1/ The secret behind why college tuitions have skyrocketed

OR

Why peacocks have elaborate tails

A thread: 2/ I disagree with the predominant thesis of the Baumol Effect

It posits that increased tuition is driven by labor market competition for professors who could work in other sectors

Excellent discussion between the great @juliagalef & @ATabarrok here: player.fm/series/rationa…

1/4 Religions work as moral frameworks for 2 reasons:

1) Decisions of a moral nature are often fat-tailed &
concave (defection results in consistent small upside w/ rare catastrophic downside)

But society, and therefore the repercussions of our decisions, is too complex to grok 2/4 In other words, rationality is not able to compress enough of our complex reality to accurately predict the true distribution of outcomes of each decision

And so paired with a self-interested mind, it can be unreliable (w/ rare but decisive consequences)

1/n The secret of higher education: colleges are actually HIGHLY effective at their true purpose(s)

This is why I am skeptical that alternatives to college are *solely* what will fix our higher ed system (although they certainly help!)

THREAD: 2/n What is the main differentiator between colleges and alternative models (boot camps, MOOCs, etc.), besides colleges being partly a consumption good?

A truly unique and hard-to-replicate credential.

https://twitter.com/mmay3r/status/1161876303353528320

1/ Acting as if someone is watching works because someone always is: you. 2/ Every action/thought strengthens the relevant neural pathways needed for that action/thought. All actions/thoughts can be thought of like lifting weights: each time you do it, it makes next time easier

@wminshew 1/n I’m still playing around with it myself, but let me try... @wminshew 2/n We contain multitudes. But one might say we maintain a single consistent facade in order to be "socially palatable”, among other reasons