Why drinkers earn more than nondrinkers (2006)

http://reason.org/news/show/127594.html

by ranit8 • 15 years ago

9 9 15 years ago

reason.org

andreadallera• 15 years ago

Is this serious? Correlation != causation. A PhD should know that.

andersh2• 15 years ago

Kneejerk pseudo-knowledgeable response there.

They are not claiming causation. They are hypothesizing correlation between drinking and sociability/social network size, and causation from that to higher earnings.

extension• 15 years ago

"We hypothesize that drinking leads to higher earnings by increasing social capital."

The hypothesis seems to be that drinking makes people like you and that gets you better jobs.

As opposed to being social getting you better jobs and making you drink more, or having a better job allowing you to drink and be social, two alternate explanations which seem a lot more likely to me.

ivancho2• 15 years ago

right, except for the bit where they suggest that we should encourage drinking to boost earnings. It is the absolute definition of the correlation/causation mistake. They also got a positive coefficient on the Divorced variable - I guess we should encourage divorces to boost the economy?

colanderman• 15 years ago

Beside, showing that drinkers earn more does not show that drinking is an overall economic boon as the first sentence implies. It could as easily mean that drinkers simply get a bigger slice of the pie.

ivancho2• 15 years ago

Why should the causality go this way? Perhaps rich people drink and go to bars because they can afford it. I'm quite unimpressed with their logic

andersh2• 15 years ago

I think it's a bigger stretch to propose that social drinking is the preserve of the rich.

spindritf• 15 years ago

Intelligent people are also supposedly more likely to drink heavily

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundament... (I know, the source leaves a little to be desired)

pan69• 15 years ago

Over the years I've worked in many advertising agencies and from what I have seen, socializing definitely increases capital gain.

All the ad boys going out for drinks at the end of the day (every day) and over time seeing complete morons being promoted into positions and roles they wouldn't qualify for if they'd gone for any decent job interview.

Unfortunately, all this socializing is very un-hackerish and might be the reason many programmers always seem to miss the boat when it comes to a decent salary.

Why drinkers earn more than nondrinkers (2006)

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