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How Did Israel Become the “Start-Up Nation”?

freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com

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Re: How Did Israel Become the “Start-Up Nation”?

#31

Post by Fljotavik »

Zarathu wrote: post #20
philwelch wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as I like the "Ashkenazi Jews are a genetically smarter population" hypothesis, it's not sufficient to explain what's going on. It's probably necessary that some level of intelligence exists within a population for startups to happen, but it's probably a vanishingly small part of the equation.

Not only does it not explain why there are so many Israeli startups, but it's a false hypothesis altogether. Aside from the fact that IQ is more a representation of adaptation to modernity than intelligence, there are many environmental factors that come into play. There would probably be more startups in the Arab population if they weren't so discriminated against in the country.

That is possible. On the other hand, you don't really see too many start ups in nations where the Arab population makes up the majority either, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, etc.

Re: How Did Israel Become the “Start-Up Nation”?

#32

Post by jraines »

kingkilr wrote: post #29
hop wrote: post #25

Considering theres only about 13 million Jewish people in the world, they are disproportionately successful. Top of the Forbes 400, correct me if I'm wrong - 1 William Gates III, Athiest/Agnostic 2 Warren Buffett, Athiest/Agnostic 3 Lawrence Ellison, Jewish 4 Christy Walton & family, Inheritance 5 Jim C. Walton, Inheritance 6 Alice Walton, Inheritance 7 S. Robson Walton, Inheritance 8 Michael Bloomberg, Jewish 9 Char…

Why do some people have their religion listed (or atheist/agnostic) but others have inheritance?

If inheritance is a religion, I want to convert.

Re: How Did Israel Become the “Start-Up Nation”?

#33

Post by Zarathu »

Fljotavik wrote: post #31
Zarathu wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only does it not explain why there are so many Israeli startups, but it's a false hypothesis altogether. Aside from the fact that IQ is more a representation of adaptation to modernity than intelligence, there are many environmental factors that come into play. There would probably be more startups in the Arab population if they weren't so discriminated against in the country.

That is possible. On the other hand, you don't really see too many start ups in nations where the Arab population makes up the majority either, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, etc.

In Lebanon, there are tons of startups. That's because the Arab population isn't oppressed by their own government the way they are in Saudi Arabia (women being executed for witchcraft and so forth).

I can't believe someone down-voted my previous comment. Is it now anti-Semitic to say that the Jews aren't genetically superior to everyone else?

Re: How Did Israel Become the “Start-Up Nation”?

#34

Post by DannoHung »

hop wrote: post #25

Considering theres only about 13 million Jewish people in the world, they are disproportionately successful. Top of the Forbes 400, correct me if I'm wrong - 1 William Gates III, Athiest/Agnostic 2 Warren Buffett, Athiest/Agnostic 3 Lawrence Ellison, Jewish 4 Christy Walton & family, Inheritance 5 Jim C. Walton, Inheritance 6 Alice Walton, Inheritance 7 S. Robson Walton, Inheritance 8 Michael Bloomberg, Jewish 9 Char…

Cuz it's easy to make a lot of money when you're in finance and in Western civilization, Jewish culture got started way ahead of Christian culture on finance.

Blame the Papacy.

Re: How Did Israel Become the “Start-Up Nation”?

#35

Post by nandemo »

joubert wrote: post #30
hop wrote: post #25

Considering theres only about 13 million Jewish people in the world, they are disproportionately successful. Top of the Forbes 400, correct me if I'm wrong - 1 William Gates III, Athiest/Agnostic 2 Warren Buffett, Athiest/Agnostic 3 Lawrence Ellison, Jewish 4 Christy Walton & family, Inheritance 5 Jim C. Walton, Inheritance 6 Alice Walton, Inheritance 7 S. Robson Walton, Inheritance 8 Michael Bloomberg, Jewish 9 Char…

What does this list have to do with the article? I don't really understand what you're trying to say here.

Er, Israel is a mainly Jewish country. He's suggesting that being Jewish might be correlated to entrepreneurial success.

Re: How Did Israel Become the “Start-Up Nation”?

#36

Post by hop »

kingkilr wrote: post #29
hop wrote: post #25

Considering theres only about 13 million Jewish people in the world, they are disproportionately successful. Top of the Forbes 400, correct me if I'm wrong - 1 William Gates III, Athiest/Agnostic 2 Warren Buffett, Athiest/Agnostic 3 Lawrence Ellison, Jewish 4 Christy Walton & family, Inheritance 5 Jim C. Walton, Inheritance 6 Alice Walton, Inheritance 7 S. Robson Walton, Inheritance 8 Michael Bloomberg, Jewish 9 Char…

Why do some people have their religion listed (or atheist/agnostic) but others have inheritance?

They aren't "successful", just won an ovarian lottery. Skews the data.

Re: How Did Israel Become the “Start-Up Nation”?

#37

Post by Zarathu »

Fljotavik wrote: post #31
Zarathu wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only does it not explain why there are so many Israeli startups, but it's a false hypothesis altogether. Aside from the fact that IQ is more a representation of adaptation to modernity than intelligence, there are many environmental factors that come into play. There would probably be more startups in the Arab population if they weren't so discriminated against in the country.

That is possible. On the other hand, you don't really see too many start ups in nations where the Arab population makes up the majority either, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, etc.

(Oh, I should let you know that Iranians are NOT Arab, contrary to popular belief. They're Persians.)

Re: How Did Israel Become the “Start-Up Nation”?

#39

Post by known »

wheels wrote: post #11

This is somewhat misleading on several points: - They're working with some other definition of startup than we're accustomed to. CrunchBase, for example, has 581 listings within 20 miles of London, and 35 within 20 miles of Tel Aviv. - The Israeli tech startup world seems to kind of be in the shitter right now relative to its heyday in the first web boom. There's a shift of VC out of Israel and into China at this poi…

Israelis cannot resist trying to help their fellow man. This often takes the form of meddling, and can even be mistaken for rudeness. They will interfere in someone else's conversation on the street to offer some good-hearted advice; they will read the newspaper in the hands of the man sitting next to them on the bus and proceed to ask him not to turn the pages so fast; they will never allow a fellow Israeli to fix his car by himself, even against protest

http://www.ovalbooks.com/xeno/Israelis.html

Re: How Did Israel Become the “Start-Up Nation”?

#40

Post by smanek »

endtime wrote: post #14
smanek wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"From the age of zero we [Israelis] are educated to challenge the obvious, ask questions, debate everything" Why do you think they don't question their religion?

Most Jewish* Israelis live secular lives. Not sure where you get the idea that they don't question religion. *1.5 million Israelis are Arab Muslims.

Well, the nation certainly doesn't act secularly since they treat people differently based on their religion (the law of return, as an obvious example).

And you're flat out wrong that most Jewish Israeli's live 'secular lives.' It's a common misconception - but the most comprehensive survey done on the matter that I could find (http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles2/relinisr-consensus.htm) says otherwise. About 20% of Jews in Israel identify themselves as secular - but most of those aren't secular for all intents and purposes (they attend temple, perform rituals, believe in God, etc).

Over half the Jews in Israel believe that the Jewish people were 'chosen' among other people by God. A substantial minority (more than are actually secular) believe that non-practicing Jews are a threat to the Jewish people!

So, that is where I get the idea that they don't question religion.

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