Things Noted Here and There

In 1993, the economic historians Robert Fogel and Douglass North won the Nobel Prize for their pioneering use of statistics in economic history. At Tech Central Station, Nick Schulz interviews Fogel about his newest book, The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100: Europe, America, and the Third World. Thanks to Jason Broander at Maroonblog for the tip.

In William R. Hutchinson,"Strong Objections," HNN, 5 December, Josiah Strong (1847-1916) returns from the dead to accuse Samuel P. Huntington of plagiarism.

Jenny Turner,"As Astonishing as Elvis," London Review of Books, 1 December, won't be loved by Ayn Rand's admirers, but it tells you what you need to know about her and the Rand cult.

The claim of Steven Levitt and John Donohue, the authors of Freakonomics, that abortion rights accounts for the decline of crime rates in the United States over the last three decades is challenged by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. See: Christopher Foote and Christopher Goetz,"Testing Economic Hypotheses with State-Level Data: A Comment on Donohue and Levitt (2001)," Federal Reserve Bank Working Papers, 22 November. The findings of Foote and Goetz are summarized in"Oops-onomics," The Economist, 1 December. Thanks to Dale Light of Light Seeking Light for the tip. [more ...]

Discussions of the use of Wikipedia continue at: Ben Brumfield,"Wikipedia," Horizon, 3 December; and Katharine Q. Seelye,"Snared in the Web of a Wikipedia Liar," New York Times, 4 December.

Michael Gurian,"Disappearing Act," Washington Post, 4 December, seeks to understand why young women are doing well in our"industrial classrooms," but that young men are not doing so well. It's a tendency that was first noticed over 25 years ago in the United States. Although Gurian doesn't point it out, African American students exemplify in extreme the phenomenon that affects the whole population. See: Scott Jaschik," See: Scott Jaschik,"The Missing Black Men," Inside Higher Ed, 5 December.