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LOL Wall Street Journal.
Good to see you're still a .
LOL Wall Street Journal.
I don't mind the journal. I think it's a fine publication.
What's misleading is not indicating that this is an opinion piece.
like repubs are any better, they hear "tax hike" and pick up the pitchforks and torches
they were very coy about it:
A response was counted as incorrect only if it was flatly unenlightened.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...are-you/8713/#Back in June 2010, I published a Wall Street Journal op-ed arguing that the American left was unenlightened, by and large, as to economic matters. Responding to a set of survey questions that tested people’s real-world understanding of basic economic principles, self-identified progressives and liberals did much worse than conservatives and libertarians, I reported. To sharpen the ax, The Journal led the piece “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?”—the implication being that people on the left were not.
The op-ed set off fireworks. On The Journal’s Web site, the piece peaked at No.2 in most-e-mailed for the month it was published. The Examiner, in Washington, D.C., ran two opinion pieces in response, one approving and one critical. (The latter noted, correctly, that conservatives were “happily disseminating the results across the right-wing blogosphere.”) The Washington Times reported, “Liberals Livid Over Economic Enlightenment Gauge.” My inbox exploded with messages haranguing me for cynically rigging my results or blessing me for providing proof of a long-suspected truth.
The Wall Street Journal piece was based on an article that Zeljka Buturovic and I had published in Econ Journal Watch, a journal that I edit. In short order, more than 10,000 people downloaded a PDF of the scholarly article. The attention, while slightly unnerving, was also pleasing, and I’ll confess that I found the study results congenial: I’m a libertarian, and I found it easy to believe that people on the left had an especially bad grasp of economics.
But one year later, in May 2011, Buturovic and I published a new scholarly article reporting on a new survey. It turned out that I needed to retract the conclusions I’d trumpeted in The Wall Street Journal. The new results invalidated our original result: under the right cir stances, conservatives and libertarians were as likely as anyone on the left to give wrong answers to economic questions. The proper inference from our work is not that one group is more enlightened, or less. It’s that “myside bias”—the tendency to judge a statement according to how conveniently it fits with one’s settled position—is pervasive among all of America’s political groups. The bias is seen in the data, and in my actions.
ibidShouldn’t a college professor have known better? Perhaps. But adjusting for bias and groupthink is not so easy, as indicated by one of the major conclusions developed by Buturovic and sustained in our joint papers. Education had very little impact on responses, we found; survey respondents who’d gone to college did only slightly less badly than those who hadn’t. Among members of less-educated groups, brighter people tend to respond more frequently to online surveys, so it’s likely that our sample of non-college-educated respondents is more enlightened than the larger group they represent. Still, the fact that a college education showed almost no effect—at least for those inclined to take such a survey—strongly suggests that the classroom is no great corrective for myside bias. At least when it comes to public-policy issues, the corrective value of professional academic experience might be doubted as well.
Discourse affords some opportunity to challenge the judgments of others and to revise our own. Yet inevitably, somewhere in the process, we place what faith we have.
Surprised Darrin didn't get this on his email list...
"Myside Bias".
Gonna use that.
Good find, WH.
I would rather discuss the actual policy platforms as defined by our two parties. Discussing the fringe is great and most everyone agrees that total nationalization of industry is bad bit with that I have two words:
Supply side.
ing necros.
This poll has fail written all over it. Not surprised DarrinS posted it. Not surprised it comes from the highly liberal WSJ Op-Ed page either.
So, the conclusion is that EVERYONE suffers from confirmation bias.
I'm flattered that WH recalls threads I started over a year ago. I can't say I recall any of his.
I will be honest, I thought it was pretty weak myself.
Wow, you actually read this time. CAn you see the relation it bears to grasping the obvious?
Suits me fine.
lol not exploited
This just goes to show how stupid smart people can be. It's pretty obvious the poll is biased from the first question mentioned.But one year later, in May 2011, Buturovic and I published a new scholarly article reporting on a new survey. It turned out that I needed to retract the conclusions I’d trumpeted in The Wall Street Journal. The new results invalidated our original result: under the right cir stances, conservatives and libertarians were as likely as anyone on the left to give wrong answers to economic questions. The proper inference from our work is not that one group is more enlightened, or less. It’s that “myside bias”—the tendency to judge a statement according to how conveniently it fits with one’s settled position—is pervasive among all of America’s political groups. The bias is seen in the data, and in my actions.
True, but how many posters on this board have issued a mea culpa so complete and heartfelt as the author? He has my respect.
I mean, , look at this question:
And this guy couldn't see the bias inherent in that question? Really?Third World workers working for American companies overseas are being exploited (unenlightened answer: agree).
Agreed, but it's astounding to me that he didn't see the bias in the original article. I might as well come up with a poll with my "unenlightened answers"... how about...
1) All GTMO detainees are terrorists. (Unenlighted answer: Agree)
2) Warrantless wiretapping is essential to protecting our freedoms. (Unenlighted answer: Agree)
3) Being a Republican means never having to think (Unenlighted answer: Disagree)
4) Only fools believe in God (Unenlighted answer: Disagree)
5) Having historically large gaps between haves and havenots has never lead to revolution (Unenlighted answer: Disagree)
Then a year later I can come back to the thread and apologize for my stupidity.
Look at these questions. What a joke.
1) Mandatory licensing of professional services increases the prices of those services (unenlightened answer: disagree).
2) Overall, the standard of living is higher today than it was 30 years ago (unenlightened answer: disagree).
For 18-25 year-olds? HAhahahahaahhahahahhahahahaahh.
3) Rent control leads to housing shortages (unenlightened answer: disagree).
4) A company with the largest market share is a monopoly (unenlightened answer: agree).
What a butt- ingly stupid question. If the company controls over 50% of the market share it is.
5) Third World workers working for American companies overseas are being exploited (unenlightened answer: agree).
Are you ting me? You don't think the children in Chinese sweatshops are being exploited?
6) Free trade leads to unemployment (unenlightened answer: agree).
Free trade leads to unpaid internships...NOBODY is unemployed now, they are all unpaid laborers!
7) Minimum wage laws raise unemployment (unenlightened answer: disagree).
Again, remove all minimum wage laws so we can have slaves again! Everyone is an employed, unpaid laborer!
Last edited by greyforest; 11-11-2011 at 05:52 PM.
I guess after awhile the constant logical inconsistencies and bull is hard to keep up with. You started this thread. Thats sad.
Re-reading the thread, I was struck by a couple of comments:
Researchers discover data supporting general anecdotal observations of economics professor and accountant. Yay.
Does this mean someone gets to post a thread:
"New study confirms: Conservatives don't understand economics?"
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