tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6976144462093297473.post6295810935846692867..comments2024-03-26T19:10:00.791-04:00Comments on West Coast Stat Views (on Observational Epidemiology and more): Why is investment in human capital out of favor?Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10760453165301871031noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6976144462093297473.post-70505145634440861522012-09-22T15:14:52.321-04:002012-09-22T15:14:52.321-04:00Like so many things Romney, this is something of a...Like so many things Romney, this is something of a gray area. You can certainly find quotes where Romney has dismissed the role money and family connections (quotes that have prompted sharp responses from Kwak, Thoma and others.)<br /><br />http://baselinescenario.com/2012/09/17/the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving/<br /><br />http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2012/09/the-stock-came-from-mitts-father.html<br /><br />Nor, to my knowledge, has he said anything about the role the Romney name might have played in what was a fairly connection dependent business.<br /><br />It's possible that Romney feels that substituting comparable benefits from the government would have created dependency, but, based on what he's said, it's also possible that he hasn't really acknowledged how much benefit he got from family money and connections.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14705408455380402571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6976144462093297473.post-63896903500134474622012-09-19T19:09:50.706-04:002012-09-19T19:09:50.706-04:00@Andrew: this is an interesting take on this view ...@Andrew: this is an interesting take on this view and one that makes a lot of sense. Thank you. Josephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10760453165301871031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6976144462093297473.post-74524090187975294712012-09-19T12:02:27.778-04:002012-09-19T12:02:27.778-04:00My impression is that Romney thinks that benefits ...My impression is that Romney thinks that benefits from government lead to dependency, whereas benefits from family or church do not. (Romney doesn't deny receiving benefits from his own family.) The argument, perhaps, is that to get benefits from government, you just have to fill out a form, whereas to get benefits from family or church you need to be polite, etc., to satisfy your benefactors. This also explains why Romney does not consider civilian or military government employees to be moochers, as they are actually working for their money, not just standing in line to get their monthly checks.<br /><br />I'm not endorsing (or anti-endorsing) this view, just explaining how Romney may be more consistent than you're giving him credit for.Andrew Gelmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02715992780769751789noreply@blogger.com