Obese politicians signal corruption, study finds

https://eurasianet.org/obese-politicians-signal-corruption-study-finds

by ktln2 • 6 years ago

65 24 6 years ago

eurasianet.org

mmastrac• 6 years ago

More accurate title: Obese post-Soviet politicians correlate with corruption.

Simulacra• 6 years ago

have you seen Jerold Nadler?

gringoDan• 6 years ago

N = 299. Not sure how meaningful those results are.

gpanders• 6 years ago

I'm no statistician, but since the underlying population in this case (the set of all politicians) is much smaller than the general population, shouldn't that mean that a smaller sample size is more representative?

rodiger• 6 years ago

More representative, but difficult to draw any "real" predictive power

Someone12342• 6 years ago

N is 15, not 299.

This is comparing one measure for each of the 15 countries against three other measures (cabinet minister's average obesity Vs. Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, World Bank worldwide governance indicator Control of Corruption, and Index of Public Integrity).

The 299 is the combined number of cabinet ministers whose weight were averaged, which is a single measure per location, not the actual subject of the statistical question (which is a country, not an individual cabinet minister).

It also isn't in a peer reviewed journal at all.

teej• 6 years ago

N = 15 is a lot larger than you think when the highest possible N is ~200.

rsynnott3• 6 years ago

I think it may not be entirely serious (or at least the news article's coverage of it isn't).

rsynnott3• 6 years ago

In other news:

"'I was too fat' Boris Johnson says we must lose weight to fight Coronavirus"

Perhaps the new svelter Boris will have the side benefit of reducing Tory expenses scandals.

DC-3• 6 years ago

Expenses scandals are a pointless distraction. The lowest hanging fruit of corruption in the UK is the stuffing of the House of Lords.

rsynnott3• 6 years ago

But expenses scandals result in public perception of corruption (which is what the study's about), so logically, based on this definitely real and very sensible study, thinner PMs should lead to fewer of them!

roganp• 6 years ago

Let me have men about me that are fat, Sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous.

lota-putty• 6 years ago

Body keeps score...

1-6• 6 years ago

Fat shaming?

curious_fella1• 6 years ago

Science is not interested in political correctness.

cosmodisk• 6 years ago

In Lithuania we often call them 'beavers'- a standard picture of a man in his mid 50s, fat as hell and equally corrupt. At least we are having fewer and fewer of these. However,these occasionally get replaced by the other type- the 'slick ones'. Men in their mid 30s early 40s, outspoken, well looking and equally full of shit.

raincom• 6 years ago

In other words, body weight is irrelevant:)

jaboutboul• 6 years ago

I’m calling bullshit on this one. Is this not just basically profiling?

Some of the methods here sound especially troubling and while we all can enjoy a laugh at the expense of Soviet-wannabe dictators, how is this any different than saying some blanket physical attribute is correlated to some negative behavior or crime, etc?

I’m sure there are skinny leaders who are equally as corrupt. Maybe the skinny ones are even more corrupt and are just more able to afford personal trainers?

yters• 6 years ago

If all politicians are corrupt this would also be true.

mimined• 6 years ago

Such an interesting header and such a disappointing content! I grew up in Latvia and, trust me, the levels of corruption in Latvia are astonishing and are only limited by a relatively small budget. Yet, people are generally quite slim, and the biggest politicians are mostly sleek, tall and quite good looking.

This study needs a LOT more insight. It basically says that there is correlation with the exception of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and sometimes Ukraine. Well, that's basically all the Western/European post-USSR space, which is a lot, so it diminishes the entire thesis.

Also, countries like Tajikistan were affected by starvation after the WW2 a lot more than the Baltic States, which this study doesn't mention. Several years ago Ukraine were commemorating people who have been through Holodomor, which was also a period of severe starvation in Ukrainian SSR imposed by the collectivism after the WW2, and I remember seeing this guy receiving a medal for it... The guy was morbidly obese. So, in my opinion, it would be useful to look into the correlation of financial struggle in the USSR era and the modern attitude towards food and things that were not easily obtainable back in the USSR.

simonblack• 6 years ago

Hmmm. Wonder what's up with Pompeo??

Obese politicians signal corruption, study finds

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