4 ms·

The issue at stake here is the counterfactual ‘If guns were (not) available, would the suicide rate be different’. How does your (oddly specific) statistic add

• ctdonath 13y ago
  The suicidal find a way. Where guns are not available, in at least one major comparable example, the suicide rate is different by being higher (by a lot). Sure, guns make it easy...but there are many other easy ways.
  • DigitalTurk 13y ago
    I don't think Japan and the USA are very comparable. In fact, I think insofar modern countries are concerned you'd be hard pressed to find two countries that are more different than Japan and the USA!
    • hga 13y ago
      No, no, not at all. We're both "high trust" societies. Compare to the Chinese stereotype/archetype of not trusting someone outside the family to run part of the business, which helped to kill Wang in the US and abroad outside of the PRC tends to limit firms to simple types like trading companies. I agree, we are in many ways very different, many of them fundamental, but many fundamental are similar enough.
      • DigitalTurk 13y ago
        > We're both "high trust" societies. Compare to the Chinese stereotype/archetype of not trusting someone outside the family to run part of the business, which helped to kill Wang in the US and abroad outside of the PRC tends to limit firms to simple types like trading companies. Sure, but I explicitly excluded non-modern countries. (I have lived in China.) > I agree, we are in many ways very different, many of them fundamental, but many fundamental are similar enough. Okay, but you're not controlling for any variables. Like you say, there are many differences even if there are similarities too.