difference between their analysis of coffee rents and their analysis of immigration. In an important sense, that’s true. Economics is in many ways just like engineering; it will tell you how things work and what is likely to happen if you change them.
Note:UNA VISIONE SEMPLICISTICA

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economists often step beyond their role as engineers of economic policy and become advocates. David Ricardo, for example, was an early campaigner for free trade.
Note:NN SEMPRE OGGETTIVI GLI ECONOMISTI

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repeal of the Corn Laws, which severely restricted the import of grain.
Cccccccccccc

HL 1 Taste of turtle

Taste of turtle—Where
Note:1@@@@@@@@@@@LEGALITÀ...asimmetria info subdunber superdunbar...scaling conflitto d interesse....metrica

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You who caught the turtles better eat them,
Note:L ADAGIO IN COMMENTO

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a group of fishermen caught a large number of turtles. After cooking them, they found out at the communal meal that these sea animals were much less edible than they thought:
Note:ORIGINE

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the principle that you need to eat what you feed others.
Note:IL PRINCIPIO DIETRO L ADAGIO...PARABOLA DI MERCURIO CHE FORZA IL PESCATORE AD ASSAGGIARE IL CIBO SOSPETTO CHE OFFRONO

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A CUSTOMER IS BORN EVERY DAY
Note:Tttttttttt

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The asymmetry is when said advice applies to you but not to him—he
Note:ASIMMETRIA

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what is presented as good for you is not really good for you but certainly good for the other party.
Note:CAPITA SEMPRE NEL MONDO DEGLI AFFARI

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“Do you have an ax?” (meaning an inquiry whether you have a certain interest).
Note:LA DOMANDA DA FARE

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Avoid at all costs those who call you to tout a certain product disguised with advice.
Note:QUELLI DA EVITARE

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Salespeople are experts in the art of psychological manipulation, making the client trade, often against his own interest, all the while being happy about it and loving them and their company.
Note:ASIMMETRIA DEL VENDITORE

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THE PRICE OF CORN IN RHODES
Note:Ttttttttttt

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problem in the course of the transactions: how much should the seller reveal to the buyer?
Note:PROBLEMA

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“Is it ethical to sell something to someone knowing the price will eventually drop?”
Note:ESEMPUO

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Diogenes of Babylon and his student Antipater of Tarsus,
Note:CHI NE HA DIBATTUTO

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Cicero in De Officiis.
Note:FONTE

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Assume a man brought a large shipment of corn from Alexandria to Rhodes, at a time when corn was expensive in Rhodes because of shortage and famine. Suppose that he also knew that many boats had set sail from Alexandria on their way to Rhodes with similar merchandise. Does he have to inform the Rhodians?
Note:IL CASO

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“stuffing”—selling
Note:I GERGO L ATTO DI VENDERE SENZA INFO

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The penalty was ostracism.
Note:SE UN TRADER LO FA A UN TRADER

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But it was sort of permissible to do it to the anonymous market and the faceless nontraders, or those we called “the Swiss,” some random suckers far away.
Note:QUANDO È CONCESSO

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There were people with whom we had a relational rapport, others with whom we had a transactional one.
Note:LA DIFFERENZA

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Diogenes held that the seller ought to disclose as much as civil law requires. As for Antipater, he believed that everything ought to be disclosed—beyond
Note:DIATRIBA PRESSO I CLASSICI...LEGALITÀ CONTRO ETICA

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The ethical is always more robust than the legal. Over time, it is the legal that should converge to the ethical, never the reverse. Hence: Laws come and go; ethics stay.
Note:INTERMEZZO ETICA E LEGALE

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counterintuitively, the more regulations, the easier it was to make money.
Note:LA MIA ESPERIENZA COME TRADER

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EQUALITY IN UNCERTAINTY
Note:Tttttttttt

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The ancient Mediterranean and, to some extent, the modern world, seem to have converged to Antipater’s position. While we have “buyer beware” (caveat emptor) in the Anglo-Saxon West,
Note:LE POSIZIONI

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Sharia establishes the interdict of gharar, drastic enough to be totally banned in any form of transaction.
Note:UN ESEMPIO....SOLUZIONE SHARIA

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it means both uncertainty and deception—my personal take is that it means something beyond informational asymmetry between agents: inequality of uncertainty.
Note:UN TERMINE PARTICOLARE

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RAV SAFRA AND THE SWISS
Note:Tttttttt LA SOLUZIONE DEL TALMUD

Yellow highlight | Location: 993

Rav Safra, a third-century Babylonian scholar who was also an active trader, was offering some goods for sale. A buyer came as he was praying in silence, tried to purchase the merchandise at an initial price, and given that the rabbi did not reply, raised the price. But Rav Safra had no intention of selling at a higher price than the initial offer, and felt that he had to honor the initial intention. Now the question: Is Rav Safra obligated to sell at the initial price, or should he take the improved one?
Note:IL PROBLEMA..TOTAL TRANSPARENCY

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,003

what if he sold to one client at the marked-up price, and to another one the exact same item for the initial price, and the two buyers happened to know one another?
Note:METODO INSOSTENIBILE SENZA SAFRA

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,004

It may not be ethically required, but the most effective, shame-free policy is maximal transparency,
Note:Cccccccccccc

