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Conversations with Tyler / episode intelligence

Melissa Dell on the Significance of Persistence

15 Jul 2020 14 published claims 1 attributable person

Speakers in the public record

Claim mix

evaluation 6belief 3recommendation 2uncertainty 1prediction 1observation 1

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14 published records

02 / belief

I learned a lot in terms of what my interests are and what motivates me. My grandmother was a pilot during World War II and was always very, very interested in learning.

“I learned a lot in terms of what my interests are and what motivates me. My grandmother was a pilot during World War II and was always very, very interested in learning.”
Speaker
Melissa Dell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

04 / belief

I haven’t read them in a long time from the standpoint of evaluating him as a professional historian, but I think his work has really made people intrigued by history and the role that it plays in people’s lives.

“I haven’t read them in a long time from the standpoint of evaluating him as a professional historian, but I think his work has really made people intrigued by history and the role that it plays in people’s lives.”
Speaker
Melissa Dell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

05 / recommendation

Let’s say that you were to have a cutoff, where “We’re not going to look at anybody who doesn’t have a 1600 on the SAT because that’s already more applicants than there are spots.

“Let’s say that you were to have a cutoff, where “We’re not going to look at anybody who doesn’t have a 1600 on the SAT because that’s already more applicants than there are spots.”
Speaker
Melissa Dell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

06 / evaluation

” The persistence is really about there’s not a force to make a change, and maybe things drift a little bit over time. But going further back in time when the strong Vietnamese state comes in and really says, “Okay, you’re going to implement our institutions at the local level because this is the most effective way that we think we have to tax you and to make you contribute to the state,” then that’s a rupture, and the institutions change.

“” The persistence is really about there’s not a force to make a change, and maybe things drift a little bit over time. But going further back in time when the strong Vietnamese state comes in and really says, “Okay, you’re going to implement our institutions at the local level because this is the most effective way that we think we have to tax you and to make you contribute to the state,” then that’s a rupture, and the institutions change.”
Speaker
Melissa Dell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

07 / evaluation

In both cases, they didn’t care much at all for the colonial population as long as they stayed alive and kept contributing to the first forced labor — that was the objectives of the colonizers. But because there’s two very different technologies and associated sets of infrastructure that come along with mining versus sugar production, the long-run effects are totally different.

“In both cases, they didn’t care much at all for the colonial population as long as they stayed alive and kept contributing to the first forced labor — that was the objectives of the colonizers. But because there’s two very different technologies and associated sets of infrastructure that come along with mining versus sugar production, the long-run effects are totally different.”
Speaker
Melissa Dell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

08 / recommendation

I think, even short of air conditioning, which is very expensive, even just things like fans or having access to electricity, having more efficient building standards can make a big difference and is probably more realistic, at the same time, than getting air conditioning to everyone in sub-Saharan Africa now, which would be very, very costly.

“I think, even short of air conditioning, which is very expensive, even just things like fans or having access to electricity, having more efficient building standards can make a big difference and is probably more realistic, at the same time, than getting air conditioning to everyone in sub-Saharan Africa now, which would be very, very costly.”
Speaker
Melissa Dell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

09 / prediction

If you were to make a statement like “Land reform is bad for economic development,” that wouldn’t really be consistent with the evidence because there’s been land reforms in East Asia following World War II that gave people individual property rights.

“If you were to make a statement like “Land reform is bad for economic development,” that wouldn’t really be consistent with the evidence because there’s been land reforms in East Asia following World War II that gave people individual property rights.”
Speaker
Melissa Dell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

10 / evaluation

I think that’s part of the reason why having diversity is super important, because if you have more people with different backgrounds, they’ll ask different questions, which are all quite important.

“I think that’s part of the reason why having diversity is super important, because if you have more people with different backgrounds, they’ll ask different questions, which are all quite important.”
Speaker
Melissa Dell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

11 / evaluation

I think the persistence is largely about that because then, when you move into the independence period, the South Vietnamese state is also, at the national level, a chronically weak state.

“I think the persistence is largely about that because then, when you move into the independence period, the South Vietnamese state is also, at the national level, a chronically weak state.”
Speaker
Melissa Dell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

12 / evaluation

1, which means it’s explaining 10 percent of the variation in the data. And I think, you know, that’s pretty good because the world’s a complex place, so something that explains 10 percent of the variation is potentially a pretty big deal.

“1, which means it’s explaining 10 percent of the variation in the data. And I think, you know, that’s pretty good because the world’s a complex place, so something that explains 10 percent of the variation is potentially a pretty big deal.”
Speaker
Melissa Dell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

13 / observation

Then you have the independence war with the French, and how on earth any of this is measured, I don’t even know. But if you go back, and you look, for example, at maps that were made in the 1930s by the French showing different types of infrastructure, which we think is likely to be correlated with economic development, you see more infrastructure in the north than in the south.

“Then you have the independence war with the French, and how on earth any of this is measured, I don’t even know. But if you go back, and you look, for example, at maps that were made in the 1930s by the French showing different types of infrastructure, which we think is likely to be correlated with economic development, you see more infrastructure in the north than in the south.”
Speaker
Melissa Dell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

14 / evaluation

Life is much more normal there than it would be in the United States. And I think that that, in large part, goes back to the fact that much of Vietnam does have this history of having a strong, centralized state that coordinates very well with local governments, and having local governments that have been effective at providing public goods like healthcare.

“Life is much more normal there than it would be in the United States. And I think that that, in large part, goes back to the fact that much of Vietnam does have this history of having a strong, centralized state that coordinates very well with local governments, and having local governments that have been effective at providing public goods like healthcare.”
Speaker
Melissa Dell
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler
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