Study confirms: Liberals don't understand economics

[scott]

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.

Great find WH and RG.

I must admit, I didn't fully read the study in the OP and thus missed the actual questions asked. When this thread got bumped, I didn't realize it was old and the first thought when I read the headline and OP was "well, what were the questions"?

I am fairly confident in my ability to construct a set of 5-questions that I could get anyone to get the majority wrong, so long as I knew they were more conservative or liberal going in - and they could be completely subjective (the questions asked were mostly subjective, but some slightly objective and all worded in a very subjective manner).

Interesting study, and more interesting how we nailed it.

[scott]

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!

Based on your responses to these questions, you fail as well.

2) The question said "overall." It's even the first word of the sentence. By any objective measure, the answer is yes.
4) Having 50% or more market share doesn't make a company a monopoly.
5) This is one of the questions that I found misplaced, because it doesn't contain enough info to answer. Some are being exploited, some aren't.
6) Free trade in and of itself does not lead to unemployment, but this is kind of a dumb question because it forces the reader to make a subjective call rather than having an objective basis for answering (doesn't have enough info).
7) It's is overwhelmingly agreed that minimum wage laws do result in higher unemployment amongst the unskilled and young, though it is also agreed that this can be a worthy trade-off in many cases.

[Wild Cobra]

Liberals understand economics. They just want to destroy the America most of us love. It's the lib s who don't understand economics, and follow the puppet masters.

[ChumpDumper]

lol destroy

lol puppet

[ChumpDumper]

lol destroy

lol puppet

[LnGrrrR]

Based on your responses to these questions, you fail as well.

2) The question said "overall." It's even the first word of the sentence. By any objective measure, the answer is yes.
4) Having 50% or more market share doesn't make a company a monopoly.
5) This is one of the questions that I found misplaced, because it doesn't contain enough info to answer. Some are being exploited, some aren't.
6) Free trade in and of itself does not lead to unemployment, but this is kind of a dumb question because it forces the reader to make a subjective call rather than having an objective basis for answering (doesn't have enough info).
7) It's is overwhelmingly agreed that minimum wage laws do result in higher unemployment amongst the unskilled and young, though it is also agreed that this can be a worthy trade-off in many cases.

I think you encapsulated the problems with some of those questions there Scott. When you hear the first question, you're not keying on "Overall", you're keying on what the standard of living for your age category is compared to the same category a few years ago. After all, it's a survey question; it's not like it's a certification test where you're actively looking for those qualifiers.

With the exploitation question, it comes down to perspective. The foreign worker working in (to us) deplorable situations may not feel exploited because there's no high standards set for safety in that country. But to us, it certainly feels like the company is exploiting the fact that they live in a country with less protections.

The free trade questions is biased towards those who support unions and American jobs, because as with the "standard of living" question, most people are thinking about American jobs, not jobs worldwide. So while free trade doesn't lead to unemployment in total, free trade in America has led to loss of those jobs, which people see as unemployment.

I really have no clue how they didn't see those questions were biased.

[scott]

Liberals understand economics. They just want to destroy the America most of us love. It's the lib s who don't understand economics, and follow the puppet masters.

You also don't understand economics (among other things), and its obvious by your posts.

To quote myself:

You are a ing idiot.

[scott]

I think you encapsulated the problems with some of those questions there Scott. When you hear the first question, you're not keying on "Overall", you're keying on what the standard of living for your age category is compared to the same category a few years ago. After all, it's a survey question; it's not like it's a certification test where you're actively looking for those qualifiers.

With the exploitation question, it comes down to perspective. The foreign worker working in (to us) deplorable situations may not feel exploited because there's no high standards set for safety in that country. But to us, it certainly feels like the company is exploiting the fact that they live in a country with less protections.

The free trade questions is biased towards those who support unions and American jobs, because as with the "standard of living" question, most people are thinking about American jobs, not jobs worldwide. So while free trade doesn't lead to unemployment in total, free trade in America has led to loss of those jobs, which people see as unemployment.

