This time Andrew Gelman–one of my favourite bloggers, otherwise– is too pessimistic, exaggerates a lot, not to mention that he misinterprets the essence of Robert Hanson’s post , which he takes as starting point of his entry… In my opinion, the gist of Hanson’s is something completely different, aka ‘negative’ public incentives social scientists might often face (think, eg: Truman searching for one-armed economists that could never give him the ‘on the one hand…but on the other hand’)– that other scientists do not typically have to deal with– which could alter the true ‘scientific’ message etc.
→ Read more Author: Sebi Buhai
Today’s musical treat: “A secret place”, by Yann Tiersen
Yann Tiersen’s been featured on my blog quite a few times by now (e.g. here or here or here or here), hence, without much ado, here’s the perfect musical gift for today: a.
→ Read more Quote for the week 6th-12th of Jan ’08
[…] children should be taught not so much what to think as how to think. If, having been fairly and properly exposed to all the scientific evidence, they grow up and decide that the Bible is literally true or that the movements of the planets rule their lives, that is their privilege.
Best phrase I’ve read today
[…] motorcycle riders should be exempt from helmet laws as long as they agree to be organ donors.
Read the whole summary of Charles Wheelan’s favourite session, “Economics of Traffic Safety: Children, Teenagers and the Elderly”, from the AEA meeting this year. → Read more
Beware the Euronomics. Plus some further thoughts on the economics curricula in Romania and The Netherlands
Retain at least the conclusion of this excellent article (applying, unfortunately, well beyond just France and Germany, within EU or Europe in general), which draws attention to the enormous, though often neglected*, importance of (high) school economics education, with emphasis on the (very real) risks of learning absolute nonsense from state-sponsored economics courses.
→ Read more