Raghuram Rajan: evaluation

Transcript context

…Should the existence of the internet make us super optimistic about community? Or super pessimistic? I think that it actually helps in many ways. Often, we worry about the internet — people spending so much time away — the traditional picture of a family of four eating, and each one on their cell phone, communicating with somebody outside. But in fact, when you look at the evidence, it seems like it can also help bring together people. My kids, for example — they are so much more in touch with their college friends — through Facebook and so on — in a way that we never were. There’s an example in the book of this community, Netville, where they actually overlay internet on half a community. This is exactly what an economist wants: a randomized experiment, half the community linked, the other half not. Which segment does better in maintaining social ties? It’s the one that’s linked. Because they can traverse locked doors, they can communicate with each other, they can do social events together, and it works a lot better. The internet offers a lot of possibilities, not all of them good. Absolutely. But it offers a way to stay together which we didn’t have in the past. And now there’s new ways of getting together, again, which we didn’t have in the past. Why doesn’t online education work better, then? What’s special about face to face?…

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