Saturday, September 07, 2013

Only Time-Travelers can Journey from Saint Petersburg to Leningrad

Only time-travelers can journey from Saint Petersburg to Leningrad, and only they can return from the horrors and the drabness to the splendors. And not even God can so love the others as to transport them.

Notes:
1. St. Petersburg:  A virtual journey
2. St. Petersburg: Video
3. St. Petersburg: A History
4. The 900-day Siege of Leningrad

Friday, September 06, 2013

Thursday, September 05, 2013

So Living in an Area with a Large Middle Class Boosts a Poor Child's Prospects of Rising to Middle Class Status?

In a celebrated US study of income mobility, economist Raj Chetty and three colleagues have found that location -- the area or city in which one lives -- is highly correlated with one's social mobility chances. More specifically, living in a predominantly middle class area boosts a poor child's chances for intergenerational mobility into middle class status. Conversely, policy measures aimed directly at growing the middle class today have the consequence of giving an upward mobility push to children now living in poverty or the lower class.

Whether a location has the 'nourishment' which directly confer middle class status to the next generation, or is instead merely the reflection and 'effect' of middle class living, remains an unresolved question -- but one which does not hold back the enthusiasm patently displayed by Chetty and his colleagues. The full study is not readily available online, as far as I can see, but you will find a useful summary and equally valuable links here>>>