Viewing profile — amateurpolymath

I don't see this as evidence that economists => inequality. Even if we accept the notion that economists are directly responsible for growing inequality, it's worth remembering tha…

In the US, our democratic process has delegated all these roles to regulatory agencies that are staffed with economists. The FTC, FCC, Justice Dept., etc. all employ many PhD econo…

Whether people are upset by price discrimination or not depends on how it is perceived. For example, no one seems upset at discounts for seniors, students, or military, despite thi…

> Intelligence is the capacity to achieve your goals. Intelligence is highly heritable. A goal of most people is to become wealthy. So people who acquire wealth tend to be much mor…

I've taught many MBAs and I can attest to their disappointing analytical skills. However, a company like Amazon already has plenty of analytically skilled employees. What they need…

My impression when reading this was that the author intended it to be taken seriously. It is written with a decidedly "academic" tone. However, it is very light on actual research …

I can't help but wonder how the author would respond to having zero men awaiting her swipe.

> Monopolies don't last. This is simply untrue.

I think many people who are physically unable to take a hike (disabled, elderly, ill, etc.) would appreciate a VR system that can closely mimic a real hike. Also, if a VR system ca…

I recently listened to an interesting discussion[1] about VR on a friend's recommendation. One of the guests had a great test for quality VR: can it perform as a hiking simulator? …

Economists Ted Bergstrom and Preston McAfee (currently at Microsoft) have long studied journal pricing. Here is Ted's page on the matter: http://www.econ.ucsb.edu/%7Etedb/Journals/…

This stuff is rampant because the incentives are there. Academia values original publications all else. Tenure, promotion, and respect of your peers depends almost entirely on publ…

I don't see the problem. Fred can sell his time/labor to make up the difference. If that is not possible for some reason, Fred could also default on the debt. Then the lender takes…

No, it is predicated on the assumption that $500 at time t is worth $600 at time t+1.

I was homeschooled my entire life. I taught myself how to read as a toddler, so my parents decided that I needed to have a great education. However, they had no faith in public edu…

I can't speak for other states, but in Florida it's very easy to do dual enrollment, possibly the best option for a gifted high school student. As long as your courses are at a pub…

Procreation is not needed for survival.

These crowdfunding platforms heavily rely on trust between backers and creators. I wonder how many failed projects, scams, etc. it will take before that trust is eroded? If fraud i…

They do. Broadband access in rural US is terrible [1]. [1] http://www.ibtimes.com/rural-broadband-access-still-lacking-...

University of Virginia does this as well: "Out of respect for the founder of the University who did not have a Ph.D., University faculty are referred to as Mr. or Mrs. instead of D…

At my university it is already hard to get students to fill out the evaluations (they aren't mandatory but probably should be). Asking them to do so a year later would result in a …

Ability in physics could be considered a proxy measure of student ability to understand abstract mathematical models. Or perhaps it's just another "are you smart?" filter.

I really like that you aren't simply offering unpaid internships. A lot of people fail to realize that high school kids from low income families often have to take on summer jobs t…

That's impressive! I'm skilled in math but a novice programmer, so I've not gotten far (yet! still hopeful).

"There is no room to expand without replacing something that’s already there. Since few of the Victorian residences that give the city its character are taller than three stories, …