Last-place Aversion
Wow
The Economist, on a new study on why the relatively poor often oppose raising taxes on the wealthy:
Instead of opposing redistribution because people expect to make it to the top of the economic ladder, the authors of the new paper argue that people don’t like to be at the bottom. One paradoxical consequence of this “last-place aversion” is that some poor people may be vociferously opposed to the kinds of policies that would actually raise their own income a bit but that might also push those who are poorer than them into comparable or higher positions. The authors ran a series of experiments where students were randomly allotted sums of money, separated by $1, and informed about the “income distribution” that resulted. They were then given another $2, which they could give either to the person directly above or below them in the distribution.
In keeping with the notion of “last-place aversion”, the people who were a spot away from the bottom were the most likely to give the money to the person above them: rewarding the “rich” but ensuring that someone remained poorer than themselves.
FDA to unveil food pyramid replacement this thursday
- Is based around the design of a plate, but isn’t a pie chart
- Encourages smaller portions, low-fat dairy, and water instead of sugary drinks
- Is reminiscent of a Rothko painting
- Can’t possibly be worse than the goddamn food pyramid
Source: crookedindifference
Schott’s Vocab Commenter Thinks He’s Clever
Weekend Competition: What’s the Onomatopoeia?
This weekend, co-vocabularists are invited to dance across their keyboards to provide the spelling of the sounds that surround us.
Commenter P. Solanki: The sound of the American dollar tumbling: Yuan-yuan-yuan.
Source: http
PETA Suggests a Name Change for the Tenderloin
In a letter to Mayor Edwin M. Lee sent Tuesday, Tracy Reiman, the group’s executive vice president, suggested that city officials rename the neighborhood the Tempeh District, a homage to a soy-based meat substitute.
I really thought this was a story on The Onion but, alas, it is just a publicity stunt.
There’s no correlation between inacceptance of homosexuality and depression and suicide,” he says.
but rather
“These young people who identify as gay or lesbian, we know from the social science that they have a higher propensity to depression or suicide because of that internal conflict,
Tony Perkins, president of the evangelical Family Research Council, on why LGBT activists are using anti-bullying guidelines to push their “abnormal” agenda.
Reminds me of Plato describing how slaves are born a natural fit for their lot in life because their bodies are already bent, as if anticipating the heavy loads they will be forced to bear.
Religious Undercurrent Ripples In Anti-Gay Bullying (All Things Considered via WHYY)
Source:
On The Media presents the story of net neutrality, especially the recent Google-Verizon developments, with the different voices on the issue (advocates, Google, Verizon, FCC) accompanied by different musical leitmotifs from Peter and the Wolf
My favorite line:
If our town square is going to be paved with broadband bricks, then we’d better make sure it’s operating in the interest of all of us and is not under the control of a precious, special few.
-FCC Commissioner Michael Copps
Net Neutrality, A Musical Intepretation (via On the Media)