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,005

However, the story doesn’t tell us whether the purchaser was a “Swiss,” those outsiders our ethical rules don’t apply to.
Note:PICCOLO PARTICOLARE

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,007

Kant: theory is too theoretical for humans.
Note:ECCEZIONI SEMPRE

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,013

MEMBERS AND NON-MEMBERS
Note:Ttttttftff

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,014

Things don’t “scale” and generalize, which is why I have trouble with intellectuals talking about abstract notions.
Note:DON'T SCALE

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,015

the world is not a large village.
Note:Ccccccccc

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,016

When Athenians treat all opinions equally and discuss “democracy,” they only apply it to their citizens, not slaves or metics
Note:STORIA

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,025

Today’s Roma people (aka Gypsies) have tons of strict rules of behavior toward Gypsies, and others toward the unclean non-Gypsies called payos.
Note:ESEMPIO

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This scale transformation from the particular to the general is behind my skepticism about unfettered globalization and large centralized multiethnic states.
Note:GLOBALIZZAZIONE...PALESTINA

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,036

Yaneer Bar-Yam showed quite convincingly that “better fences make better neighbors”—something
Note:CONFINI

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,038

Putting Shiites, Christians, and Sunnis in one pot
Note:L ERRORE IN MEDIO ORIENTE

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,040

Blaming people for being “sectarian”—instead of making the best of such a natural tendency—is one of the stupidities of interventionistas.
Note:L ACCUSA DI TAZZISMO

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,048

from the well-known behavior of crowds in the “anonymity” of big cities compared to groups in small villages.
Note:DUNBAR

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NON MIHI NON TIBI, SED NOBIS (NEITHER MINE NOR YOURS, BUT OURS)
Note:Ttttttttt

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,057

“tragedy of the commons,”
Note:Ttttttttttt

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,060

what plagues socialism:
Note:TRAGEDIA DEI BENO COMUNI

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it is a critical mistake to think that people can function only under a private property system.
Note:OSTROM

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there exists a certain community size below which people act as collectivists, protecting the commons, as if the entire unit became rational.
Note:SUBDUNBAR

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municipal is different from the national.
Note:Cccccccc

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,065

tribes
Note:Ccccccccccc

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,072

ARE YOU ON THE DIAGONAL?
Note:Tttttttttttt

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,075

I am, at the Fed level, libertarian; at the state level, Republican; at the local level, Democrat; and at the family and friends level, a socialist.
Note:DETTO DI VINCE GRAHM

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,078

fatuousness of left vs. right labels,
Note:Ccccccccccccc

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,079

Swiss are obsessive about governance—and indeed their political system is neither “left” nor “right,” but governance-based.
Note:ESEMPIO

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,082

things worked well in Switzerland and other Germanic countries, it is not because of accountability so much as scaling, which makes them very prone to accountability: Germany is a federation.
Note:SVIZZERA

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,084

ALL (LITERALLY) IN THE SAME BOAT
Note:Ttttttttttt

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,088

The Acts of the Apostles describes a voyage of St. Paul on a cargo ship from Sidon to Crete to Malta. As they hit a storm: “When they had eaten what they wanted they lightened the ship by throwing the corn overboard into the sea.” Now while they jettisoned particular goods, all owners were to be proportioned
Note:UN CASO EVANGELICI DI RISK SHARING

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,091

For it turned out that they were following a practice that dates to at least 800 B.C.,
Note:LEX RHODIA

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,095

where merchandise is thrown overboard for the purpose of lightening a ship, what has been lost for the benefit of all must be made up by the contribution of all.
Note:CONTENUTO

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,102

TALKING ONE’S BOOK
Note:Nttttttt TTtt

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,104

Everyone, including the anchor, chipped in. My turn came: “I own no Microsoft stock, I am short no Microsoft stock [i.e., would benefit from its decline], hence I can’t talk about it.”
Note:AL DIBATTITO SU MICROSOFT TALEB NN RISPOSE

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,105

Don’t tell me what you think, tell me what you have in your portfolio.
Note:...RICORDIAMO IL PORTAFOGLIO

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,111

Another is buying a stock so you can advertise the qualities of the company, then selling it, benefiting from the trumpeting—this is called market manipulation,
Note:IL PERICOLO DI SKIN IN TEHA GAME

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,113

We removed the skin in the game of journalists in order to prevent market manipulation,
Note:Cccccccccccc

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,114

the former (market manipulation) and conflicts of interest are more benign than impunity for bad advice.
Note:LA TESI DEL LIBRO

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,115

in the absence of skin in the game, journalists will imitate, to be safe, the opinion of other journalists, thus creating monoculture
Note:LA RAGIONE

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,117

In general, skin in the game comes with conflict of interest.
Note:PURTROPPO

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,120

A SHORT VISIT TO THE DOCTOR’S OFFICE
Note:Tttttttttttt Un caso specif

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,125

The legal system and regulatory measures are likely to put the skin of the doctor in the wrong game.
Note:TESI

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,127

metrics.
Note:PROBLEM

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,128

say a cancer doctor or hospital is judged by the five-year survival rates of patients,
Note:ESEMPIO DI MEYRICA

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,130

There is a tradeoff between laser surgery (a precise surgical procedure) and radiation therapy,
Note:LE CURE POSSIBILI

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,131

laser surgery may have worse five-year outcomes than radiation therapy, but the latter tends to create second tumors in the longer run
Note:PROBLEMA

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,135

A doctor is pushed by the system to transfer risk from himself to you,
Note:FINALE...RADIAZIONE A GO GO

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,138

he has no direct emotional loss should your health experience a degradation.
Note:IL DOTTORE...UNO SCONOSCIUTO...

