4 ms·

Education is worthless if there are no opportunities. In Argentina, there are PhDs as cab drivers. Opportunities are correlated to how well authorities run the

by mgh2 5y ago

Education is worthless if there are no opportunities. In Argentina, there are PhDs as cab drivers. Opportunities are correlated to how well authorities run the country. There is some data trying to pinpoint relationships with other factors: GDP, corruption, and religion, etc. https://m-g-h.medium.com/in-data-we-trust-2978dacc8c22 https://m-g-h.medium.com/in-data-we-trust-2978dacc8c22

basementcat 5y ago
I had a tow truck driver who had a Ph.D in mechanical engineering. He worked for an engineering company for a few years before he decided to move back to the mountains. I learned so much about control theory riding with him in the cab of his truck.
- nnadams 5y ago
  People like that resemble modern day "wise men" or sages to me. Our middle school janitor was a math PhD who left academia, became a farmer for decades, and eventually our janitor. He rarely told anyone his credentials. Most people thought he was just some old man. I watched parents and teachers be rude to him, but he'd always smile and be polite. Some of us used to help him from time to time. He was very kind and would always listen to our kid-sized problems while we worked.
hpoe 5y ago
I looked through your link and apart from a handful of sources linking to random Guardian articles and Wikipedia it didn't actually cite the source it used as it's central claim and then proceeded with rather disjointed points each poorly supported and ended with some sort of vague platitude about how we need to look at data despute never actually making a conclusion.
- mgh2 5y ago
  The conclusion is that there might be a correlation between a country's culture, largely shaped by its majority religion, to its GDP over time. It is too complex to explain so the article is just an inquiry into an overlooked factor, often ignored by economists.
miohtama 5y ago
In Finland, a suburban pizza entrepreneur was called a doctor, because he had a PhD in nuclear physics from Iran.
sc68cal 5y ago
Don't forget that Argentina's economy was the brainchild of the right wing in the United States, and specifically the Chicago School of economics. They overthrew a democractically elected government and installed a military dictatorship, in order to push their preferred economy
- pepperonipizza 5y ago
  Don't you mean Chile? Argentina is a textbook about how not to implement populist left wing economic policy.
- randdusing 5y ago
  Did you mean Chile? Chile is doing well compared to other Latin American countries.
  - anoncake 5y ago
    So well an overwhelming majority voted to replace their pro-capitalist constitution.
  - sudosysgen 5y ago
    Chile was doing so well in their capitalist constitution that communists just had an unprecentended jump in support. If you're going to make context less comparisons, Cuba is one of the most developped countries in Latin America.
- zozbot234 5y ago
  Yup, that's ironic. Argentina was the brainchild of the populist economic left, Chile of the non-populist economic right. Neither of the two, to be fair, caring all that much about freedom for the populace. Finding out which is doing better at present is left as an exercise for the interested reader.
- LudwigNagasena 5y ago
  Argentina was always high on Peronist kool-aid, it has nothing to do with the Chicago School of economics.
scotuswroteus 5y ago
In America, there are PhDs as cab drivers. We call it Uber. C'mon.
AdrianB1 5y ago
Did you ask these cab drivers why did they pursue a PhD with the associated cost in time and money if they knew in advance there is no opportunity to use it? Most people that I know with a PhD working outside universities did it for status or for spending some more years studying and not working, not because they needed it.
- Izikiel43 5y ago
  Completely anecdotal data, but in my experience in Argentina people just study what they want just because, in general there isn't an economic reason. Argentina's public universities are tuition free, backed by the state, so you don't have to spend any money to study anything you may want, which leads to people choosing non economically viable careers (PHD in social sciences and other stuff), I think in part because they don't have any cost to recover from, as well as people not liking math. The number of people going into STEM is super low, despite paying much better than other careers, and also allowing you to go to other countries to work. As an example, the School of Psychology in the University of Buenos Aires has around 16k students distributed across 4 degrees (Psychology, musical therapy, and 2 more), whereas the School of Exact and natural sciences had around 7k across ~10 degrees (comp sci, math, physics, geology, biology, chemistry, paleontology and some other I'm forgetting). Comp sci alone probably has 1000 active students. The school of engineering has around 8.5k across several engineering degrees. Data: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universidad_de_Buenos_Aires#Estudiantado https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universidad_de_Buenos_Aires#Es...
Izikiel43 5y ago
The classic engineer of the 90s in Argentina

by mgh2 5y ago

basementcat 5y ago

I had a tow truck driver who had a Ph.D in mechanical engineering. He worked for an engineering company for a few years before he decided to move back to the mountains. I learned so much about control theory riding with him in the cab of his truck.

