> -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Alberto Vieira Ferreira Monteiro > Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 6:00 PM > To: Killer Bs (David Brin et al) Discussion > Subject: Re: Russia (Was What is wealth?) > > Dan M. wrote: > > > >> I would have thought that a low birth rate is very very good > >> evidence of being part of the first world. > > > > It does have that in common with the first world. But, the life > expectancy > > of both men and women in every age catagory is less than it was 40 years > > ago. > > > And how can we trust communist statistics?
By secondary measure, of course. :-) If you want to argue that things were worse than the official statistics under the USSR, you won't find a debate opponent in me. But, after the USSR fell, a lot of data became available. The person who wrote the paper in question is an old lion of polisci, and has a great reputation. And, he is publishing in a very anti-Communist journal. So, I'd be shocked if he just took stock communist statistics without using secondary data. It could be that the fall wasn't as great as he portrayed, but men use to live longer, on average, than 60 years. Over 70 or so years of Communist rule, demographic errors of that magnitude become to big to miss. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
