Comments on: Magic Buttons: Summary Findings

By: Greg N.

Greg N. — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 20:54:53 +0000

Are we going to get a post with your answers (and Kerry's), and the reasoning behind each?

By: Greg N.

Greg N. — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 12:54:53 +0000

Are we going to get a post with your answers (and Kerry's), and the reasoning behind each?

By: Growth Fan

Growth Fan — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:22:06 +0000

My point was that the benefits accrue in kind, e.g. in reproductive autonomy and equality for women. I think that there are very few people who would think it very important to have a right to abortion if free, 100% reliable, convenient but easily reversible, contraception was guaranteed to be universally available. Then we're just haggling over the price.

By: GoriGirl

GoriGirl — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:11:07 +0000

I wonder what the gender split would be on both of the GDP questions. It's obvious which way one would expect the sexes to split, but by how much (if at all) would be an interesting question. Oh well, no data on that one.

By: GoriGirl

GoriGirl — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:09:30 +0000

It'd be easy enough to do in excel – I'll volunteer if no one else will. Sadly, I do this stuff pretty much every day at work…

By: GoriGirl

GoriGirl — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:07:17 +0000

I wrote in “classic liberal”.

By: Jeff Yager

Jeff Yager — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:32:04 +0000

I could have predicted the Magic Button #2 response. However, the fairly even split in almost all the other categories is interesting. Any chance we could see the breakdown of which political ID voted which way?

By: Christopher Monnier

Christopher Monnier — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:13:05 +0000

I think I answered “yes” to both questions about trading GDP for liberties (it was an easy choice for the guns question and a very difficult one for abortion), but there are definitely certain liberties I would never trade away, the most obvious of which is freedom of speech.

By: Will Wilkinson

Will Wilkinson — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:57:47 +0000

Can't they be explained by the fact that some people aren't consequentialists, and aren't willing to trade certain liberties for results?

By: Thane

Thane — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:50:08 +0000

Right … the last two questions can only be explained by people not realizing how much 1% year-on-year growth can make a difference. Add an extra percentage in annual growth, say, from 3% to 4% annually, and you will create fabulous improvements in human well-being over time. In 40 years, the span of most people's working lives, you get a country that is almost 50% richer than the country without the extra growth. On a per capita basis, that's the difference between living in Germany and Portugal (which means something if you've been to both). And that just keeps compounding over time.

Certainly more than enough to cancel out any negative effects of banning guns, and likely the same result with abortion.