Will Wilkinson - Latest Comments in Throwdown in Midtown

Re: Throwdown in Midtown

oyun — Mon, 05 May 2008 11:42:54 -0000

Martin, you’ve really got to the heart of the matter.

Re: Throwdown in Midtown

Sam — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 06:35:48 -0000

Will, you might have seen that Tyler recently blogged the views of his "evil twin" Tyrone on how he would have debated in favour of the proposition that America is failing in its pursuit of happiness. If you had been asked to represent the other side of the argument, what might you have said?

Re: Throwdown in Midtown

Chance — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:01:42 -0000

You guys were awesome. If you were nervous you didn't show it.

I have to say that I was a bit disappointed by the affirmative group. I think the debate would have been more instructive if the affirmative had been better prepared. Professor Sachs, who I came to see, was really off topic. They really never managed to make a strong case that any of the problems they were pointing out amounted to a failure of America at the pursuit of happiness, especially in the face of all the observable success.

It wasn't until the debate was almost over, when the topic of poverty was brought up, that Sachs quoted some statistics that gave me pause. The by-country comparison of the percentage of people reporting that they did not have sufficient funds to purchase food did sound quite high in the U.S. compared to other industrial countries. Of the problems the affirmative pointed out, I think the issue of poverty in this country, based on those statistics he read, would have been their best bet for framing some particular problem as a failure of the whole relative to other rich countries, even if it is not something that affects the majority of Americans. It was certainly better than Stevenson's arms race or Sachs's displeasure with the current political situation, and that part of the debate was just getting started when the whole thing came to an end.

Re: Throwdown in Midtown

Oreg — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:42:36 -0000

Will, thank you for the pointer. The data in this paper only starts in 1991, one year after the reunification. The misunderstanding seems to be that I am comparing the situation before the fall of the Wall and after, while you are looking at the development only after the fall. I claim that happiness dropped significantly /around reunification/, in spite of of an increase in real income (and, arguably, freedom).

The paper shows that life satisfaction of East Germans correlated with pay raises. It is important to keep in mind that East Germans' incomes were mostly below the national average. For this group the correlation is intuitive.

The question is whether the correlation also holds for incomes above national average. If that is true then GDP is an adequate proxy for happiness. Otherwise, the GDP needs to be complemented with a measure of income distribution / inequality / disparity. I suspect the latter is true.

Re: Throwdown in Midtown

Will Wilkinson — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 17:18:08 -0000

Oreg,

See here

Re: Throwdown in Midtown

Micha Ghertner — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 17:05:45 -0000

Pwned!

Re: Throwdown in Midtown

Brian Hasbrouck — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:32:20 -0000

I was there and you completely blew Sachs out of the water, bravo! Definitely a new fan of your blog, thanks!

Re: Throwdown in Midtown

Oreg — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:46:37 -0000

Will, you certainly had the rhetoric skill on your side and your opponents were weak. One point, however, you got completely backwards: Eastern-Germans were most definitely not happier after the reunification of their country with the West. On the contrary, a large number of them wished the wall back---in spite of the fact that they were better off. Compared to their compatriots in the West they lagged behind and that made them very unhappy.

(Cross-post from http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevol... )

Re: Throwdown in Midtown

quitacet — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 13:43:45 -0000

perhaps some sampling effects may explain the results... 30-40 dollar tickets on a Saturday afternoon, plus the marketing of the event to Economist readers, and the nature of the event itself: an academic debate. Demographics tend to skew one way.

Not that you didn't do a great job though! I waved a red fan both times

Re: Throwdown in Midtown

Will Wilkinson — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 13:11:38 -0000

I'm pretty sure it will be. I'll post info on the blog as soon as I have it.

Re: Throwdown in Midtown

Kent Guida — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:09:09 -0000

Is audio or video of this debate avaliable anywhere?

Re: Throwdown in Midtown

Biomed Tim — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:55:17 -0000

Wish I could've been there too. Good Job!

Re: Throwdown in Midtown

Marnie — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 23:42:42 -0000

Yay! Bravo! Wish I'd been there!