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,139

His objective is, naturally, to avoid a lawsuit,
Note:IL DOTTORE NN È UN TUO FAMILIARE

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,140

Now, say you happen to visit a cardiologist and turn out to be in the mild risk category,
Note:SEI UNO CHE NN RISCHIA INFARTI

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,143

But the doctor is pressured to treat you
Note:PROCESSI IN VISTA...

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,143

Should you drop dead a few weeks after the visit, a low probability event, the doctor can be sued for negligence,
Note:Cccccccccc

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,145

he may know that statins are harmful, as they will lead to long-term side effects.
Note:CONSEG NEGATIVE MA INVISIBILE

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,148

the long-term medical risks are hidden; they will play out in the long run, whereas the legal risk is immediate.
Note:ASIMMETRIA NEL RISCHIO

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avoid treatment when he or she is mildly ill, but use medicine for the “tail events,” that is, for rarely encountered severe conditions.
Note:CONSIGLIO

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,154

both the doctor and the patient have skin in the game, though not perfectly, but administrators don’t—and
Note:IL PROBLEMA

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,157

NEXT
Tttttttttttt

HL 2. ARE BUSINESSES MORE FRAUDULENT THAN THE REST OF US?

2. ARE BUSINESSES MORE FRAUDULENT THAN THE REST OF US?
Note:2@@@@@@@@ no profit

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a lot of people just don’t trust business.
Note:IL PROBLEMA

Yellow highlight | Location: 334

put profit ahead of acting ethically.
Note:IL PROBLEMA

Yellow highlight | Location: 334

Volkswagen’s blatant circumvention
Note:ESEMPIO

Yellow highlight | Location: 335

and Wells Fargo employees creating phony accounts

Yellow highlight | Location: 335

Wells Fargo employees creating phony accounts
Note:ALTRO ACCOUNT

Note | Location: 335

ALTRO CASO

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It is widely understood that the profit motive can lead people to take bad actions,
Note:ASSUNTO

Yellow highlight | Location: 340

We must first acknowledge the bad news—namely, that entire sectors of our corporate economy are based primarily on ripping off consumers.
Note:RICONOSCIMENTO ENLARGEMENT PENIS

Note | Location: 341

PENIS ENLARGEMENT

Yellow highlight | Location: 345

customers for these items spend their money to buy false hope,

Yellow highlight | Location: 345

spend their money to buy false hope,
Note:Ccccccccccccx

Note | Location: 345

FALSE SPERANZE

Yellow highlight | Location: 347

Many dentists insist you get X-rays every year,
Note:ALTRO CASO

Note | Location: 348

IN CASO

Yellow highlight | Location: 348

Doctors get kickbacks for overprescribing antidepressants
Note:ALTRO CASO

Note | Location: 349

ALTRO CASO

Yellow highlight | Location: 352

I would start with the assumption that the sellers are trying to rip me off.
Note:SIA CHIARO

Yellow highlight | Location: 354

33 percent of packaged fish in the supermarket was inaccurately labeled regarding type or origin.
Note:SI SA

Yellow highlight | Location: 356

Another study showed that between 15 and 75 percent of the salmon claimed as wild actually was farmed;
Note:ALTRO CASO

Yellow highlight | Location: 361

The propensity of business to commit fraud is essentially just an extension of the propensity of people to commit fraud.
Note:TESI

Yellow highlight | Location: 362

To paraphrase Cassius from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our corporations, but in ourselves.”
Note:CLASSICO

Yellow highlight | Location: 365

Businesses often limit fraud by creating institutional structures to constrain the worst sides of their managers
Note:SENONCHÈ....REPITAXIONE

Yellow highlight | Location: 367

digital communication has raised the price of corporate dishonesty,
Note:OGGI

Yellow highlight | Location: 370

You’re more likely to be ripped off by your local TV repairman, your local doctor, or maybe even your cousin than you are likely to be cheated by McDonald’s or Walmart.
Note:TESI

Yellow highlight | Location: 372

Big businesses have more to lose from fraud,
Note:LEGGE

Yellow highlight | Location: 376

HOW FRAUDULENT IS BUSINESS IN A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE?
Note:Tttttttt

Yellow highlight | Location: 378

internet dating profiles.
Note:INIZOAMO CON UN ATEA RICCA DI FRODI

Yellow highlight | Location: 379

53 percent of people admitted to having lied in their online dating profiles.

