Asymmetrical Information

Two points:

First, I am quite glad to see that we commenters here are not so...er...blunt as the ones that post for Ezra. (and good for him re: his response)

Second, IMHO, wining and dining a woman can achieve a lot of positive results. Getting her to change her mind is not one of them.

Which brings me to the one statement in your post in responding to the despicable gent who made that claim originally.

You said, "And giving up opinions for someone else is not just crazy; it's undignified."

Yeah, it probably is undignified, but around these parts we just call it part of being married.

Jane,

We, your loyal long-time readers, know you are able to form opinions all by yourself. (Some of those opinions are the correct ones, even.)

One quick question: On the Economist's anonymous blog, Free exchange, two Ezra Klein posts just went up. An Ezra Klein post was made at about the same time here, on Asymmetrical Information. Coincidence or might the author of all three posts be the same person?

Love the Economist's blogs, by the way.

"Some." Not "many."

Or perhaps, more accurately, "a few."

wining and dining a woman can achieve a lot of positive results. Getting her to change her mind is not one of them.

That depends on what you want her to change her mind about. I believe that you can cause her to significantly increase the discount rate for her future dignity, which is not irrelevant in this discussion. (I will admit that my experience here is scant.)

But in all seriousness, constant exposure to a viewpoint often tends to make that viewpoint seem more reasonable and correct, does it not? So without being either vulgar or mysoginist, one could be led to wonder if (perceived) changes were the result of long-term exposure to a liberal guy.

Besides, how many guys are pro-choice liberals because the girls they want insist on it?

I find the doctor tweekin' your meds was plausible, but more likely you're just bored. I don't get the who AGW policy as insurance concept, seems like the opposite of insurance and risk mitigation doesn't make sense if you can't measure the reduction in risk.

who=whole

In the 2nd anonymous post on Free Exchange right now, the anonymous blogger mentions again this oft-quoted comment that European countries treat stillbirths differently than the US in terms of infant mortality statistics.

Does ANYONE have anything to back that statement up? I really would like to see it; I might even believe it's true. I seem to recall hours of me googling to try to find that statement in some sort of scholarly journal, only to find it repeated in polemics without attribution.

international infant mortality rankings: a look behind the numbers.
From: Health Care Financing Review | Date: 6/22/1992 | Author: Chawla, Juhi

____

There are other articles out there.

Haub, C. and Yanagishita, M.: Infant Mortality: Who's Number One? Population Today 19(3):6-8, 1991

Two of my favorite stats:
"Overall infant mortality(In the United States) decreased by 40%
when all infants born at 22 weeks’gestation or
earlier were removed. This decrease was not
proportional, with the African American and
White race-specific infant mortality rates declining
40% and 30%, respectively."

2nd: Philadelphia attempted 10 times as many deliveries under 23 weeks as Austaralia, Sweden and Japan combined. Japan attempted 0.

Basically, there is a lot of evidence that the US IMR(infant mortality rate) spikes b/c the US tries to save more at hisk risk infants. The US has a much higher first day death rate b/c of the attempts.

I don't see anything wrong with changing your politics to suit your love life. Of course, that may be because when I met my husband his politics was based on the music of Rage Against The Machine, and I introduced him to libertarianism.

And you know what they say about the passion of the converted.

Three words: Mr. Joel Stein

Hederman: I am inclined to believe the US half of the story, as my wife is a NICU nurse.

Thanks for the refs -- this will be fun.

Perhaps its due to using the name Jane Galt.

Global warming, Joel Stein, sinus infections- hell, the Galts are just too tough for this stuff.
A vegetarian Galt? Hah!!! The Galts eat steak. Sometimes they go to Africa, just so they can bag an elephant. They usually do this right before the holidays, so Grandma Galt can make her favorite minced meat pie. Elephant meat is the secret ingredient. That's why all other minced meat pies taste like crap; nobody except the Galts know about the secret ingredient.

Not only do infant mortality rate measurements vary from country to country, they vary from hospital to hospital in this country. Hospitals with the most aggressive attempts to save premature babies often have relatively poor infant mortality numbers. You lose points for trying and failing, but lose nothing for not trying. I suspected this, then finally asked a top rated neonatologist. My suspicions were confirmed with a "doesn't everybody know that?" response.

