Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Only because new people entered the country and dragged the median down.

http://www.chrisstucchio.com/blog/2011/immigrants_simpsons_p...

Consider a nation with Steve (income $50) Bill (income $50) and George (income $100). The median is $50. Now suppose Steve's income remains the same, Bill's goes up to $60, and George's income goes up to $150. The median has gone up to $60, right?

However, suppose during this time, Jose (income $30) and Hector (income $40) immigrated. The median is back down to $50 even though every single person saw their income go up.

The longitudinal data I link to demonstrates that this is exactly what happened (albeit with different numbers).

(Note: this is an argument against drawing conclusions from Simpson's paradox, not an argument against immigration.)



Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: