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Author Archives: Robert de Vries
Exploring TV’s new obsession with ‘Poverty Porn’
One of our regular readers, Jayne Linney, runs a fascinating blog over at http://jaynelinney.wordpress.com/. In one of her recent posts she examines the renewed surge of interest in patronising documentaries about poor communities. Definitely worth a read: http://jaynelinney.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/poverty-journalism-and-the-media-patronisation-of-the-poor/
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An instinct for fairness?
I’m just now getting around to reading Joseph Stiglitz’s book from last year The Price of Inequality. There’s lots of interesting stuff in there, some of which I may end up talking about here on the blog. But as I was … Continue reading
Posted in Blog posts
Tagged classical economics, dictator game, fairness, Joseph Stiglitz, justice, Price of Inequality, ultimatum game
4 Comments
Practical privilege
We don’t usually just post links to other articles here, but I was really impressed by this honest description of privilege from the side of the privileged. He really nails how his path into his career was so much easier … Continue reading
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Tagged computer science, micro-inequities, slate, technical privliege
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The Habits of Highly Annoying Get-Rich Gurus
Sorry for the extended holiday hiatus everyone. Both Brendan and I have been really busy and have struggled to find time for blogging. But now we’re back, so why not let us start the year with something horribly depressing and … Continue reading
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Tagged Dave Ramsey, get-rich, habits, poor people, poverty, rich people, Tom Corley
7 Comments
The Boris Johnson ‘Cornflake’ model of social mobility
There are some Boris Johnson news stories we can all enjoy. Like that time he fell in a river. Or when he got stuck up on a zip-wire. Or even when he rescued that woman being menaced by youths – … Continue reading
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Tagged Boris Johnson, cornflake, Inequality, IQ, Mayor of London, social mobility
5 Comments
What are elite universities for?
A perennial question in higher education is whether elite institutions like Oxford and Cambridge are doing enough to recruit people from outside the traditional pool of white private-school kids. Every year we have the same conversation, and reach the same … Continue reading
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Tagged admissions, Cambridge, higher education, Oxford, social mobility
2 Comments
The problem of low pay
Low pay is a huge problem in the UK. Of the 11 million people currently living in poverty, 6 million have jobs. Some of this is due to under-employment – people who work, but can’t get full-time hours – but … Continue reading
Posted in Blog posts
Tagged low pay, low wages, minimum wage, poverty, tax credits, unemployment
8 Comments
Do people always create the same status hierarchies?
It’s been a while since we talked about the inequality hypothesis on this blog. It’s also been a while since I’ve seen any coverage of it elsewhere. For certain politicians and commentators on the left it seems to have settled … Continue reading
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Tagged income inequality, Pickett, social hierarchies, social status, social stratification, The Spirit Level, Wilkinson
11 Comments
Money worries are cognitive handicap for poor people
I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while, but am only just now getting around to it. At the end of August, Science published a paper showing that worrying about money has a significant impact on poor people’s … Continue reading
Posted in Blog posts
Tagged Anandi Mani, bad decisions, cognitive function, financial concerns, mental handicap, money worries, poor people, poverty
2 Comments
Should we get rid of corporation tax (part 2)
In the last post I talked about why so many people endorse the idea of completely scrapping corporation tax. To briefly reiterate the main arguments: We don’t know who mostly bears the costs of corporation tax. So if what we … Continue reading