I really have no clue how they didn't see those questions were biased.

I agree with your entire post. I probably didn't clarify that enough earlier - but that's what I was getting at that I feel confident I could build surveys or tests that ensure a failure rate among a certain group. Garbage in, garbage out.

[CosmicCowboy]

I agree with your entire post. I probably didn't clarify that enough earlier - but that's what I was getting at that I feel confident I could build surveys or tests that ensure a failure rate among a certain group. Garbage in, garbage out.

Agree with both of you.

That is why these endless polls drive me crazy because so many of them craft the questions to confirm a premise. Right AND Left.

[greyforest]

Agree with both of you.

That is why these endless polls drive me crazy because so many of them craft the questions to confirm a premise. Right AND Left.

Personally I would have thought that by now everyone would be tired of pigeonholing every ideological premise and person in to an ambiguous linear scale that ranges from "RIGHT" to "LEFT".

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Personally I would have thought that by now everyone would be tired of pigeonholing every ideological premise and person in to an ambiguous linear scale that ranges from "RIGHT" to "LEFT".

Its the two party system at work.

[RandomGuy]

Personally I would have thought that by now everyone would be tired of pigeonholing every ideological premise and person in to an ambiguous linear scale that ranges from "RIGHT" to "LEFT".

Well the political compass.org thing does add another dimension.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/test

I always end up where the Dalai Lama is.

[Winehole23]

caveat: correlation is not causation and politicians don't control the economy. I'm posting this in hopes it makes DarrinS's head explode, nothing more. I do what I can.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://m.washingtonexaminer.com/80-y...rticle/2505194

[DarrinS]

Digging through the archives again

[spursncowboys]

Are we talking about economists who work as economists? Or just having a degree and an opinion?

[spursncowboys]

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/the-t...ts-of-all-time
the 10 most influential economists of all time.

[Yonivore]

so the govt mandating homes meet a certain level of safety makes the home more expensive.

It does.

..... equaling less affordable. So I guess conservatives don't need housing code standards because it makes the house more expensive? Therefore housing code regs are unecessary because they make homes unaffordable....

It's not a binary choice, George. Recognizing that government regulation increases costs in indisputable. But, reasonable people recognize the need for some government intervention -- building codes may be one of those areas. It is for me.

Having said that, I believe building codes have become so bersome and specific that they more resemble a DOD contract specification than something intended to ensure a safely and soundly constructed building.

Besides, I would trust a panel of architects, engineers, and contractors to develop a building standard than a panel of government employees some of whom (or all of whom) may have limited experience in any of those areas.

I'm not in any of these occupations but, if I'm not mistaken, all three have standards set by their own members yet, governments will employ people to re-write the standards and enforce them in ways that lack common sense.

[Winehole23]

Digging through the archives again

I love how you hate that.

[DarrinS]

I love how you hate that.

Lol

[baseline bum]

Well the political compass.org thing does add another dimension.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/test

I always end up where the Dalai Lama is.

According to that page



Some election we have

[TE]

According to that page



Some election we have

crofl that's about right

[Wild Cobra]

Well the political compass.org thing does add another dimension.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/test

I always end up where the Dalai Lama is.

That is not a good political compass test. How do you answer the one or other questions when you disagree with both?

[symple19]

lulz

Here's mine

[Wild Cobra]

Controlling inflation is more important than controlling unemployment.

Really now...

Controlling?

What if I wish not to control either and let the natural laws work?

[Wild Cobra]

Because corporations cannot be trusted to voluntarily protect the environment, they require regulation.

Loaded question.

The prime function of schooling should be to equip the future generation to find jobs.

Bull . There is more to life than working.

People with serious inheritable disabilities should not be allowed to reproduce.

Really now. Nobody should reproduce who cannot support a family. Disabilities should not be a reason unless the disability requires dependance on others.

The most important thing for children to learn is to accept discipline.

Important yes. Most important, no.

In criminal justice, punishment should be more important than rehabilitation.

It depends on the crime itself.

LOL...

Can you guys believe what it says about me: