Bell Curve globalized?

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Fri May 28 14:40:19 PDT 1999


kelley wrote:


>well excuse me, but he doesn't even have to buy a klew about comparative
>anthropology of the family, because i'll sell him a klew about the
>sociology of US families and human capital transmissions (and maybe engines
>when i get time) it appears that this guy wouldn't know how to pour water
>out a shoe if the directions were on the heel. so i'm charging him because
>i can probably get away with it, as the author's efficient use of human
>capital is sorely lacking. does this guy live in some bubble somewhere?
>might it behoove him to take a good long look at his own upbringing and, if
>he has one, his own family and children? who transmits human capital in
>the US? hello????? has this guy ever heard of schooling? peers?
>neighborhood/community? the extended family? the time parents spend with
>children is important, but i highly doubt that it has much to do with
>anything here, particularly in those countries caught in this so-called
>poverty trap. please.
>
>he hasn't a klew about how human capital is transmitted in other cultures.
>for instance, the privatized nuclear family isn't the only mechanism
>through which children learn skills and knowledges is it? it isn't even
>the only one in our country, let alone others.

Kelly, just think how complicated it'd get to model all this stuff. You'd have to have all kinds of variables to cover countries, classes, schooling, the media environment, extended family structures. Why just the basic equation would go on for pages, and there'd be no room left for analysis!

Yeah the guy lives in a bubble - he's a neoclassical economist!

Doug



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