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> Americans are also wealthier in general though Americans are higher variance (wrt wealth) in general, which makes some of these comparisons quite difficult.

by ska 5y ago

missedthecue 5y ago
but median measurements exist
- ska 5y ago
  > but median measurements exist Sure, but that's hardly a panacea. There are better and worse analysis, but this stuff is genuinely not easy to do well. No simple statistic alone will do it if you are comparing quite different distributions. The US is well below many European countries (and others) by median wealth, and well above the same ones by mean wealth; That doesn't paint a clear picture either.
  - Aunche 5y ago
    >The US is well below many European countries (and others) by median wealth The US ranks 6 in median household income and median per capital income. The ones above us are much smaller nations, and it's easier to for them be statistical outliers compared to a large nation like the US. California, which has a larger population than any nation that scores better than the US in median income, blows any of them outside the water no matter what wealth metric you use.
    - ska 5y ago
      Income and wealth are not the same thing. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_pe... That would put US at 3 by mean and 22 by median. Countries above it by median would include UK, Japan, etc. Of course most countries are smaller by population, but that's not like comparing to Luxembourg. I think we are agreeing, each one of this sort of comparison give you different information, which makes it difficult. Especially considering that, to your point, looking at Cali or Miss. gives a lot of variance by itself.
- BeFlatXIII 5y ago
  And aren’t helpful to individuals making decisions for themselves and their families. For an individual, the unemployment rate is either 0% or 100% (though gig workers and seasonal workers can be 50% employed exceptions)
  - ashtonkem 5y ago
    Employment is far from a binary for an individual. Gig workers might work variable hours, and service workers might have multiple jobs held simultaneously. The idea that the employment rate is binary for an individual is overly reductive.

> Americans are also wealthier in general though Americans are higher variance (wrt wealth) in general, which makes some of these comparisons quite difficult.

by ska 5y ago

> Americans are also wealthier in general though Americans are higher variance (wrt wealth) in general, which makes some of these comparisons quite difficult.

missedthecue 5y ago

but median measurements exist

ska 5y ago
> but median measurements exist Sure, but that's hardly a panacea. There are better and worse analysis, but this stuff is genuinely not easy to do well. No simple statistic alone will do it if you are comparing quite different distributions. The US is well below many European countries (and others) by median wealth, and well above the same ones by mean wealth; That doesn't paint a clear picture either.
- Aunche 5y ago
  >The US is well below many European countries (and others) by median wealth The US ranks 6 in median household income and median per capital income. The ones above us are much smaller nations, and it's easier to for them be statistical outliers compared to a large nation like the US. California, which has a larger population than any nation that scores better than the US in median income, blows any of them outside the water no matter what wealth metric you use.
  - ska 5y ago
    Income and wealth are not the same thing. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_pe... That would put US at 3 by mean and 22 by median. Countries above it by median would include UK, Japan, etc. Of course most countries are smaller by population, but that's not like comparing to Luxembourg. I think we are agreeing, each one of this sort of comparison give you different information, which makes it difficult. Especially considering that, to your point, looking at Cali or Miss. gives a lot of variance by itself.
BeFlatXIII 5y ago
And aren’t helpful to individuals making decisions for themselves and their families. For an individual, the unemployment rate is either 0% or 100% (though gig workers and seasonal workers can be 50% employed exceptions)
- ashtonkem 5y ago
  Employment is far from a binary for an individual. Gig workers might work variable hours, and service workers might have multiple jobs held simultaneously. The idea that the employment rate is binary for an individual is overly reductive.