News Roundup

Populist Anger

Is this the early 1900s again? If so, who would be this era’s William Jennings Bryan? Regardless, class relations have worsened since Reagan took the throne. The financial crisis just showed that the rich get bailed out by their connections in the government while the “common man” can barely afford to buy food. All that rage (partially their own fault for overconsumption and leverage) has to be channeled somewhere. We’ve seen it directed at AIG executives, congressional Republicans, and now Democrats. The only surprise is the resiliency of the American Myth (formerly American Dream) of upward mobility. People still cling to that antiquated romantic notion and steadfastly avoid uprisings and revolutions. Right now, soak the rich is as far as they’re willing to go, perhaps because most people still entertain absurd notions that they’ll ever be rich.

On a similar note, the same disenchantment can be found in the former Soviet bloc, where the market has failed to deliver on improvements in standard of living. Already there are yearnings for the “good old days”. How long there before blood spills?

The Future of Polisci

Perhaps some of the distrust of politicians has spilled over into political science as a field, even though most politicians are lawyers by trade, not political theorists or professors. As a result, people (Tom Coburn et al) are asking whether political science is even relevant as a field of study. They have the academics scrambling to justify their department’s existence. Having taken a single class in the field during my undergraduate years, I have fond memories of abstract discussions on power, systems, and gatekeeper institutions as well as more applicable overviews of industrialization, the Soviet Union, and South Africa.

My personal take on the future of political science is that it is best served by delving into modern affairs and proposing policy. Leave the models and theorizing about resource distribution to economics, a more suitable field for the arcane and theoretical.

The TFA Controversy

When I was in Berkeley, Teach For America was quite a big recruiter on campus, and I got to know (and almost signed up for) the program. Ostensibly, it is a social work group targeting low-income kids in need of a quality education. In practice, it is a resume building experience for privileged kids, most of whom will step into the corporate life at some point. I have no doubts that the teachers are motivated, bright, and effective in teaching. The only issue I have is that the participants are not career teachers, so most of them will only teach for 2 years.

As for the unions’ argument that TFA teachers are underpaid scab workers, I have to disagree. Obviously there are people willing to do the work for less pay than what unions currently pay. Many of them achieve good results in standardized tests. I pose the question to unions: why are your teachers not meeting the same standards as a bunch of scabs?

Failing Our Youth

I’m not usually a big fan of Paul Krugman when he mouths off about political economics (too much Greg Mankiw influence), but he’s usually sound when highlighting social failings and doing technical work on macroeconomics. He is mostly spot on by sounding the alarms on education, as many education secretaries have done so before. Having spent many years in academia, I have witnessed firsthand that most of the US’s top tier talent is imported. That source, while welcomed, can be volatile. If the US falls behind in research output, new discoveries, availability of funds, or quality of life, students will go elsewhere. A particular concern is that the underclass does not seem interested in advancing through education. I’ve got no ideas of what incentive program can be devised to help them realize that education is their best shot at social mobility.

How Business Supplanted the Humanities

Most undergraduates today in public schools choose some form of business/economics as a major for good reason. The expected return in terms of income is much greater than if the student had chosen a more academic discipline such as English or history. One can make the argument that engineering offers on average higher returns than business, but when you weigh the expended effort, the potential for professional degrees, the higher social status, and a vastly higher earning ceiling, business still wins out.

Where do I see the English and history departments headed? Obscurity. It’s up to them to reinvent themselves as applicable to attract more students. Until then, they can at least take comfort in the fact that they’re being subsidized by larger departments within a college. I don’t mind that subsidy since any well-rounded individual will take at least one course in those disciplines, and that requires faculty and an accompanying department.

Who Are the Most Racist People?

In my experience, it is East and South Asians (not South-East Asians, mind you) in a tie for the title of most racist. Those groups have large populations, relatively homogeneous populations but with a significant ethnic presence that discrimination becomes habitual. Though whites in the US get the most press for hating on blacks and Hispanics, they’re actually pretty tame in their outward interactions (discrimination tends to be subtle and based on avoidance rather than confrontation). In Asia, racism manifests itself as verbal slurs, hate crimes, and sometimes enforced policy. In the article linked, there is a NYT piece on race relations in South Korea. Notice the amount of flak received by the woman for consorting with a foreign man.