Note | Location: 380

Cccccc c

Yellow highlight | Location: 385

If you think of love, romance, and sex as especially important matters—
Note:GRAVE

Yellow highlight | Location: 391

60 percent of adults will lie at least once within the course of a ten-minute conversation,
Note:PIÙ IN GENERALE

Yellow highlight | Location: 392

And that is only what people admitted to.
Note:Ccccccccc

Yellow highlight | Location: 396

And how good should we feel about customer applications? What percentage of mortgage applications contain lies or half-truths?
Note:ALYRO CAMPO

Yellow highlight | Location: 397

How many resumes present an accurate picture?
Note:CIRRICULUM

Yellow highlight | Location: 400

at least 40 percent of resumes contained outright falsehoods.
Note:Ccccccc

Yellow highlight | Location: 403

According to one estimate, retailers lost $32 billion to shoplifting and employee theft in 2014, and often it is the consumer who ultimately pays the bill,
Note:FIRTO DIPENDENTI

Yellow highlight | Location: 405

In 2014, 4.7 percent of American workers failed to pass their workplace drug tests,
Note:Ccccc

Yellow highlight | Location: 413

Personally, I would be hard-pressed to find a big business that lies to me as much as—presumably—my friends, family, and closest associates do.
Note:CONCLUSIONE

Yellow highlight | Location: 426

The books that are most likely to be stolen from libraries are books on ethics, especially those that are likely to be read by faculty and advanced students in moral philosophy.
Note:NN LIBRI DI BUSINESS

Yellow highlight | Location: 428

Nietzsche are among the most likely to be snatched,
Note:RECORD

Yellow highlight | Location: 429

businesspeople are not the most dishonest group after all.
Note:CONCLUSIOE

Yellow highlight | Location: 432

The participants at the ethics sessions are just as likely to talk audibly while the speaker is presenting, let the door slam shut while entering or leaving a session, and leave behind clutter or garbage at the end of a session.
Note:COME TUTTI GLI ALTRI

Yellow highlight | Location: 439

Stephens-Davidowitz: Everybody Lies.
Note:TESTI CHIAVE

Yellow highlight | Location: 447

THE TAX GAP
Note:Ttttttttttttttt

Yellow highlight | Location: 448

to look at tax fraud.
Note:UNA COMPARAZIONE CORPORSTE VS VPERSONE

Yellow highlight | Location: 451

For the category “individual income tax,” the average tax gap for those years is $264 billion.
Note:X LE CORP 41 BILLION

Yellow highlight | Location: 455

the personal income gap is more than six times larger than the corporate gap.
Note:Ccccccccc

Yellow highlight | Location: 457

if we look at total revenue collected from personal income tax and from corporate income tax for 2010, the ratio is about 4.7 to 1.
Note:RATIO

Yellow highlight | Location: 463

CEOS IN LABORATORY GAMES
Note:Tttttttttt

Yellow highlight | Location: 463

Ernst Fehr and John A. List,
Note:GURU

Yellow highlight | Location: 464

set up what is called a “trust game” and compared the performance of CEOs to non-CEOs.
Note:I CEO SONO PIÙ AFFIDABILI E MOSTRANO PIÙ FIDUCIA

Yellow highlight | Location: 488

CROSS-CULTURAL GAME THEORY
Note:TTTTTTTTTTTT

Yellow highlight | Location: 489

how people from different cultures behave in economic games based on the choice to cooperate or not.
Note:ALTRO DATO

Yellow highlight | Location: 490

Joseph Henrich,

Note | Location: 490

GURU

Yellow highlight | Location: 491

the ultimatum game.
Note:LO STRUMENTO

Yellow highlight | Location: 498

conclusion is that well-developed market societies have the strongest norms for fairness and sharing,
Note:I PIÙ COLLABORATIVI

Yellow highlight | Location: 500

people from the more commercialized societies are much more willing to cooperate
Note:Ccccccccc

Yellow highlight | Location: 502

Frenchman Montesquieu, and others who were observing the rise of commercial society
Note:PRECEDENTI ILUSTRI

Yellow highlight | Location: 505

the most effective way to boost profits in a business is to have employees who believe in working toward something other than pure profit maximization.
Note:MA DA DOVE VIENE QS INCLINAZIONE?

Yellow highlight | Location: 507

If you deliberately set out to be happy, you’ll probably end up less happy than if you focus on concrete achievements and building human connections. If you try to relax, or try too hard to fall asleep, or try too hard to fall in love, you may find those ends harder to accomplish.
Note:PARADOSSO BEN NOTO NEL MONDO AFFARI

Yellow highlight | Location: 510

optimization is done indirectly,
Note:REGOLA

Yellow highlight | Location: 512

When business puts some social goals ahead of profit, at least for some particular decisions, business itself is often the biggest beneficiary.
Note:QUINDI

Yellow highlight | Location: 513

corporate culture is a major driver of corporate success
Note:CORPORATE => CULTURE

Yellow highlight | Location: 517

corporate culture as the ultimate source of competitive advantage
Note:LO RICONOSCONO I CEO

Yellow highlight | Location: 537

DOES TRUST RISE WITH WEALTH?
Note:Ttttttttt

Yellow highlight | Location: 538

There is yet further evidence that wealthier, more business-oriented nations are more likely to induce higher levels of trust.
Note:TESI

Yellow highlight | Location: 539

Paul J. Zak and Stephen Knack,
Note:GURU

Yellow highlight | Location: 540

which nations’ citizens demonstrate the most trust, using questionnaire answers from the World Values Survey.
Note:COSA

Yellow highlight | Location: 547

study shows a clear relationship between levels of trust and per capita income.
Note:CORRELAZIONE

Yellow highlight | Location: 547

Norway, Sweden, South Korea, and much of the Anglo-American world are relatively high-trust
Note:CHI

Yellow highlight | Location: 550

difficult to disentangle cause and effect.
Note:MA...

