Scott Alexander reviews a book attributing rising service costs to the Baumol effect, finding it convincing but raising some concerns about conflicting data and affordability issues. Longer summary

Scott Alexander reviews the book 'Why Are The Prices So D*mn High?' by economists Alex Tabarrok and Eric Helland, which attributes rising costs in services like healthcare and education to the Baumol effect. The authors argue that as productivity increases in some sectors, wages rise across all sectors, making labor-intensive services relatively more expensive. Scott finds their case convincing but raises some concerns, including data on stagnant real wages, conflicting information on professional salaries, and the apparent decrease in affordability of services like education, which the Baumol effect shouldn't cause. He seeks further clarification on these points to fully accept the Baumol effect as the primary explanation for cost disease. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander explores why medical residency test scores plateau after the first few years, proposing theories related to knowledge retention and individual differences in learning. Longer summary

The post discusses the plateau in standardized test scores for medical residents across different specialties. Scott Alexander analyzes data from internal medicine, psychiatry, and surgery residencies, noting that while scores improve significantly in the first year or two, they tend to level off in later years. He explores various potential explanations for this plateau, including ceiling effects, decreased motivation, and changes in teaching methods, but finds these unsatisfactory. The author proposes that the plateau might be related to how knowledge is reinforced and retained, drawing parallels to spaced repetition learning techniques. He suggests that individual differences in memory, intellectual curiosity, and integration of knowledge may contribute to the differences in scores among residents at the same level. The post concludes by considering the implications of this plateau effect for understanding learning and education more broadly. Shorter summary

The post criticizes unnecessary college degree requirements in various professions and proposes an alternative to Bernie Sanders' free college tuition plan. Longer summary

This post critiques the current higher education system, particularly in the United States, by drawing parallels with a fictional tulip subsidy scenario. The author argues that requiring college degrees for many jobs is unnecessary, expensive, and harmful to society. He uses examples from medicine, teaching, and other professions to illustrate how degree requirements often don't correlate with job performance or outcomes. The post then criticizes Bernie Sanders' proposal for free college tuition, suggesting it would perpetuate a broken system. Instead, the author proposes making 'college degree' a protected characteristic in hiring practices to combat degree inflation. Shorter summary