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Now you see it, now you don’t: On the deepening crisis in evidence production, and evaluation, in the social sciences (Part II: Some proposals to address it)

By Andreas Ortmann On June 12, 2013 · 3 Comments

Yesterday I stated my understanding of the problem.

So, what to do in light of the deepening crisis?

First, in a recent open letter published in “The Guardian“ more than 70 researchers have argued that scientific journals ought to allow pre-registered replications (and other studies). In fact, the journals “Attention, Perception & Psychophysics”, “Perspectives on Psychological Science”, and “Social Psychology” have already launched similar projects.  The experiences so far seem promising.

Second, [...]

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The Mental Health puzzle, part IV: the economic hypothesis.

By Paul Frijters On June 11, 2013 · Add Comment

In three previous parts, I posed the puzzle of the measured increase in mental health problems (depression, anxiety, and obesity) across the Western world since the 1950s and briefly discussed the pros and cons of the main cultural explanation doing the round. Here I want to discuss the mainstream ‘economic explanation’.

The mainstream economic explanation is to simply take for granted that people are rationally choosing their risks of becoming mentally unhealthy later [...]

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Now you see it, now you don’t: On the deepening crisis in evidence production, and evaluation, in the social sciences (Part I: Problem description)

On June 11, 2013 By Andreas Ortmann

This may be a crisis that you have not heard about. Or maybe you have heard about some of the more egregious recent exhibits such as Sanna or Smeesters or Stapel or, possibly, Geraerts and Dijksterhuis.

Sanna resigned from the University of Michigan in May 2012 after a University of North Carolina investigation of concerns raised by University of Pennsylvania researcher Uri Simonsohn apparently found those concerns justified. (See here for the full [...]

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International price discrimination, copyright and the ‘first sale’ doctrine

On June 9, 2013 By Stephen King

I received an interesting e-mail from my publishers during the week. A Court ruling in the US effectively prevents a range of international price discrimination that has operated against US consumers. Anyone can now buy a legitimate copy of a textbook or other copyright material anywhere in the world and import it for resale in the US. Put simply, US consumers will now be able to get copyright material at ‘world cheapest price’ so long as resale [...]

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The Mental Health puzzle, part III: the cultural hypothesis.

On June 6, 2013 By Paul Frijters

In the two previous parts, I posed the puzzle of the measured increase in mental health problems (depression, anxiety, and obesity in particular) across the Western world since the 1950s and in Anglo-Saxon countries in particular. Here, I take it as given that this is real (and not just a measurement issue) and will discuss one of the leading cultural hypotheses as to what might be going on and what can be done about the [...]

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Exchange rate at 85cents

On June 5, 2013 By Mark Crosby

The question about economics that I get asked the most is “where is the exchange rate going?” I have been pretty constant in my answer on that one – it is close enough to a random walk (interpret as how the hell would I know if you like). Of course that means that I get it wrong just like everyone else, but the point is, assuming that the exchange rate is a random walk, I don’t [...]

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Abenomics and Investment

On June 4, 2013 By Mark Crosby

Japan is now into year 24 of economic underperformance. Since 1990 average GDP growth has been just over 1% per annum. This year the new PM has installed a new central bank head, who has promised to double the money supply in an effort to push inflation up to 2 percent. The PM is also planning to spend over $100 billion on new and upgraded infrastructure in the next 15 months in an effort to stimulate [...]

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The mental health puzzle, part II: happiness?

On June 3, 2013 By Paul Frijters

Last week, I posed the puzzle of the decline in mental health from around 1950 till now in most Western countries (with some countries showing a plateau since the 90s). I was talking in particular about the increase in depression, anxiety, and obesity.

One of the reactions (by Andrew Norton in particular) was on the important clue that we cannot see the mental health decline in happiness data. Indeed, we can hardly see any trend [...]

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The rise in Mental Health Problems: a puzzle

On May 30, 2013 By Paul Frijters

Here’s a true modern puzzle for you: why is the rate of mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, and obesity, increasing in the US, Australia, urban China, and most Western countries?

Which mental health problems again? Depression, anxiety, and obesity are the big growth areas. And, yes, I view obesity as a mental health problem, ie the result of a lack of willpower.

Let me give you the quick stylised facts on these arising from [...]

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Has Tom Waterhouse won the “prisoners’ dilemma”?

On May 27, 2013 By Stephen King

So advertising live odds in sporting events is now banned on television. This censorship (to use the term from Crikey) was largely driven by Tom Waterhouse going over-the-top to compete. Some numbers are provided by the Australian. And while the gambling industry is also blamed by Crikey, the fact is that Waterhouse pushed the issue over the edge with his aggressive marketing.

Of course, Waterhouse [...]

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