Oh My, What a Big Beard You Have

In a twist, operatives in Afghanistan who grew long beards to blend in and to be socially accepted are now stigmatized b/c of their aggressive behaviour. Their characteristic beards are now ways for the local population to identify and avoid these rough sorts. I think most people knew from Iraq that using independent contractors as security detail did not turn out well. Using them in Afghanistan as infiltrators is not going to work any better. There may be more culturally sensitive ways to carry out investigations, but some of what these special ops do is unavoidable.

China’s “Little Emperors”

It’s a good position in China to be an only son. Parents spoil the child and cater to his every whim. It’s much better, however, to be born to a rich family as well. The divide between rich and poor has been steadily accelerating since market reforms began, but unlike the West, poor Chinese families do not have the social safety net to care adequately for their children. Corrupt officials and the high-rolling lifestyles of the rich has led to nationwide resentment and social unrest, not a good situation for the ruling party.

The Need For a Human Rights Watch

According to Nickelback, Amnesty International was founded by a British lawyer who was shocked to read that two Portuguese students had been imprisoned for toasting freedom. It turns out that societies like AI are as needed today as ever. One criticism though is that they don’t focus enough attention on western countries, such as the US, when they commit human rights violations. Guantanamo is a sore thumb in that as long as it exists, people will wonder what sort of violations take place there because of its reputation. The only reasonable course of action is to return to Geneva Convention accords with respect to treatment of prisoners of war. Otherwise, I would happily endorse sanctions against the US in violation of human rights.

Research Summary – Telomeres

Not much to comment about here other than to say: “click through to the article”. Kathy Collins is an outstanding professor and researcher at Berkeley, and her work on telomeres will be critical to controlling the aging process down the road.

News Roundup

More on the 70% marginal tax rate

The question is if the penalties for higher income are much reduced benefits, is it even worth it to work harder/longer/more productively? It used to be that this only applied to really high income earners, but due to a component of the health care plan, this becomes the case for people around the average income level.

Prostitution in all but name

The phenomenon started in Japan as enjo kosai. It has since spread to Hong Kong where young girls sell their bodies to earn clothes money. To me, this is a sign of two things. First, the market for sex is quite a profitable transition for both parties, so why do government need to regulate it? Put up an age limit and make it legal and safe, a la Amsterdam. Second, Hong Kong society puts a high value on material goods, more so than in many other capitalist countries. My Hong Kong friends tell me that a teenage girl wouldn’t think to leave the house without a designer purse. Then, they bug their boyfriends to buy expensive clothes, cars, and gifts for them. No wonder the men are under such pressure to become big earners. I guess the single girls resort to prostitution to keep up with everyone else.

Futurama is now reality

Want to be Fry and see what life is like in the year 3000? We’re now one step closer to that goal with this potential breakthrough in using poison gas (of all things) to freeze tissue. I’m just waiting for someone to write a historical fiction on Hitler being frozen with the same gas the Nazis used in the camps only to emerge in the next millennium.

Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize, before doing anything

Imagine my surprise when I wake up one morning and read that Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize. I thought it was some kind of sick joke at first. Really now, even the presenters noted that Obama won for his “potential” rather than for any accomplishments. Ostensibly, he has led the world on climate change, Israel/Palestine, and… what else? Even those two issues are noted more for hot air than anything of substance.

Why marriage is a raw deal for men

As I’ve told Willa, marriage in its current form is just not a logical decision for men. Given current divorce rates, disparity in partners’ earnings, and the proclivity of divorce judgments to favour the woman, the cost-benefit analysis concludes that marriage is just too much of a raw deal for rational men. Still, people are irrational about most things, including love, and I don’t expect this to ever change. Golddiggers have been around since forever, and prenups don’t seem to have slowed them down at all.

An answer for marriage: PACS

Why am I not more despondent about the state of the institution of marriage? I look at France and the excellent alternative to marriage that they have created. There, the system is a civil union called the pacte civil de solidarité. The ideal replacement for marriage would be to transition the term to purely a religious ceremony devoid of any societal benefits or meaning. The state would then only recognize civil unions for all individuals. The rules would be similar. Only one civil union may be in place at a time for any individual. Leaving a union can be done by either partner. Spousal benefits would apply. Finally, the most crucial component is a plan for property division drawn up at the time of formation of the union.