To get back on topic, I saw that comment on Ezra's site and started giggling. Seriously, Ezra's like, what, twenty-two? Twenty-three? I mean he's certainly cute but..ahem...seriously?

To get back on topic, I saw that comment on Ezra's site and started giggling. Seriously, Ezra's like, what, twenty-two? Twenty-three? I mean he's certainly cute but..ahem...seriously? - Kate

Are you suggesting that Jane is too old for Ezra?

Perhaps not too old for Ezra, but perhaps Better Than Ezra by virtue of the fact that she's so darned Good.

Well, we should all be able to agree that our Jane is too good for Ezra (and just about any other man). ;)

The suggestion is that Klein is too young, a mere child, unlikely to impress the worldly Galt.

Certainly not inconceivable, as some of my best friends verge on true conspiracy-theorist moonbattiness.

However, don't underestimate the power of wine, roses, feminine hormones. I recommend indulging in all of the above frequently and with great abandon.

Sleep with a teddy bear (or comparable stuffed animal of your choice) but never the enemy.

Jane,

Please don't take this the wrong way, but it seemed to me that the comment at Mr. Klein's blog had more to do with his judgement than your own. It struck me that whoever it was was suggesting that it was inconceivalbe that Mr. Klein, rather than you, was under the influence of wine, roses, and a raging flood of harmones. Stupid and offensive, in any case, though.

Yeah, it probably is undignified, but around these parts we just call it part of being married.

Jeez, Reagan Fan, you don't know what you're missing out on. Some of my wife and my best...romps proceded screaming (okay, hollering) at each other about politics. It's sort of like make-up sex without the actual personally hurt feelings.

Are you suggesting that Jane is too old for Ezra?

No, I was suggesting that Ezra was to young for Jane.

Please don't get me wrong, young guys have their advantages but...

just can't imagine wanting to date someone who still thinks the $1.99 raman noodles are good food.

Again, I can understand conservation for it's own sake; reducing greenhouse gas emissions simply as an exercise, something to structure your way of living around (same for vegetarianism, to simplify and manage your diet); to move more easily in circles you enjoy which happen to value the behavior a lot; to get a nod of appreciation from people who are normally closed off to your point of view; so that there will be more for people who may put the resources to better use or ease the burden of people with tighter budgets... But to reduce emissions to reduce insurance risk flies in the face of reason. It's absurd.

(such a rationalization does imply that there are motivations you are hiding)

It was a cheap comment - Ezra need not even have dignified it with a response but its well & good he did. Just learn to ignore

$1.99 ramen noodles? Aren't they like 4 packs for a dollar nowadays? Or have they eightpled in the years since the class of 95?

$1.99 ramen noodles? Aren't they like 4 packs for a dollar nowadays? Or have they eightpled in the years since the class of 95?

Kate is from NYC. Things are more expensive there.

I reckon it'd be uncouth of me to point out that I've never noticed a problem with females -- bloggers or not -- forming an opinion. So I won't. But I haven't.

$1.99? 4/$1.00?

I get mad when I have to pay more than $1 per 10-pack!

No, no, you can still get the low quality ramen noodles for cheap (I remember when I was in college if you bought in bulk you could get them for 7 cents each packet), but if you go to the Japanese Supermarket you can get high quality ramen noodles for $1.25 - $2.00 which actually aren't awful. My point was that when you are young the good quality raman noodles are akin to gourmet demonstrating that as you age your preferences change.

I think.

Okay, I'll waste just a little more thread space with a ramen comment:

I don't understand the notion of "gourmet" ramen, and doubt I would have in my younger days. If you're gonna blow $1.25 - $2.00, why not just get a hotdog?

Although, mind you, the idea that one doesn't date people with opposing but still sorta mainstream political beliefs, is some freaky-deaky wack-ass stuff right there.

I didn't say that I don't date liberals, I just don't happen to be doing so at the moment. I am also not dating a guitar player, a hedge fund analyst, or anyone named William, even though I have done all three with rather alarming frequency, and in fact would be happy to do so again should the right one come along. None of which is all that relevant to my political beliefs. ;-)

Bill, because in those heady days, some of us were vegetarians.

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