An Economic Model of the Rise in Premarital Sex and Its De-Stigmatization [pdf] • Hacker News Board

Re: An Economic Model of the Rise in Premarital Sex and Its De-Stigmatization [pdf]

#41

Post by curiously » Tue, Mar 17, 2015, 3:33 AM UTC

Female empowerment seems to share high correlation with the availability of contraceptives. For instance, countries where it is widely available, there is strong women's right and advocacy whereas in other countries, for religious or societal reasons, seems to lack it and women enjoy the same level of freedom and power in the 19th century.

This newfound glory of the female seems to have devastating impact on traditional familial values, where countries like South Korea and Japan have extremely low birth rates and marriages. In countries where fertility rate is not as severely impacted, divorce rate seems extremely high, leading to large number of offsprings raised with a single mom (as most custody ends up this way) and no male authority figure (shown to have negative effect on male offsprings). The single father who bears the grunt of the financial burden in low socioeconomic classes face higher chance of incarceration, harm and substance abuse. The single mom who make the living now must spend less time with her kids which has negative effects.

Re: An Economic Model of the Rise in Premarital Sex and Its De-Stigmatization [pdf]

#42

Post by siddboots » Tue, Mar 17, 2015, 3:59 AM UTC

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #40

nl wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, you are probably right, and I take it back. The reasons probably are relevant, but only insofar as exploring how the gender pay gap effects risk. Do some women take low paying jobs because they are often the primary caregiver for children? Nevertheless, the pay gap is a fact.

> Do some women take low paying jobs because they are often the primary caregiver for children? There are undoubtedly many different reasons, which mostly boil down to individuals making decisions to meet societal expectations even though the alternative choice(s) were equally available. > Nevertheless, the pay gap is a fact. The trouble is it's a misleading fact because people will assume the primary cause is employ…

> The trouble is it's a misleading fact because people will assume...

You can't blame facts for the ways in which they might be misinterpreted.

Besides, this is not a new idea. In my observation, people are now quite used to the idea that the pay gap is a result of a much broader social gender dynamic, and that employer discrimination is only one part of that picture.

Re: An Economic Model of the Rise in Premarital Sex and Its De-Stigmatization [pdf]

#43

Post by chkuendig » Tue, Mar 17, 2015, 4:02 AM UTC

nl wrote: post #34

irishcoffee wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Divorce rates would tend to decrease if marriage rates decrease. Can't divorce if you aren't married.

Well.. On the first row of result images in the "divorce rate" search you posted there are 5 graphs. 2 of them measure "divorces per 1000 people", and 3 measure "divorces per 1000 marriages". In the divorce per 1000 marriages case, it would appear to be independent of the marriage rate.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/upshot/the-divorce-surge-i...

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/marriage-isnt-dead-yet/

a) Divorce rates are actually decreasing b) They aren't independent of the marriage rate though (as the marriage rate is decreasing for the people most likely to get divorced)

Re: An Economic Model of the Rise in Premarital Sex and Its De-Stigmatization [pdf]

#44

Post by gcb0 » Tue, Mar 17, 2015, 4:05 AM UTC

kszx wrote: post #36

michaelchisari wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using easily readable/recognizable variable names is one thing computer programmers got right. It's always frustrating to read mathematic or economic models that use symbols instead. I'm sure there's a good reason for it, but I haven't heard it yet.

Writing out long variable names while working on a mathematical model is like writing the same text with ten times the number of characters. It's neither elegant nor efficient. Imagine you're playing around with variables and model configurations in complex mathematical terms, but one formula stretches over two pages and you always need to cross out and rewrite whole words.

we're not taking about homework but published paper.

i don't publish code at conferences with

   var x, j, i, ii, iii, i2, h, ji...

even though i find it pretty convenient when writing prototypes.

math people are just sloppy :)

Re: An Economic Model of the Rise in Premarital Sex and Its De-Stigmatization [pdf]

#45

Post by PaulJulius » Tue, Mar 17, 2015, 4:44 AM UTC

SamReidHughes wrote: post #28

michaelchisari wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using easily readable/recognizable variable names is one thing computer programmers got right. It's always frustrating to read mathematic or economic models that use symbols instead. I'm sure there's a good reason for it, but I haven't heard it yet.

