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Conversations with Tyler / episode intelligence

Raj Chetty on Teachers, Social Mobility, and How to Find Answers to Big Questions

24 May 2017 27 published claims 2 attributable people

Speakers in the public record

Claim mix

belief 14evaluation 3recommendation 3preference 3prediction 2uncertainty 1observation 1

Evidence policy

Every row below preserves an exact excerpt. Identified speakers are linked; unresolved voices are labeled and excluded from people counts.

Claim ledger

The useful parts, with receipts.

27 published records

01 / belief

From a justice perspective and also from the perspective of trying to think about ultimately how might you change something like that. At that age, I think I was too young to put those pieces together.

“From a justice perspective and also from the perspective of trying to think about ultimately how might you change something like that. At that age, I think I was too young to put those pieces together.”
Speaker
Raj Chetty
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

02 / belief

As I was saying earlier, while experience is one predictor of teachers’ impacts, in a way a much more important predictor are these value-added or other types of measures of performance. And I think tying pay or bonuses or efforts to retain teachers to performance measures — whether they’re test-score-based, value-added measures, or principal ratings or something else — is quite sensible.

“As I was saying earlier, while experience is one predictor of teachers’ impacts, in a way a much more important predictor are these value-added or other types of measures of performance. And I think tying pay or bonuses or efforts to retain teachers to performance measures — whether they’re test-score-based, value-added measures, or principal ratings or something else — is quite sensible.”
Speaker
Raj Chetty
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

03 / belief

One, we find that areas with more concentrated poverty — take the city of Baltimore, for example — we find very poor outcomes for boys in particular, relative to girls, and we think that that has to do with crime, and getting involved in gangs, and so forth — things that girls are less likely to do.

“One, we find that areas with more concentrated poverty — take the city of Baltimore, for example — we find very poor outcomes for boys in particular, relative to girls, and we think that that has to do with crime, and getting involved in gangs, and so forth — things that girls are less likely to do.”
Speaker
Raj Chetty
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

06 / belief

I learned through that experience that while science was fascinating and extremely important, I was more excited about the statistical aspects of that work rather than the staining itself or the pipetting or the microscopy.

“I learned through that experience that while science was fascinating and extremely important, I was more excited about the statistical aspects of that work rather than the staining itself or the pipetting or the microscopy.”
Speaker
Raj Chetty
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

07 / belief

I think Bob correctly points out that there are lots of trends going in a direction that might have led you to think that this would be getting worse over time.

“I think Bob correctly points out that there are lots of trends going in a direction that might have led you to think that this would be getting worse over time.”
Speaker
Raj Chetty
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

08 / belief

I think the existence of dividends itself is a bit of a puzzle, and our paper, which shows that changes in tax rates affect the amount of dividends firms pay out, doesn’t fully address that puzzle.

“I think the existence of dividends itself is a bit of a puzzle, and our paper, which shows that changes in tax rates affect the amount of dividends firms pay out, doesn’t fully address that puzzle.”
Speaker
Raj Chetty
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

11 / uncertainty

Now, this is a bit of conjecture — I don’t know whether that’s exactly the mechanism — but what I can tell you is what does seem to persist are these gains in terms of student’s non-cognitive skills.

“Now, this is a bit of conjecture — I don’t know whether that’s exactly the mechanism — but what I can tell you is what does seem to persist are these gains in terms of student’s non-cognitive skills.”
Speaker
Raj Chetty
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

12 / belief

We’ll get back to that paper, but let’s briefly talk about two of your earliest hit papers that are still, I think, your two most heavily cited papers.

“We’ll get back to that paper, but let’s briefly talk about two of your earliest hit papers that are still, I think, your two most heavily cited papers.”
Speaker
Tyler Cowen
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

14 / belief

At some abstract level, I think that logic has to be right, that eventually, in order to raise the level of education beyond some point, we’re going to have to spend more and more on that, but I don’t think we’re close enough empirically to such a point that that is really a critical consideration at the moment.

“At some abstract level, I think that logic has to be right, that eventually, in order to raise the level of education beyond some point, we’re going to have to spend more and more on that, but I don’t think we’re close enough empirically to such a point that that is really a critical consideration at the moment.”
Speaker
Raj Chetty
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

15 / observation

There’s a whole bunch of different steps, and you’re trying to do well at each of them and very few other people can do well at each and every one, and maybe that’s the way to think about your moat.

