Lars P. Syll

Adjusting for confounding (student stuff) .[embedded content] Simpson’s paradox is an interesting paradox in itself, but it also highlights a deficiency in the traditional econometric approach towards causality. Say you have 1000 observations on men and an equal amount of observations on women applying for admission to university studies, and that 70% of men are admitted, but only 30% of women. Running a logistic regression to find out the odds ratios (and...

Public debt and Keynes’ paradox of thrift For although the amount of his own saving is unlikely to have any significant influence on his own income, the reactions of the amount of his consumption on the incomes of others makes it impossible for all individuals simultaneously to save any given sums. Every such attempt to save more by reducing consumption will so affect incomes that the attempt necessarily defeats itself. It is, of course, just as impossible...

These photos of my grand-father Oskar Lissmark and Kurt Gödel made me realize that my new specs perhaps weren’t that new after all …

Among the soft obscurantists some aim at truth, but do not respect the norms for arriving at truth, such as focusing on causality, acting as devil’s advocate, and generating falsifiable hypotheses. Others do not aim at truth, and often scorn the very idea that there is such a thing. By assumption, these non-respecters of truth cannot be reached by argument, only by ridicule … Let me mention who they are, by discipline and by name. Disciplines include deconstructionism,...

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.[embedded content] Susan Neiman’s defence of Enlightenment and critique of wokeism is both powerful and convincing. The ideas of the Enlightenment are still relevant, despite the numerous criticisms that have been levelled against them. The Enlightenment was characterized by a spirit of exploration that led to new discoveries in both science and culture. Rather than promoting a narrow worldview, it encouraged people to question assumptions and religious beliefs. It still...

Left is not woke .[embedded content] [You can watch the Foucault-Chomsky debate mentioned in the video here]

Pugh Rogefeldt (1947-2023) In Memoriam En av den svenska popmusikens största banbrytare, Pugh Rogefeldt, har gått ur tiden. Tack för musiken. Vila i frid min vän. [embedded content]

Woke math is coming to a classroom near you … .[embedded content]

Stephanie Kelton i Stockholm När tankesmedjan Katalys nu firar tioårsjubileum har man passande nog valt att bjuda in författaren till en av årtiondet största megahits inom ekonomiområdet — Underskottsmyten — Stephanie Kelton. Har ni vägarna förbi Stockholm i morgon tycker jag definitivt ni ska lägga ett par timmar på att besöka ABF-huset! Yours truly har under flera års tid nu frågat sig varför vi i det här landet har  begåvats med regeringar som inte vågar...