Unbalancing the dollar

The dollar’s fall in recent years has been precipitous. I’ve no doubt that it’s a deliberate unannounced policy of treasury to weaken the dollar, boosting exports and increasing consumption of domestic rather than foreign goods. This is a good policy because the US is a debtor country and inflation is currently low. However, for those of us who travel overseas frequently and who are profligate savers, this policy is just another example of the kind of punishment savers endure. There are consequences, however. Trade partners will not look kindly at this beggar-thy-neighbour policy. China has already started retaliating. Worst of all, foreigners may stop buying US debt. That day of reckoning may not be too far away.

Bill Gates exits health care

The Gates Foundation has historically given money to fund health care and education causes, especially when they intersect with poverty. Now it appears that it is shifting gears and transitioning to addressing a more basic problem – global hunger. I applaud the shift, as food is one of the most basic necessities that has been ignored for far too long. I pose the question of how to create a sustainable system of elevating poor countries out of the hunger crisis without making them dependents on rich countries or foundations.

News Roundup

So are geeks cool now?

With all the shoddy research going on, it’s no wonder something like this slipped through the cracks. Research on romance and attraction have been going on for some time, with wildly divergent but hilarious results. In the end, it seems that no one, not even women, know what they want.

The new Reich?

Germany’s new right front is shaping up to be a lot more appealing than the last, or maybe they’re just marketing it better. With classical liberal beliefs, new-found social tolerance, and multicultural booth babes, who can resist?

Roll over Da Vinci

The polymath has always been an aspiration of mine, in part because my childhood heroes were all men who aspired to at least mediocrity in multiple subjects.

A future I can get behind

NHS predicts that female docs will dominate the future landscape in the UK. I can’t wait for the next time I go in for a hernia exam. In all seriousness, this future might be distressing to some because females overwhelmingly prefer lifestyle specialties. Looks like there will be a shortage of surgeons in the future as well.

The trials women face every day

Deborah Tannen provides a fascinating perspective on women’s lives that most of us menfolk never have to experience. Get the inside scoop on the tough choices women have to make to avoid ridicule in society and see how men remain obliviously unaware of male privilege. It’s a humbling article to be sure, and one that remains relevant in spite of its publication date.

Players the San Jose Sharks like

There’s a consensus that the Sharks tend to draft Germans, goalies, and former Ottawa 67ers players. idunno723 takes the cake with the comment “when will the Sharks hit the jackpot with a German goaltender who plays on the Ottawa 67’s?” Even this summer’s blockbuster addition, Dany Heatley, was born in Germany.

Why the poor stay poor

Admittedly, this is a bit of a twist on the words of the group Innovations for Poverty Action. What the article suggests is that the rich have more of an incentive to save because they expect to be wealthy. I don’t buy it though, as I find the previous reasons for poverty rather convincing. In other words, I take issue with the author’s challenge of the premise that the poor are not naturally more impatient or inconsistent than the rich.

Confessions of a Guilty Hedonist

I probably won’t every have kids, and that’s a good thing! Given this recent Time Magazine article on how much kids cost, it’s a wonder how anyone can afford to raise them. This is more than just the upfront cost in dollars; kids take away energy that can be spent pursuing hobbies or focusing on oneself. Of course, if everyone were as selfish as I am, the world would probably end.

Another article that has me interested is this analysis from Naked Capitalism (rapidly becoming one of my favourite blog sites) on sluggish consumer spending for the foreseeable future. No doubt, the average consumer’s personal balance sheet has taken a beating from the recession. Now, if they had the prescience to amass savings beforehand, they wouldn’t be suffering as much now. From a policy standpoint, I would change the taxation system to discourage consumption and to reward saving and investment. This means low corporate taxes, low income taxes, and high consumption taxes in terms of a sales tax or VAT (preferably).

Reading that article makes me glad that Chinese people are disciplined enough to have such high savings rates.

The Immigrant Experience for Men and Women

Reluctantly, I have added Marginal Revolution to my blogroll. One of the more interesting posts there recently caught my eye. Entitled “Predictions about immigration and attractiveness,” the article states that female immigrants do better in the receiving country than male ones. Not surprisingly, this has been my experience as well being part of the latest immigrant wave. Male immigrants, be they skilled East/South Asians or unskilled ones (primarily Hispanic) face similar degrees of persecution. Computer programmers or software engineers are accused of stealing jobs through undercutting the natives on salary and abusing the H1 visa program. Unskilled workers have faced the ire of think tanks and natives of border states. Although women do hold jobs in software and construction, the industry is male enough that the backlash against immigrants can be considered targeted in a gender-specific manner.

