See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_Level_(Wilkinson_an...
Especially the failures to replicate.
Re:The Death of the Middle-Class Musician
by anon_e-moose on Sunday June 29, 2025 @04:22AM
(#44411268)
Good points, he seems to be in to something in the health field, but the analysis was incomplete and flawed. Given the importance of the health results, perhaps someone could build on top of that and build an improved study?
See also 'The Spirit Level Delusion' by Christopher Snowdon.
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/03/th...
1. Any research of any note will get criticism. (E.g. see responses to Picketty.)
2. From Wikipedia it appears they responded to all the substantial criticism. It also mentions an independent study largely agreeing with the results.
3. This is one book amongst a mountain of research, and there are problems with inequality that go beyond those the book mentions.
I agree that Wikipedia wasn't the best source to go for criticism: Wikipedia is very sympathetic to the claims like in the book, so the criticism section is very weak sauce.
It is indeed noble that the authors responded to the criticism, but unlike what Wikipedia seems to imply, they didn't manage to rescue their argument.
See https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/03/th... from another comment.
Re:The Death of the Middle-Class Musician
by trust_bt_verify on Sunday June 29, 2025 @07:39AM
(#44412287)
A blog post referencing another blog post doesn’t seem to rise to the level of total disregard for the original study. But maybe we can try Wikipedia again.
The problems of inequality go well beyond living standards. E.g. political control in a very unequal society gets concentrated in a few people.