Hi Nice presentation, although these effects to my knowledge are not new ones. For example with respect to mental health, see
http://thecenturyfoundation.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/08/27/image004.gif Myers intro text has a nice graph in chapter 14 of US states and Canadian provinces showing mortality rate as a function of income equality (negative slope). All Canadian provinces are clustered in the lower right. Challenge with such correlational data is separating inequality from other correlated factors (e.g., average income). Also some nice data with respect to that, such as http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/geography/geog342/360px-Inequality_and_mortality_in_metro_US.jpg I only looked at the chart in Chris's posting, but I think that the authors may strive too hard to make their point about inequality affecting both well-off and poor. See Section 4 of the chart. Both with respect to literacy and death rates there are clear interactions between rich vs. poor dimension and inequality categories. Specifically, poor are more markedly affected by inequality than are the rich. I agree with Chris, this makes a nice data set for discussion of lots of statistical and methods issues. Take care Jim James M. Clark Professor of Psychology 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax [email protected] >>> "Christopher D. Green" <[email protected]> 15-Mar-09 9:38:02 PM >>> This piece in the /Guardian/ about a new books on the social effects of income inequality will be interesting to most anyone, but especially to those of you who are teaching statistics and want to have "relevant" examples to use. The article is here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2009/mar/13/inequality But perhaps more interesting is the graphic that the Guardian has produced here: http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2009/03/13/inequality.pdf Of particular interest to me are the four scatterplots to the center-right of the graphic. They show quite marked correlations between income inequality in a number of countries that are "highly developed" (as we say) and (1) mental illness rates, (2) rates of obesity, (3) rates of imprisonment (note it is on a log scale), and (4) rates of teen pregnancy. Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [email protected] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ========================== --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
