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Well certainly how "well off" someone is requires a value judgement. Everyone has preferences and one individual may prefer to be bottom 10% in one country as o

by bko 10y ago

Well certainly how "well off" someone is requires a value judgement. Everyone has preferences and one individual may prefer to be bottom 10% in one country as opposed to another. The scale is based off data compiled by OECD and includes the below: Housing Income Jobs Community Education Environment Civic Engagement Health Life Satisfaction Safety Work-Life Balance Another index includes EPI’s State of Working America Report [0] as well as research from World Bank economist Branko Milanovic [1]. I understand you might disagree with methodology or how they weigh certain aspects and that's perfectly fine. But if you come across some objective measure that tell me that people in the US are considerably worse off than other Western nations (in absolute terms), I would like to see it. [0] http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/06/01/astonishing-numbers-americas-poor-still-live-better-than-most-of-the-rest-of-humanity/#5c66f06b23c4 http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/06/01/astonishi... [1] http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/the-haves-and-the-have-nots/ http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/the-haves-and-t...

coredog64 10y ago
I would echo the NYTimes review of Milanovic's book. It is an outstanding read.
jernfrost 10y ago
Edit: I tried looking at the study and the factors and numbers they used. I find it very unconvincing. The numbers are very abstract and the weighting rather arbitrary. You'd have to correlate these numbers by sampling actual people in each country at the bottom and top half and see how they live. When you conclude that the bottom 10% of Americans all living on food-stamps are about as well off as the top 10% Italians then something seems very wrong with the methodology. It is actually very hard to come by studies and comparisons of these things, but one knows certain facts, which is that health care is not easily accessible to the poor in the US, while it generally is in other western nations. We also know that college costs considerably in the US if you are not especially talented and get a scholarship. Germany which is supposed to much worse than the US according to this study offers cheap health care and college to all citizens. So I am not saying this study IS wrong. I have no proof of that. It simply isn't believable to me unless somebody can offer a proper explanation for the way in which say poor swiss or germans are worse off than the poor americans. This would not be the first time I've come across dubious studies like this. There have been studies in the past where they claimed Mississippi was better off than Sweden. If you start looking into this assertion and talk to people who have been both places it becomes clear that the assertion is completely ridiculous. It is one of the many cases in which statistics can serve you a fat lie.
- bko 10y ago
  Fair enough, but I would take several flawed studies over anecdotal evidence to the contrary. I would also point out the net migration numbers to the US suggest that it really is the land of opportunity.
  - AstralStorm 10y ago
    Why not get and provide true raw numbers? Or are these manipulated on purpose?

by bko 10y ago

coredog64 10y ago

I would echo the NYTimes review of Milanovic's book. It is an outstanding read.

jernfrost 10y ago

Edit: I tried looking at the study and the factors and numbers they used. I find it very unconvincing. The numbers are very abstract and the weighting rather arbitrary. You'd have to correlate these numbers by sampling actual people in each country at the bottom and top half and see how they live. When you conclude that the bottom 10% of Americans all living on food-stamps are about as well off as the top 10% Italians then something seems very wrong with the methodology. It is actually very hard to come by studies and comparisons of these things, but one knows certain facts, which is that health care is not easily accessible to the poor in the US, while it generally is in other western nations. We also know that college costs considerably in the US if you are not especially talented and get a scholarship. Germany which is supposed to much worse than the US according to this study offers cheap health care and college to all citizens. So I am not saying this study IS wrong. I have no proof of that. It simply isn't believable to me unless somebody can offer a proper explanation for the way in which say poor swiss or germans are worse off than the poor americans. This would not be the first time I've come across dubious studies like this. There have been studies in the past where they claimed Mississippi was better off than Sweden. If you start looking into this assertion and talk to people who have been both places it becomes clear that the assertion is completely ridiculous. It is one of the many cases in which statistics can serve you a fat lie.

bko 10y ago
Fair enough, but I would take several flawed studies over anecdotal evidence to the contrary. I would also point out the net migration numbers to the US suggest that it really is the land of opportunity.
- AstralStorm 10y ago
  Why not get and provide true raw numbers? Or are these manipulated on purpose?