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Jan 17, 2017
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Another Followup To “Economists On Education”

6 min • 702 words • 203 comments
Scott Alexander's bet about readers misinterpreting an article on economists' views on school vouchers is settled through two surveys, confirming his argument. Longer summary
Scott Alexander follows up on his previous post about economists' views on school vouchers as reported in a news article. He had argued that the article misrepresented economists' opinions, and to settle the disagreement, he proposed a bet that most people would misinterpret the article. Two independent surveys were conducted on Mechanical Turk, both showing that a large majority of readers (91% and 78%) misinterpreted the article to claim that economists opposed privatizing education. This empirically settled the disagreement, with Scott winning the bet. He expresses satisfaction at being able to decisively resolve a dispute through experimentation. Shorter summary
Dec 31, 2016
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Addendum To “Economists On Education”

8 min • 1,023 words • 86 comments
Scott Alexander argues that a New York Times article misrepresented economists' views on school vouchers, offering evidence and proposing a bet to prove the article was misleading. Longer summary
Scott Alexander critiques a New York Times article that claimed economists generally don't support school vouchers. He argues the article misrepresented survey data and gave a misleading impression. Scott points out that the data could be interpreted to support the opposite conclusion, that the article's phrasing likely led readers to an incorrect understanding of economists' views, and that a follow-up survey showed much stronger economist support for vouchers. He offers to bet that most readers would get a false impression from the article, initially agreeing to a bet with Noah Smith, though this later fell through. Shorter summary
Dec 02, 2016
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Contra Robinson On Schooling

45 min • 6,286 words • 608 comments
Scott Alexander critiques arguments against school vouchers, discussing potential efficiency gains and drawbacks of privatization in education, while proposing experimental approaches to school reform. Longer summary
Scott Alexander critiques Nathan Robinson's arguments against school vouchers, discussing the potential efficiency gains and drawbacks of privatization in education. He compares education to other sectors like healthcare and grocery stores, analyzes the rising costs in public education, and proposes experimental approaches to school reform, including a system of small, home-based schools. Shorter summary