“There’s a whole bunch of different steps, and you’re trying to do well at each of them and very few other people can do well at each and every one, and maybe that’s the way to think about your moat.”
Speaker
Tyler Cowen
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

17 / belief

I think some of the most important questions in economics and social science have not yet been fully answered, and the recent availability of big data of various types allows us, for the first time, to tackle those classic questions.

“I think some of the most important questions in economics and social science have not yet been fully answered, and the recent availability of big data of various types allows us, for the first time, to tackle those classic questions.”
Speaker
Raj Chetty
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

18 / recommendation

In contrast, there’s some very nice work by Bruce Sacerdote, an economist at Dartmouth, looking at Korean adoptee kids who were effectively randomly assigned to families because of quirks and ordering of families’ applications and so forth.

“In contrast, there’s some very nice work by Bruce Sacerdote, an economist at Dartmouth, looking at Korean adoptee kids who were effectively randomly assigned to families because of quirks and ordering of families’ applications and so forth.”
Speaker
Raj Chetty
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

19 / preference

Now, what I think is striking about Teach for America is, the reason it’s so effective in attracting top talent is precisely because it’s very difficult to get into Teach for America.

“Now, what I think is striking about Teach for America is, the reason it’s so effective in attracting top talent is precisely because it’s very difficult to get into Teach for America.”
Speaker
Raj Chetty
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

20 / recommendation

Learning and getting them on a path to be kind of the superstars in the economy who are starting the new companies, discovering the new drugs, and so forth. So, while I would not advocate tracking at the broadest level across 95 percent of the distribution, I think there can be a role at the very top to give attention to gifted and talented kids, especially, I would say, from disadvantaged backgrounds, where often you don’t have the stimulation and the resources, if you’re a very smart kid at an early age.

“Learning and getting them on a path to be kind of the superstars in the economy who are starting the new companies, discovering the new drugs, and so forth. So, while I would not advocate tracking at the broadest level across 95 percent of the distribution, I think there can be a role at the very top to give attention to gifted and talented kids, especially, I would say, from disadvantaged backgrounds, where often you don’t have the stimulation and the resources, if you’re a very smart kid at an early age.”
Speaker
Raj Chetty
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

22 / evaluation

We take pride in the fact that subsequent studies do not end up showing, “Oh, there was some assumption made that ends up being questionable,” or “The data is not quite up to par,” etc.

“We take pride in the fact that subsequent studies do not end up showing, “Oh, there was some assumption made that ends up being questionable,” or “The data is not quite up to par,” etc.”
Speaker
Raj Chetty
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

23 / prediction

Companies recognize that, when the tax is added at the end, it’s in their favor because consumers don’t cut back on demand as much as if the tax was included in the price, and that would force companies to basically cut prices and bear some of the costs of the tax.

“Companies recognize that, when the tax is added at the end, it’s in their favor because consumers don’t cut back on demand as much as if the tax was included in the price, and that would force companies to basically cut prices and bear some of the costs of the tax.”
Speaker
Raj Chetty
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

24 / preference

The way to make progress on complex research problems, for example, is to divide them into smaller, manageable problems, and then go down a list and solve that checklist.

“The way to make progress on complex research problems, for example, is to divide them into smaller, manageable problems, and then go down a list and solve that checklist.”
Speaker
Raj Chetty
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

25 / evaluation

I think, once again, seeing those disparities made me wonder how much of where I will end up in life happens to be because of having the opportunity to go to this school as opposed to going to some other school within that city.

“I think, once again, seeing those disparities made me wonder how much of where I will end up in life happens to be because of having the opportunity to go to this school as opposed to going to some other school within that city.”
Speaker
Raj Chetty
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

26 / prediction

I think perhaps, although I would think the salience model would push you towards wanting to change prices more in some ways, because if consumers aren’t paying attention, in essence you’re facing an inelastic demand curve in the short run, and so you might want to catch them by surprise and occasionally have higher prices or lower prices.

“I think perhaps, although I would think the salience model would push you towards wanting to change prices more in some ways, because if consumers aren’t paying attention, in essence you’re facing an inelastic demand curve in the short run, and so you might want to catch them by surprise and occasionally have higher prices or lower prices.”
Speaker
Raj Chetty
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

27 / recommendation

For instance, you need to constrain managers — the amount of capital managers have on hand — because otherwise there’s a tendency to empire-build and invest in projects that aren’t as efficient from the shareholder’s perspective as you might otherwise like.

“For instance, you need to constrain managers — the amount of capital managers have on hand — because otherwise there’s a tendency to empire-build and invest in projects that aren’t as efficient from the shareholder’s perspective as you might otherwise like.”
Speaker
Raj Chetty
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler
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