nnadams 5y ago
People like that resemble modern day "wise men" or sages to me. Our middle school janitor was a math PhD who left academia, became a farmer for decades, and eventually our janitor. He rarely told anyone his credentials. Most people thought he was just some old man. I watched parents and teachers be rude to him, but he'd always smile and be polite. Some of us used to help him from time to time. He was very kind and would always listen to our kid-sized problems while we worked.

hpoe 5y ago

I looked through your link and apart from a handful of sources linking to random Guardian articles and Wikipedia it didn't actually cite the source it used as it's central claim and then proceeded with rather disjointed points each poorly supported and ended with some sort of vague platitude about how we need to look at data despute never actually making a conclusion.

mgh2 5y ago
The conclusion is that there might be a correlation between a country's culture, largely shaped by its majority religion, to its GDP over time. It is too complex to explain so the article is just an inquiry into an overlooked factor, often ignored by economists.

miohtama 5y ago

In Finland, a suburban pizza entrepreneur was called a doctor, because he had a PhD in nuclear physics from Iran.

sc68cal 5y ago

Don't forget that Argentina's economy was the brainchild of the right wing in the United States, and specifically the Chicago School of economics. They overthrew a democractically elected government and installed a military dictatorship, in order to push their preferred economy

pepperonipizza 5y ago
Don't you mean Chile? Argentina is a textbook about how not to implement populist left wing economic policy.
randdusing 5y ago
Did you mean Chile? Chile is doing well compared to other Latin American countries.
- anoncake 5y ago
  So well an overwhelming majority voted to replace their pro-capitalist constitution.
- sudosysgen 5y ago
  Chile was doing so well in their capitalist constitution that communists just had an unprecentended jump in support. If you're going to make context less comparisons, Cuba is one of the most developped countries in Latin America.
zozbot234 5y ago
Yup, that's ironic. Argentina was the brainchild of the populist economic left, Chile of the non-populist economic right. Neither of the two, to be fair, caring all that much about freedom for the populace. Finding out which is doing better at present is left as an exercise for the interested reader.
LudwigNagasena 5y ago
Argentina was always high on Peronist kool-aid, it has nothing to do with the Chicago School of economics.

scotuswroteus 5y ago

In America, there are PhDs as cab drivers. We call it Uber. C'mon.

AdrianB1 5y ago

Did you ask these cab drivers why did they pursue a PhD with the associated cost in time and money if they knew in advance there is no opportunity to use it? Most people that I know with a PhD working outside universities did it for status or for spending some more years studying and not working, not because they needed it.

Izikiel43 5y ago
Completely anecdotal data, but in my experience in Argentina people just study what they want just because, in general there isn't an economic reason. Argentina's public universities are tuition free, backed by the state, so you don't have to spend any money to study anything you may want, which leads to people choosing non economically viable careers (PHD in social sciences and other stuff), I think in part because they don't have any cost to recover from, as well as people not liking math. The number of people going into STEM is super low, despite paying much better than other careers, and also allowing you to go to other countries to work. As an example, the School of Psychology in the University of Buenos Aires has around 16k students distributed across 4 degrees (Psychology, musical therapy, and 2 more), whereas the School of Exact and natural sciences had around 7k across ~10 degrees (comp sci, math, physics, geology, biology, chemistry, paleontology and some other I'm forgetting). Comp sci alone probably has 1000 active students. The school of engineering has around 8.5k across several engineering degrees. Data: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universidad_de_Buenos_Aires#Estudiantado https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universidad_de_Buenos_Aires#Es...

Izikiel43 5y ago

The classic engineer of the 90s in Argentina