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This desperately needs a regression analysis. They've determined that the presence of the Sicilian Mafia is strongly correlated with the presence of the Peasan

This desperately needs a regression analysis. They've determined that the presence of the Sicilian Mafia is strongly correlated with the presence of the Peasant Fasci, and also strongly correlated with a decline in literacy and increase in infant mortality. They immediately jump to "the Mafia causes a decline in literacy" without even considering that the Peasant Fasci might have been responsible for said decline in literacy. How the hell did this get published?

cat199 9y ago
plus: no checking against population density / structure of environment e.g. rural/small town/urban center - would not urban areas produce more poverty or provide more 'cover' for illlicit activities, or conversely more prosperity, etc etc no cross-checking checking against economic structure - more specifically access to shipping/ports, whatever industry, etc. might exist - all of which could create cover business, access to distribution, etc connection/lack of connection of those poorer sicilians affected by the mentioned famine, etc to US immigration and increased opportunity for international criminal activity especially as concerns the vast rise of us/italian mafia during prohibition.. maybe all the 'smart people' from the mafia areas simply left for the US to become gangsters, as one exaggerated potential counterpoint.. zero discussion of local / regional political factors w/r/t the italian unification, etc, which was a massive event co-occurring with the early time period related to the being discussed.. zero discussion of socio-philosophical/cultural/religious aspects aside from the singular 'fasci' socialist group.. much mafioso folklore is tied with romanticized notions of protecting ones people, creating war against enemies, etc, and the relation of corrupt members of the vatican to the mafia are not exactly fiction.. assuming a certain progression of trajectory as 'natural' and equally applicable to all areas implicitly, and further that deviations from this 'norm' are attributable to the pre-presumed causes due to correlative effect .. etc etc etc.
gone35 9y ago
They do [1]. That's just a summary. http://www.nber.org/papers/w24115 http://www.nber.org/papers/w24115
virtu0so 9y ago
The correlation with "infant mortality" is a subtle nod to prostitution, rape and abortion. Dead babies come from accidental or unwanted pregnancies, particularly when combined with drugs and alcohol. If the underground black market has a strong supply of prostitution (and not just human traffic sob stories, but also prostitution as party time and consenting my-vagina-my-choice power plays, aka: porn without the camera) and the johns are kept in line with strong arm tactics, you get a lot of ladies offering services, and a cross section of pregnancies that represent a poor business decision. Charting an uptick in dead babies and unattended children running around is a bellweather for women doing whatever, and having whatever done to them, in larger quantities. Really large quantities, over a sustained span of time looks more like big business producing unsavory norms, the kind associated with vice. In the periphery of legal pornography production there's a quantity of abortions that, in the early 20th century would have cropped up as "infanticide" and "infant mortality" for lack of better terms. Low literacy rate is a measure of the unwanted pregnancies that lived. Kids that have parents that don't care about them won't bother with compulsory education when they approach ten years old, and dealing with other students starts to become truly unpleasant. Individuals may obtain pragmatic reading skills, but creative writing and reading for fun would decline right along with an uptick in other adversities.

cat199 9y ago

plus: no checking against population density / structure of environment e.g. rural/small town/urban center - would not urban areas produce more poverty or provide more 'cover' for illlicit activities, or conversely more prosperity, etc etc no cross-checking checking against economic structure - more specifically access to shipping/ports, whatever industry, etc. might exist - all of which could create cover business, access to distribution, etc connection/lack of connection of those poorer sicilians affected by the mentioned famine, etc to US immigration and increased opportunity for international criminal activity especially as concerns the vast rise of us/italian mafia during prohibition.. maybe all the 'smart people' from the mafia areas simply left for the US to become gangsters, as one exaggerated potential counterpoint.. zero discussion of local / regional political factors w/r/t the italian unification, etc, which was a massive event co-occurring with the early time period related to the being discussed.. zero discussion of socio-philosophical/cultural/religious aspects aside from the singular 'fasci' socialist group.. much mafioso folklore is tied with romanticized notions of protecting ones people, creating war against enemies, etc, and the relation of corrupt members of the vatican to the mafia are not exactly fiction.. assuming a certain progression of trajectory as 'natural' and equally applicable to all areas implicitly, and further that deviations from this 'norm' are attributable to the pre-presumed causes due to correlative effect .. etc etc etc.

gone35 9y ago

They do [1]. That's just a summary. http://www.nber.org/papers/w24115 http://www.nber.org/papers/w24115

virtu0so 9y ago

The correlation with "infant mortality" is a subtle nod to prostitution, rape and abortion. Dead babies come from accidental or unwanted pregnancies, particularly when combined with drugs and alcohol. If the underground black market has a strong supply of prostitution (and not just human traffic sob stories, but also prostitution as party time and consenting my-vagina-my-choice power plays, aka: porn without the camera) and the johns are kept in line with strong arm tactics, you get a lot of ladies offering services, and a cross section of pregnancies that represent a poor business decision. Charting an uptick in dead babies and unattended children running around is a bellweather for women doing whatever, and having whatever done to them, in larger quantities. Really large quantities, over a sustained span of time looks more like big business producing unsavory norms, the kind associated with vice. In the periphery of legal pornography production there's a quantity of abortions that, in the early 20th century would have cropped up as "infanticide" and "infant mortality" for lack of better terms. Low literacy rate is a measure of the unwanted pregnancies that lived. Kids that have parents that don't care about them won't bother with compulsory education when they approach ten years old, and dealing with other students starts to become truly unpleasant. Individuals may obtain pragmatic reading skills, but creative writing and reading for fun would decline right along with an uptick in other adversities.