People from elite backgrounds increasingly dominate academia, data shows • Hacker News Board

Re: People from elite backgrounds increasingly dominate academia, data shows

#331

Post by galdosdi » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 5:27 PM UTC

barry-cotter wrote: post #154

roel_v wrote: post #142

"PhD programs tend to require a hidden curriculum of classes in subjects such as mathematics that are not technically required for economics majors." "subjects such as mathematics that are not technically required for economics majors" Eh? Who lets clueless writers like this near a keyboard?

Real Analysis, Linear Algebra and Calc I-III are not required to get an Economics degree but they will help enormously if you want to go to MIT(number one programme), Harvard (two) or even someplace like Penn(somewhere in the top 20). You do not need to get a Math minor to get an Economics major.

Why would Calc I-II not be required to get an Econ degree? Derivatives are used all over basic microeconomics. Anytime you see the word "marginal" you're taking a derivative.

Re: People from elite backgrounds increasingly dominate academia, data shows

#332

Post by galdosdi » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 5:35 PM UTC

aj7 wrote: post #94

Academia does not equal economics, a field where a Nobel Prize winner ran a multibillion dollar hedge fund into the ground, and economists can’t agree on whether a person deserves healthcare.

You're talking about macroeconomics, the exciting and unscientific field of how interest rates, markets, etc interact and the whole big world of wealth works. Obviously very difficult to get any real experimental data that isn't unrepeatable or biased. You can argue one position, or just as easily find data to argue the opposite position, and nobody will ever know which one is right.

Microeconomics on the other hand is much more a real science that helps answer boring practical questions like "How much capital should I invest in each product line? How much should I price this good at?" or my personal favorite because it is relevant to everyone, not just managers: "How elastic is the demand at firm X or in industry Y for laborers with skills like mine, and how elastic is the supply of such laborers?" Thinking about that question can really help anyone make choices about where to apply for work if you want your career to do well.

And since it happens at a small level there is lots of data so correspondingly more scientific certainty.

Re: People from elite backgrounds increasingly dominate academia, data shows

#333

Post by Hydraulix989 » Wed, Jul 13, 2022, 1:13 AM UTC

netr0ute wrote: post #210

Hydraulix989 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody cares where you graduate from school in engineering. It's all about what you can do, and in larger corporations, also how politically savvy you are. Most of middle and upper management (VP / SVP) also has degrees from no-name schools. If anything, they'll have degrees from worker bee / nerd schools like CMU, Caltech, and UC Berkeley, not Ivy degrees (except for Cornell, which is basically a public school). Upw…

> If anything, they'll have degrees from worker bee / nerd schools like CMU, Caltech, and UC Berkeley, not Ivy degrees That's weird, because all those schools you mentioned are ivy leagues in the comparative sense.

No. They are as academically rigorous but not nearly as good for networking or upward mobility

Re: People from elite backgrounds increasingly dominate academia, data shows

#334

Post by aj7 » Fri, Jul 15, 2022, 3:36 PM UTC

barry-cotter wrote: post #158

aj7 wrote: post #94

Academia does not equal economics, a field where a Nobel Prize winner ran a multibillion dollar hedge fund into the ground, and economists can’t agree on whether a person deserves healthcare.

> economists can’t agree on whether a person deserves healthcare. Economists have no special insight into deserts, any more than philosophers. Is does not imply ought and all that.

Healthcare is 20% of the U.S. econ-omy.