Eric Rasmusen’s Weblog

Here are the best (in some cases reworded) from GARY C. RAMSEYER’S FIRST INTERNET GALLERY OF STATISTICS JOKES, which is not so selective: (more…)

Here are some good words from German:

In the utterly abstract field of quantum physics, Erwin Schrödinger coined the term of “Verschränkung” – most closely translated into English as entanglement – for little parts that, though far from one another, always keep the exact same distance from each other. But unlike the English term, the German word tells me right away what is meant. Einstein described the confusion of “Verschränkung” succinctly: It must have to do with a “spukhafte Fernwirkung,” most closely translated as “long-distance ghostly effect”

A church constitution is useful for two things:

1. To resolve disputes over authority (if everybody agrees, it doesn’t matter what the constitution is— so design the constitution for when there is bitter disagreement). Don’t design a constitution for when the church is going well- design it for when people are behaving badly.

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WSJ Best of the Web has piercing things to say about the subjectivism and hypocrisy of Justice Stevens: (more…)

The New York magazine article, “How Not to Talk to Your Kids,” has some good points. The best is that kids see through insincere praise:

Psychologist Wulf-Uwe Meyer, a pioneer in the field, conducted a series of studies where children watched other students receive praise. According to Meyer’s findings, by the age of 12, children believe that earning praise from a teacher is not a sign you did well—it’s actually a sign you lack ability and the teacher thinks you need extra encouragement. And teens, Meyer found, discounted praise to such an extent that they believed it’s a teacher’s criticism—not praise at all—that really conveys a positive belief in a student’s aptitude.

In the opinion of cognitive scientist Daniel T. Willingham, a teacher who praises a child may be unwittingly sending the message that the student reached the limit of his innate ability, while a teacher who criticizes a pupil conveys the message that he can improve his performance even further.

New York University professor of psychiatry Judith Brook explains that the issue for parents is one of credibility. “Praise is important, but not vacuous praise,” she says. “It has to be based on a real thing—some skill or talent they have.” Once children hear praise they interpret as meritless, they discount not just the insincere praise, but sincere praise as well.

Maybe I will write a book inspired by reading Albert Speer’s Inside the Third Reich and by fussing with MS Windows, a book about leaders with giant blind spots. Speer’s book is very good on the principal-agent problem and how to manage organizations.

“Compensating Variations” by Alex Tabarrok says something sensible on the subject of the immorality of compensating workers for the lifting of the trade barriers with which they had long been looting their fellow citizens:

The British Parliament was debating how much slave owners should be compensated for their losses, 20 million pounds as it turned out, when a furious John Stuart Mill rose to his feet thundering, “I should have thought it was the slaves who should be compensated.”

I am reminded of this story, which is probably apocryphal, whenever I hear about how we must compensate “the losers” from globalization. Really? Why should they get any compensation at all?

Imagine that transportation costs fall so that Joe buys his shoes from China. Why do lower transportation costs impose an obligation on Joe to compensate Mary, a U.S. shoe maker? If transportation costs rise (say because the price of oil increases) does Mary have an obligation to compensate Joe?

Or imagine that tariffs have long protected the shoe industry and now the tariffs are lifted allowing Joe to save some money. Why does this impose an obligation on Joe to compensate Mary? Indeed, shouldn’t Mary have to compensate Joe? After all because of the tariffs for many years Joe had to labor extra hours to buy shoes - shouldn’t Joe be compensated for this injustice?