Yellow highlight | Location: 551

Most likely, both effects operate in a mutually reinforcing fashion,
Note:FEEDBACK

Yellow highlight | Location: 553

NONPROFITS VS. FOR-PROFITS
Note:Ttttttttttt

Yellow highlight | Location: 554

If you think profits induce corruption, you might then conclude that nonprofits should be especially trustworthy.
Note:PREMESSA

Yellow highlight | Location: 555

for-profits and nonprofits, at least if we are comparing enterprises in the same basic economic sector, usually operate in pretty similar ways
Note:INVECE

Yellow highlight | Location: 559

charities typically are funded by wealth earned through business and donated by businesspeople.
Note:PRIMA OSSERVAZIOKNE

Yellow highlight | Location: 561

dishonesty and fraud are rife at nonprofits.
Note:MA POI..

Yellow highlight | Location: 562

many nonprofits manipulate metrics so that the resources devoted to fundraising or to overhead appear lower than they really are.
Note:TIPICO

Yellow highlight | Location: 563

Plenty of charities and nonprofits don’t actually change or improve the world or deliver any useful product at all,

Note | Location: 564

SECONDO...EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM

Yellow highlight | Location: 566

If we look at hospitals, we see that for-profits and nonprofits just aren’t that different,
Note:SETTORI COMUNI

Yellow highlight | Location: 572

after one set of hospitals switched to for-profit status, their mortality rates did not change,
Note:Ttttttttt

Yellow highlight | Location: 576

There is one area where the for-profits appear to be considerably more fraudulent than the nonprofits, and that is higher education.
Note:PUNTO DOLENTE

Yellow highlight | Location: 585

OUR OWN UNDERSTANDING OF BUSINESS LACKS BALANCE
Note:Ttttttttttttt

Yellow highlight | Location: 586

British physician and science writer Ben Goldacre’s well-known book Bad Pharma.
Note:ESEMPIO DI CRITICISMO ECCESSIVO

Yellow highlight | Location: 591

Pharmaceutical companies often promote drugs that in specific situations are unlikely to help; they bribe doctors, either explicitly or implicitly, to overprescribe medications; they keep trial results secret when they should not;
Note:MOLTE VERITÀ

Yellow highlight | Location: 594

Not Nearly as Good as It Could Be Pharma: How Corruption Is Diminishing One of Our Great Benefactors.
Note:UN TITOLO ALTERNATIVO ALL OPERA

Yellow highlight | Location: 595

Frank Lichtenberg
Note:IL GURU

Yellow highlight | Location: 596

drug companies are saving human lives at remarkably low cost—roughly $12,900 per year of life gained.
Note:PRIMO

Yellow highlight | Location: 597

two-thirds of the life expectancy boost for elderly Americans over the period 1996–2003 was due to prescription drugs
Note:POI

Yellow highlight | Location: 601

Just ask the HIV-positive people who were preparing to die in the early 1990s when a new class of drugs allowed those receiving timely treatment a life expectancy close to the average for all people.
Note:ESSEMPIO DEL BENE FATTO

Yellow highlight | Location: 612

researchers Nathan Brooks and Katarina Fritzon, rates of psychopathy among business leaders may range from 4 to 20 percent compared with a possible estimate of about 1 percent for the population as a whole.
Note:RISULTATO PRESENTATO COME MINACCOA QUANDO NN LO È

Yellow highlight | Location: 614

leader can be put into the diagnostic category of psychopath without being harmful or dangerous in any way. It suffices, for instance, for a business leader to show signs of “grandiosity, glibness, and entitlement.”
Note:Ccccccc

Yellow highlight | Location: 623

THE GOOD NEWS
Note:Tttttttttttttt

Yellow highlight | Location: 624

with the rise of the internet and social media they have had an increasing incentive to behave honestly.
Note:LA NOVITÀ

Yellow highlight | Location: 626

high reputational penalties.
Note:Cccccccccccc

Yellow highlight | Location: 631

As for professional services, the spread of information previously only available to experts has made it harder for dentists to push unneeded treatments. If you Google “Do I really need that root canal?”
Note:ESEMPIO

Yellow highlight | Location: 639

ask whether government has become more honest in recent times.
Note:ABBIAMO GIÀ CFR CON IN NNPROFIT...ALTRO TERMINE DI PARAGONE

Yellow highlight | Location: 641

Approval ratings for Congress have been at all-time lows, often below 10 percent.
Note:INDIZI

Yellow highlight | Location: 644

Overall, I see that the trustworthiness of mainstream business is going up and that of government is going down.
Note:INTUIZIONE

Yellow highlight | Location: 651

3 Why Most Academic Advertising Is Immoral Bullshit

3 Why Most Academic Advertising Is Immoral Bullshit
Note:3@@@@@@@@

Yellow highlight | Location: 874

Wharton, Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business,
Note:IN COMPETIZIONE X IL MBA

Yellow highlight | Location: 876

EMBA programs are highly profitable. They’re expensive, but the students’ employers often pay their tuition.
Note:RESA

Yellow highlight | Location: 884

Many universities advertise to enhance their prestige. As an analogy, you might be surprised to see BMW, Mercedes Benz, or Rolex advertise to audiences that cannot afford their products.
Note:ANALOGIA

Yellow highlight | Location: 888

All things equal, the lower a university’s acceptance rate, the more prestigious it is.
Note:LA STRANEZZA

Yellow highlight | Location: 891

They want to trick the students into applying, so they can reject them, thus ensuring that the schools maintain a lower acceptance rate.
Note:HARVARD E YALE E LA PRESSIONE SUI DISPERATI

Yellow highlight | Location: 895

we’ll examine how they promise (or at least strongly insinuate) that they will transform students, teach them to think, and turn them into leaders.
Note:LE PALLE

Yellow highlight | Location: 898

They are not exactly lying, but selling snake oil.
Note:INTENDIAMOCI

Yellow highlight | Location: 901

Transformative Experience!
Note:Ttttttttttt

Yellow highlight | Location: 902

Harvard University offers a “transformative education.”
Note:IL MOTTO

Yellow highlight | Location: 905

“helping students grow intellectually, spiritually and emotionally
Note:AGEORGETOWN U

Yellow highlight | Location: 908

“develops principled leaders committed to serving both business and society.”
Note:GEORGETOWN

Yellow highlight | Location: 910

is committed to the idea of a liberal arts education through which students think and learn across disciplines, literally liberating or freeing the mind to its fullest potential.
Note:YEALE AH AH AH

Yellow highlight | Location: 915

you will learn to read critically, write cogently and think broadly.
Note:PRIVETON

Yellow highlight | Location: 923

You’ll be ready to live, work, and lead across global borders.”
Note:AMHREST COLLEGE

Yellow highlight | Location: 929

At Northwood University, leadership isn’t simply taught, it’s instilled.
Note:ES

Yellow highlight | Location: 933

at the “edge of possible . . . also known as the University of New Hampshire . . . there’s a new opportunity around every corner,
Note:ESEMPIO

Yellow highlight | Location: 935

George Mason University offers “a college experience like no other.” Their “top priority is to provide students with a transformational learning experience
Note:ESEMPIO

Yellow highlight | Location: 937

Two hours away, competitor James Madison University offers “A Better You.”
Note:Cccccc

Yellow highlight | Location: 945

Southern Methodist University proclaims, “World Changers Shaped Here.”
Note:ES

Yellow highlight | Location: 950

Hillsdale College “offers an education designed to equip human beings for self-government.
Note:Cccccccc

Yellow highlight | Location: 963

US college spends about $472,000 a year on marketing advertisements.
Note:MARKETING

Yellow highlight | Location: 969

a growing minority have started outsourcing their marketing to public relations firms,
Note:OUTSOURCI G MARKET

Yellow highlight | Location: 971

While some marketing may be necessary to sustain recruitment, every dollar spent on marketing has any number of other potential uses:
Note:LO SPRECO

Yellow highlight | Location: 976

The Wonder of the Liberal Arts!
Note:Ttttttttttttttt

Yellow highlight | Location: 977

Even engineering and business schools require students to spend far more time learning theory and abstract concepts
Note:SCUOLE NN PROFESSIONALI

Yellow highlight | Location: 978

focus on the liberal arts.
Note:IL CENTRO

Yellow highlight | Location: 979

Why study the liberal arts?
Note:LA DOMANDA

Yellow highlight | Location: 983

the intellectual skills of critical thinking, analysis of information, and effective expression of ideas.
Note:COSA INSTILLA L ARTE LIBERALE

Yellow highlight | Location: 987

how to think.
Note:PRI.MO BENEFICIO

Yellow highlight | Location: 988

how to learn.
Note:SECONTO

Yellow highlight | Location: 989

see things whole.
Note:TERZO

Yellow highlight | Location: 990

enhances students’ wisdom
Note:QUARTO

Yellow highlight | Location: 992

contributes to the students’ happiness.
Note:QUINTO

Yellow highlight | Location: 994

To be liberally educated is to be transformed.
Note:ALTRA SLOGAN

Yellow highlight | Location: 994

frees your mind and helps you connect dots
Note:ALTRA

Yellow highlight | Location: 998

how to communicate your ideas; find and analyze information and data; adapt to new technology and professional trends; work with others to solve problems; and make confident, knowledgeable decisions.
Note:ALTRA ESPOSIZ VIRTÙ

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,008

appreciation for critical inquiry and independent thought and reasoning.
Note:COSA ENFATIZZA

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,023

help students write and communicate clearly; assist students in thinking through hard problems; and make students morally better and more aware, with a wider perspective. The word “transform” appears again and again.
Note:ALTRO ELENCHINO

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,028

Why Study Philosophy?
Note:Tttttttttttttt

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,029

To parents, philosophy may sound useless:
Note:IL PROBLEMA

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,032

Studying philosophy improves your writing, communication, thinking, finding connections, evaluating ideas, and so on. It prepares you for everything.
Note:TENTATIVI DI RIMEDIARE

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,034

philosophy itself brings unique benefits, especially in terms of standardized test preparation.
Note:IN PIÙ

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,037

Philosophy majors have the fourth highest overall GMAT scores of any major,
Note:I CAVALLI DI BATTAGLIA UNO...

