Neglected topics in academia, according to a survey.
1. Race/group differences
2. Sex/gender differences and biology
3. Religion/tradition/meaning
4. Markets/political economy/the political right
❌When open inquiry shrinks, so does the scope of what scholars study.
In collaboration with @epkaufm and @Hartz_PhD, this new survey of HxA members shows exactly which topics some scholars feel are off limits:
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I don't have a strong view on whether Holmes should be in prison or not. But I think its fascinating how our culture(s) oscillate between the social norms of gender equality & the social norms of chivalry. This argument is an example of the latter xitter.cf/TheFP/status/211261250…
Elizabeth Holmes’s crimes were egregious. But far fewer women, with or without children, should be incarcerated at all, writes Tyler Cowen. thefp.com/p/tyler-cowen-eliz…
This is the problem with putting multinational peacekeeping forces into Haiti.
El Salvador joined the latest one. Now it is getting dragged deeper into the quagmire.
Putting troops into Haiti is a thankless task.
Private military contractors may be a better option.
BREAKING:
Bukele announces that El Salvador is launching a military operation in Haiti against the gangs.
The goal is to free 4 Salvadoran citizens kidnapped by the Haitian gangs. Bukele threatens that El Salvador will eradicate the Haitian gangs if they hurt the kidnapped men:
“To the gang leaders and gang members holding our four compatriots hostage in Haiti:
Our kidnapped men are not combatants. They are aviation technicians who are part of our mission in Haiti, within the framework of an international mission. Our mission consists only of pilots and technical personnel, whose primary job is to carry out medical evacuations and save lives, not to wage war.
However, they were kidnapped in a cowardly manner while returning after buying food at a market in the area.
That is why, today, we have launched a military operation to rescue them. We have a single objective: to bring our four compatriots back home alive, without any harm.
However, I want you, the gang leaders, to understand one thing very clearly: today's attack is nothing compared to what is coming if we do not get all four hostages back alive.
And do not take our word for empty threats. We have already finished with the gangs in El Salvador, and we can finish with you too.
We still have time to avoid this.
Return our four compatriots to us alive, without any harm, and everything will go back to how it was before the kidnapping.
The decision is in your hands”
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Another study showing that peers, not professors, shift opinion leftward during university.
Left-leaning professors cater to left-leaning students.
Data shows very few conservative profs, so student priors are reinforced, not challenged.
micah-baum.github.io/files/b…
Life in Haiti?
Foreigners provide necessities like food, clothing, basic medical.
Housing is free: just build a shack.
Earn a little by services like clipping fingernails or hawking.
The problem is other Haitians. Gangs. Government provides no services.
Rural Haitian women
"habitually fondle the genitals of male infants, toddlers, and boys up to the ages of nine and ten years
propagate the myth that a celibate man can go insane, become ill, and may die
tease timid boys and ridicule celibate men, taunting them with names like jay-jay (retarded) and masisi (gay)
goad younger brothers and even sons into pursuing nubile young women"
From an anthropologist on polygyny in Haiti
timothyschwartzhaiti.com/pol…
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Rank maintained overall but organised in descending order based on per capita rates based on 2000 populations.
🌍 European countries that added the most migrants (2000–2024)
1. 🇬🇧 United Kingdom: +7.1M
2. 🇪🇸 Spain: +6.8M
3. 🇩🇪 Germany: +6.4M
4. 🇹🇷 Türkiye: +5.8M
5. 🇮🇹 Italy: +4.4M
6. 🇫🇷 France: +3.0M
7. 🇦🇹 Austria: +1.4M
8. 🇳🇱 Netherlands: +1.4M
9. 🇨🇭 Switzerland: +1.3M
10. 🇧🇪 Belgium: +1.3M
11. 🇸🇪 Sweden: +1.3M
12. 🇵🇱 Poland: +917K
13. 🇮🇪 Ireland: +840K
14. 🇳🇴 Norway: +720K
15. 🇷🇴 Romania: +521K
16. 🇵🇹 Portugal: +476K
17. 🇩🇰 Denmark: +475K
18. 🇭🇺 Hungary: +393K
19. 🇨🇿 Czechia: +386K
20. 🇫🇮 Finland: +378K
Europe's migrant population grew by 40.8 million between 2000 and 2024, up 67%. The UK, Spain and Germany together account for almost half of that increase.
Source: UN DESA
Progress in Haiti against the gangs.
The US gave the police better weapons. They now look like an army.
The government hired Erik Prince's mercenaries, who use drones.
We'll see if this is enough. Better than the failed peacekeeping forces previously tried.
CNN gains exclusive access to Erik Prince's operation in Haiti as security forces battle gangs that control much of Port-au-Prince. Nick Paton Walsh reports.
Watch the full report on cnn.com/allaccess.
CNN shows some of the private military contractors in Haiti. CNN says they are former special forces. Accent sounds Aussie to me.
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We know that culture drives fertility more than money these days, but what specifically is it about culture?
In wonderful report published today, @FamStudies surveyed 10,000 people around the world to learn what it is about culture that leads people to have kids or not. 🧵.
In this new report, @lymanstoneky @PeterRFB and @DrJasonCarroll begin the work of opening the black box of fertility culture. We explore the specific factors across and within societies that lead some people to have many more children than others.
We used a survey of nearly 10,000 people spanning over a dozen countries.
Most of our survey covered questions that have rarely, if ever, been
surveyed cross-nationally, or have not been surveyed in a research program that also. As a result, we can present first-of-a-kind evidence on what specific. cultural norms typify successful pronatal cultures.
Here are our main findings:
1. Friends and family matter to fertility intentions.
2. The family lives of celebrities (and the visibility of celebrity family lives)
influence the family lives of fans.
3. Effective pronatal beliefs entail positive attitudes towards family life, but not necessarily any particular sense of obligation.
4. Division of household labor does not have a big impact on fertility.
5. Active faith matters to fertility desire and outcomes.
6. A willingness to take risks and an optimism about the future both predict intentions to have children and the number of children a respondent already has.
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First polls after the October 17 riots: Marine Le Pen wins in the run-off no matter who her opponent is. Her margins have never been so wide.
Canada got sneered at for being bland and vanilla.
As if to prove how desperate for status and approval they are, Canada's elite went crazy on immigration.
But still there's sneering at Canada for being bland and vanilla.
Those desperate efforts were worthless.
Recently @TheEconomist called Canada a “blandly rich vanilla milkshake of a country.”
But in reality, we’re a diverse, educated and rich in resources the world wants. We’ve got dim sum, biryani, pasta, perogies and pho to name a few.
If you find Canada bland, I have questions about your research. And your lunch.🥪 🍜 🍝 🥟 🇨🇦