If you use the symbols that are used, frequently, you get better at using them. It's much like the way if you play a round of golf at a course that you're unfamiliar with, it's a lot harder to recall a shot-by-shot recap of your round than if you play the course regularly. The mind builds little registers for keeping track of the meanings of Greek letters if you use those little friends often enough.

I find your choice of analogy a little amusing. In these circles, I think more people would have significant exposure to dense mathematical notation than significant familiarity to a particular golf course.

Re: An Economic Model of the Rise in Premarital Sex and Its De-Stigmatization [pdf]

#46

Post by SamReidHughes » Tue, Mar 17, 2015, 5:06 AM UTC

PaulJulius wrote: post #45

SamReidHughes wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you use the symbols that are used, frequently, you get better at using them. It's much like the way if you play a round of golf at a course that you're unfamiliar with, it's a lot harder to recall a shot-by-shot recap of your round than if you play the course regularly. The mind builds little registers for keeping track of the meanings of Greek letters if you use those little friends often enough.

I find your choice of analogy a little amusing. In these circles, I think more people would have significant exposure to dense mathematical notation than significant familiarity to a particular golf course.

Yeah, well, yeah. It just happens to be the only way that I've measurably and comparatively observed this sort of memory phenomenon in my personal experience.

Re: An Economic Model of the Rise in Premarital Sex and Its De-Stigmatization [pdf]

#47

Post by yummyfajitas » Tue, Mar 17, 2015, 5:31 AM UTC

jacobolus wrote: post #12

michaelchisari wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using easily readable/recognizable variable names is one thing computer programmers got right. It's always frustrating to read mathematic or economic models that use symbols instead. I'm sure there's a good reason for it, but I haven't heard it yet.

The reason is that it makes everything much more compact, which facilitates symbolic manipulation by reducing the space that symbols take, so that the differences between each step can be easily spotted, and in particular so that it’s easier to write down each step, which is especially important when working with pencil and paper. The problem with short cryptic symbols comes when there are so many symbols that it’s h…

Further, there are often conventions as to which symbols are used in which context.

For example, \phi and \psi (with subscripts) are commonly used as a basis/frame for a vector space, \delta commonly represents a difference of two quantities, \rho is typically a density and \gamma is a decay rate. (These examples are fairly physics-specific, but other fields have similar conventions.) So if notation is well chosen, the reader doesn't need to remember as much unique notation as one might expect.

Re: An Economic Model of the Rise in Premarital Sex and Its De-Stigmatization [pdf]

#48

Post by im3w1l » Tue, Mar 17, 2015, 5:36 AM UTC

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #37

nl wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not what it says at all. Pulling quotes from the Forbes article: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, full-time working women earned 81 percent of what full-time working men earned in 2010... The wage gap statistic, however, doesn’t compare two similarly situated co-workers of different sexes, working in the same industry, performing the same work, for the same number of hours a day. It merely reflects…

> In the context of this conversation, about the financial independence of women that 81% figure seems entirely appropriate. It's fair to argue about the reasons for it, but that doesn't seem relevant to the facts relating the financial independence of women vs men. The reasons for it are extremely relevant. If the pay gap is primarily a result of factors outside of an individual's control (e.g. sex discrimination) t…

Working longer hours increases your skill compared to someone working shorter hours. She'd have to work more retroactively.

Re: An Economic Model of the Rise in Premarital Sex and Its De-Stigmatization [pdf]

#49

Post by bobbles » Tue, Mar 17, 2015, 6:42 AM UTC

irishcoffee wrote: post #26

throwawayaway wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the demonstrated decreasing marriage rate does not support the premise that divorce rates are increasing. is your response relevant in some other way?

Divorce rates would tend to decrease if marriage rates decrease. Can't divorce if you aren't married.

But is there for example a higher chance of someone getting a 2nd divorce if they have a 2nd marriage? a 3rd divorce if they get a 3rd marriage?

I wonder when it starts to taper off

Re: An Economic Model of the Rise in Premarital Sex and Its De-Stigmatization [pdf]

#50

Post by vixen99 » Tue, Mar 17, 2015, 7:12 AM UTC

So how will the model be used? Isn't this important given that the conclusions in this paper could be stated by anyone thinking about the subject for ten minutes? Abstracts usually tell us about the paper and the reasons for conducting the research. This one does not.