Women, however, are more easily accepted by the native population. The controversy at the University of Viriginia a while back involved the Facebook group ”Americans for the Increased Importation of Asian Women.” Notice that the group specifically singled out women. Another example showing the desirability of foreign women and the exclusion of foreign men is the movie 21, based on the MIT blackjack team, which consisted mostly of East Asian males. The film adaptation eschewed reality for fears of alienating a predominantly white audience and cast mostly whites “with perhaps an Asian female.”

If the BBC and NYT Both Say It, It Must Be True

BBC:

In China, there are far more boys born each year than girls because cheaper ultrasound scans available in private clinics have made it easier to choose the sex of your baby.

That sex imbalance means the odds are stacked against someone like Colin when it comes to finding a wife.

His family, like many others, needs to save as much as it can so he can compete with others when looking for a partner.

NYT:

In other words, parents want their sons to marry, and they figure that girls are more likely to want to marry rich boys.

Thoughts on Asian Outmarriage

This is well-known in the AA community as a hot-button issue. AA sites such as Goldsea and AsianFinest have had countless threads on this topic. It’s not surprising that, being a huge fan of social trends, I’ve been doing much reading on the matter and have interviewed individuals to hear anecdotal  experiences. 4 years of this amateur research has culminated in a fundamental realization: While wandering around Prague in the rain, the idea suddenly hit me that the discrepancy between marriage/dating between AM/WF and WM/AF is just due to economics.

It sounds deceptively simple (and really is nothing new from an economics point of view), but my reasoning is as follows: There is data out there that shows that Asian women are exceptional in that they are not biased towards their own race as all other women are. Instead, they are equally accepting of Asians and whites (but not of blacks, hispanics, etc.).

Disregard the males for now. They (like in most aspects of life) are irrelevant. You may assume for simplicity that there are the same percentages of a majority population (whites) that are open to dating a minority (asians). The exact numbers may be different, but that’s irrelevant to this argument.

Because of the asymmetricity in female preference versus male preference, you get the following:

Any Asian woman wandering the streets would act as a magnet and draw the attention of the white men who are open to dating Asians. They know that their odds of success are pretty good (even with an Asian male). For Asian males, even before we consider any cultural influences that may have made them gun-shy about approaching women, the numbers simply do not favour them. One cannot distinguish between white women who are open to Asian males and those who aren’t. Therefore, it is simply not worthwhile approaching a generic white woman because of the low expected return. Assume that the utility of acquiring an interracial mate is the same for white males and Asian males. To enjoy this utility, the Asian male has to expend more effort and approach many more women. There is a corresponding effort (time, money) involved in the pursuit of women. These contribute negative utils. For an Asian male, the net util from pursuing white women is probably negative. This is where opportunity costs come into play; the rational Asian male will most likely pursue other activities that have a higher net util (pursuing Asian women, working overtime, going on vacation).

If we disregard female initiation and pursuit, we get a model in which the gender/race imbalance is due to the high net utility of an Asian woman for a white male. If we want to rectify the imbalance, the only socially realistic method is to increase the proportion of white women who are open to dating Asians. As long as this key number stays low, one cannot expect rational Asian males to approach white women.

Applying microeconomic arguments to this issue is not novel either. I tip my hat to Awkward Utopia.

Women in CS

A recent article on the NYT reminded me of a glaring issue in academia – gender imbalances in different departments. I do not consider this a social injustice like my liberal arts classmates do; rather, I think it’s a natural reflection of societal pressures and preferences. Like it or not, men are drawn to high-paying, high-pressure situations with minimal social contact. Engineering actually piqued the interests of some rather nerdy math whizzes I knew from high school, offering them a challenge to keep them away from drugs hacking DoD computers. Women, on the other hand, tend to be drawn to more cooperative disciplines that involve dealing with people. So, rather than constantly wonder how to “solve” the problem of a shortage of women in technical fields, let’s attribute it to a societal phenomenon that’s best left alone. After all, why aren’t we trying to solve the shortage of women in American Football or men in English class? Heck, women outnumber men in terms of undergraduate degrees bestowed and we’re not raising a ruckus about that. The cynic in me says that the men probably like it that way.