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,038

Philosophy majors have the highest average LSAT
Note:SECONDO

Yellow highlight | Location: 1,039

Philosophy majors have the highest average GRE verbal and analytic writing scores
Note:TERZO

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Philosophy majors have the highest midcareer salaries of all non-STEM majors,
Note:QUARTO

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Philosophy students learn how to write clearly, and to read closely, with a critical eye; they are taught to spot bad reasoning, and how to avoid it in their writing and in their work.
Note:Cccccfcf

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Studying philosophy can also help you get into graduate school. Philosophy majors excel on standardized tests like the GRE, GMAT, and LSAT.
Note:Cccccccccc

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The study of philosophy develops one’s abilities to read and understand difficult material,
Note:Cccccccccc

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they claim that studying philosophy makes you not only better at, well, doing philosophy, but also it trains you to be good at critical thinking in any and every walk of life. They do not just claim that the skills could be transferred to any area, but that studying philosophy, in fact, will induce you to transfer and apply those skills elsewhere.
Note:Ccccccc

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Selection versus Treatment Effects
Note:Ttttttttttttt

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“Drink this tea concoction every day for seven to ten days, and the cold is certain to go away.”
Note:A ROCETTA DELLA NONNA

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colds generally disappear after seven to ten days anyway.
Note:EFFETTO SELEZIONE

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Aiden’s teacher said, “We know we’re doing great work when we see them like this. They’re so much more mature now than they were three years ago.” Once again, Jason bit his tongue, but later said to his wife: “Yes, of course, they’re more mature. They started the program at age 3, and now they’re 6.”
Note:ALTRP ESEMPIO

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People with bachelor’s degrees are generally smarter and more successful than people without bachelor’s degrees.
Note:COME INTERPRETI?

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we would need to determine if A) philosophy makes people smarter, B) the people who study philosophy are, on average, smarter, or C) both statements are true.
Note:INDETERMINATO

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When laypeople see graphs showing that philosophy majors have high GRE and LSAT scores, they tend to assume, “Wow, philosophy must make you smart, or at least teach you how to do well on such tests.”
Note:LAYPEOPLE

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Treatment Effect: People who study philosophy become smarter
Note:1

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Selection Effect: The people who choose to major in philosophy and who obtain a degree in philosophy are already smarter
Note:2

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Obviously, a great deal of it is selection. After all, Harvard is exceptionally selective.
Note:CONGETTURA

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classics are hard and require a lot of work and effort.
Note:IL LICEO CLASSICO...NN TI PREPARA MA SELEZIONA

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Universities, liberal arts divisions, and philosophy departments generally aren’t in a position to justifiably make such claims. They don’t know if these claims are true. Thus, we’ll argue, they’re engaging in what we’ll call “negligent advertising.”
Note:IL PUNTO

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Negligent Advertising: The Pfizer Analogy
Note:Tttttttttttt

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Introducing Collegra! Collegra is a drug unlike any other. If you take Collegra 256 times a year for four years, Collegra will improve your critical reasoning, moral reasoning, analytic, and quantitative skills. It will transform you into a better person with a global mindset. It will make you able to face any challenge. It will prepare you for any job. It will dramatically improve your cognitive skills. It will make you score higher on standardized tests, such as the LSAT or GMAT. Furthermore, it will help you make more money! Indeed, Collegra users, on average, earn an extra million dollars of lifetime income compared to nonusers. The cost of Collegra varies from person to person. Collegra is not covered by your insurance.
Note:PYBBLICITÀ DELLA PFIZER

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Warning: Taking Collegra is more like undergoing chemotherapy than taking a pill. Users need to spend at least thirty hours a week for thirty weeks a year over four years for it to be effective. Most users will be unable to work at a job while taking Collegra. Side effects include increased tendency to engage in binge drinking and to acquire tens of thousands of dollars in debt. If
Note:Ccccccccccc

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Now imagine that Pfizer sincerely believes everything it says. But suppose Pfizer has not engaged in any of the standard testing that drug companies must conduct in order to sell drugs in the US or Europe. They have conducted no clinical trials. They have done no randomized controlled experiments.
Note:CONTROFATTUALE

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All they have, at most, are various statistics showing that drug users outperform nondrug users. Suppose, also, that they have good reason to suspect that their “findings” are the result of a selection effect, because Pfizer itself has explicitly chosen to only administer their drug to smart, conscientious, perseverant, and already successful people.
Note:Ccccccccccc

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would Pfizer’s advertisement be unethical?
Note:DOMANDA

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Negligent advertising: Selling a product based on the claim that the product delivers certain benefits, despite lacking evidence that the product, in fact, delivers those benefits.
Note:LA PAROLA GIUSTA

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Negligent advertising is bad, but just how bad depends, in part, on the cost of the product.
Note:INOLTRE

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If Pfizer engaged in any of this behavior, our academic colleagues would be up in arms.
Note:FONTE DELL INDIGNAZIONE

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But, perhaps not surprisingly, we college professors hold ourselves and our employers to far lower moral standards than we hold others.
Note:IPOTESI

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Problem 1: Universities Do Not Test Their Products
Note:Ttttttttrrrr

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Problem 2: Evidence of Selection Effects
Note:Ttttttttttt

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fact, we already have strong evidence of a selection effect. High school students who say they intend to major in philosophy have significantly higher than average SAT scores.
Note:INDIZIO

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In general, studies on the positive benefits of philosophy are inconclusive; some show no effect, some show a negative effect, and some find a weak positive effect.
Note:LA REALTÀ