Some would argue that we are losing perspectives or a diverse set of views. Nonsense. There’s still a baseline 20% women in computers. They could provide the insight. If not, the men in the field who want female input can consult female colleagues, friends, or neighbours.

With that said, we should carefully examine and understand the structural causes of this difference. After all, we know that this difference in preference is not bestowed at birth; countries in Eastern Europe boast much higher proportions of women in technology. In other words, is there something about American culture that causes women to prefer interacting with people, which results in fewer choosing to go into CS.

I had a discussion of this last year with a female classmate in the CS deparment at Berkeley. She said, “we (women) like computers, but not the isolation,” which reinforces my theory that it is the perceived nature of computing that prevents it from becoming attractive to women. That is to say, women are exposed at an early age to images of the technogeek who speaks in l33t and other jargon but sadly lacks social skills; this creates a stereotype of the field as not being conducive for interpersonal interactions.

For other conversations on the matter, I present an old article by Phil Greenspun of MIT way back in 1995 as well as this post with excerpts from papers, well-argued points, and a nice summary of the issue.

Japanese Men Discover Feminine Side

Japan has always been a place with certain traditions, some of which were adopted from elsewhere. Certainly, the concept of manhood is something that has changed over the years, but the latest rebellion against the salaryman ideal installed after WWII will certainly be unfamiliar and awkward for most western readers. The lowdown from the Washington Post is that gender roles are shifting as men take on more of a nurturing role. This is counterbalanced by women becoming more aggressive in daily life and driven to succeed in the workplace.

The cultural transformation is also captured in some other events: the growing popularity of men’s bras and the anorexic as an ideal image.

A quote from the latter link offers some insight into the extent that traditional gender roles have changed:

Both Shirakawa and his girlfriend like the fact that she weighs more than he does, and is the leader of the couple. “She’s a lot stronger than I am, can lift heavy things and go drinking until dawn. I admire that about her, and feel protected when I’m around her,” he said. Older than he by five years, it was Shirakawa’s girlfriend who made the approach, started the dating process and decided what course their relationship would take.

Asian romantic dramas are also notablely different from western ones in that instead of focusing on issues around consummation and the aftermath (adultery, one night stands), the theme is fantastical idealizations (couples that want to be together but are prevented from doing so by factors beyond their control – e.g. class differences, physical distance, another love, or parental intervention). Romantic comedies usually end with the girl “confessing” her feelings and the couple kissing for the first time, after a season of awkward fumbling.

When viewed in the context of global norms, this has been the result.

Reflections on China’s Quest for Olympic Gold

During the Olympic season last year, various magazines ran articles that revealed how desperate China was to top the gold medal count. The country viewed the goal as necessary to “save face” as a host and also to present its best to the world. From my experience in China, this is a common sentiment echoed not just by the leadership but more often by the masses, who are dying to return China to its days of glory as a world power. In other words, China is a teenage brat who’s looking to avenge wrongs and perceived slights wrought upon it years ago by bullies who have moved on to business suits and running the world. China’s main targets in this are the countrie who engaged in war, colonialism, and disrespect against it in the 20th century. Namely, this includes Japan, Europe, Taiwan, and the US. To right the wrongs, China will become dominant militarily and economically (but not culturally!) to avoid a repeat of the shameful conquests of yore.

Anyways, this resolve is seen in the way athletes are selected in their youth for training in Soviet-style camps. Academics and a social life are neglected to produce dominant individuals from a collective by culling the wheat from the chaft through rigourous competition. Well, the system, just like the Soviet space project, yielded impressive results, but also destroyed the lives of thousands of athletes. Is this acceptable to the leadership? Of course. For them, the good of the state trumps all. The masses are willing to go along as long as they hold the burning desire to repay past transgressions.

As for the athletes, most of them enjoy success but hate the amount of pressure put on them (and some of them wilted under the pressure). The greatest contrast can probably be seen from the following quote:

The contrast couldn’t be greater than between the Chinese and U.S. athletes. In their post-match interviews, the Americans rambled on about their parents, their siblings, their pets, their hobbies. They repeatedly used the word fun. Shawn Johnson, the 16-year-old gymnast, waxed enthusiastic about the classes she’ll take when she returns to her public high school in West Des Moines, Iowa.

The Chinese athletes generally don’t have pets or hobbies. Or brothers or sisters (since most are products of China’s one-child policy).