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writing skills, lifetime income, employment rates, marital satisfaction, health, and whatnot.
Note:SUCCESSO =

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“If 1,000 people with an IQ of 130, identical socioeconomic backgrounds, etc., go to Harvard, and 1,000 otherwise identical people go to a no-name school, how much better, on average, will the Harvard graduates do in life, if at all?”
Note:LA DOMANDA

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Stacy Dale and Alan Krueger
Note:GLI ESPERTI

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Bill Easterly
Note:ALTRO GURU

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Krueger and Dale studied what happened to students who were accepted at an Ivy or a similar institution, but chose instead to attend a less sexy, “moderately selective” school. It turned out that such students had, on average, the same income twenty years later as graduates of the elite colleges.
Note:SINTESI DEGLI STUDI

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Problem 3: Evidence of Signaling
Note:Ttttttttttt

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The “Harvard” name adds a little in the short run, but not much in the long run.
Note:ATENZIONE

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why, in general, college students make more money than others? There are two basic theories that could explain this: •Human capital theory: Wages are determined by productivity, and productivity is determined by skills.
Note:PRIMA DOMANDA E PRIMA RISPOSTA

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Signaling theory: It’s difficult and costly for employers to sort good potential employees from bad ones. However, to complete a college degree, especially from an “elite” school or with a “difficult” major, requires students to pass a lengthy and difficult admission process, and then survive four years of jumping through hoops, pass mentally difficult (even if useless) classes, and so on.
Note:SECONDA TEORIA

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Academic marketing pushes the human capital theory. But it’s possible that the signaling theory explains some, most, or even all of the gains college graduates receive.
Note:LA SFIDA

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Bryan Caplan’s The Case Against Education
Note:L ESPERTO

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Problem 4: Evidence Most Students Don’t Learn Soft Skills
Note:TtttttttttttSoft...critical thinking analitical thinking problem solving writing

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nonrandom selection is at play
Note:IL PROBLEMA DEI TEST

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In principle, we could test majors by testing students’ skills before college, randomly assigning thousands of students to different majors, and then test them again after they complete their majors.
Note:IL TEST IDEALE

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However, it’s easier to measure whether college as a whole adds value.
Note:AV

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it’s possible these skills fade away after students leave college.
Note:DISSOLVENZA

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Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa published Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses.
Note:OPUS

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depressing statistics.
Note:Cccccccx

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critical thinking, analytical reasoning, problem solving, and writing.”
Note:SOFT SKILL

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the CLA tests the soft skills that liberal arts curricula are supposed to “instill,”
Note:Ccccccc

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our best available long-term, comprehensive study found no evidence that most students learn much.
Note:CONLUSIONE

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Problem 5: Students Don’t Seem to Transfer Soft Skills
Note:Tttttttttt

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these classes teach students how to think.
Note:ASSUNTO DELLE LIBERAL ARTS....FILOSOFIA CLASSICI LEYTERATURA...

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logic, analysis, conceptual clarification, and interpretation.
Note:LE SKILLS SELLE LIBRAL ARTS

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isolate cause and effect, to assess reasons, and to evaluate arguments.
Note:Cccccccccc

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A liberal arts major can learn “hard skills” specific to this or that job in a few weeks,
Note:LE VIRTÙ

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Most professors continue to take it for granted;
Note:DOGMA

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Liberal arts schools do not merely claim that their students will be interpreting Shakespeare, reading difficult historical texts, or finding holes in philosophical arguments. They assert that students can and will use those “skills” to interpret the stock market, devise better marketing methods, read difficult corporate memos, or find holes in a strategic business plan.
Note:TRANSFERT LEARNING

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As Caplan summarizes: Can believers in the power of learning-how-to-think back up teachers’ boasts with hard evidence? For the most part, no.
Note:LETTERATURA TRANSFERT LEARNING

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As a rule, students only learn the material you specifically teach them
Note:Cccccccccccc

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Richard Haskell
Note:GURU

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research findings over the past nine decades clearly show that as individuals, and as educational institutions, we have failed to achieve transfer of learning on any significant level.
Note:CONCLUSION

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Douglas Detterman
Note:GURU

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there is very little empirical evidence showing meaningful transfer to occur
Note:CONC

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Terry Hyland and Steve Johnson
Note:GURU

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we believe that the pursuit of [general transferable] skills is a chimera-hunt,
Note:ccccccccccc

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How do educational psychologists know? One way is to run experiments.
Note:PRIMA VIA DI CONOSCENZA

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Another investigative strategy is to ask students to apply their classroom skills outside the classroom, and then see if they’re any good at it. In general, they’re not.
Note:ALTRA VIA

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Barry Leshowitz
Note:IL GIR

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Leshowitz gave students an easy question. These students had spent years training to answer questions like this, but couldn’t do it.
Note:I SUOI ESPERIMENTI

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Summary
Note:Ttttttttttttt

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What Should We Do about It?
Note:Ttttttttt

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While drug companies are subject to FDA regulations and can be sued
Note:LA DIFFERENZA

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Regulate academic marketing the way we regulate other forms of marketing,
Note:PRIMA SOLUZIONE

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Launch and succeed in a class-action lawsuit
Note:2

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Face competition from alternative forms of education
3