Comments on: Mind the Gap

By: Chris Lloyd

Chris Lloyd — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:10:09 +0000

Yes, Patrick the Rosling videos are tremendous fun and available on the Gapminder site. I particularly love the stunt he pulls where he runs over to the edge of the stage, brings back a long three meter pointer and proudly proclaims

Look at this great invention. It is a sold version of a laser pointer. What will they think of next?

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:38:21 +0000

My first introduction to this software was Hans Rosling's 2006 TED presentation (via Nicholas Gruen!). I strongly recommend that lecture, it is awesome. There is also the 2007 lecture which is in the nature of an update. Both really are worth your time if you haven't seen them already.

By: Nicholas Gruen

Nicholas Gruen — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:43:59 +0000

Thx – the other thing that stands out on a quick squiz is that even way back in the nineteenth century the Scandinavian countries had great life expectancies even though their incomes were lower than eg Great Britain. They were converting their income into life expectancy better than others, and still do.

By: SJ

SJ — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:00:35 +0000

Thanks for that, Chris, I hadn't seen it before. It's useful in all sorts of ways. For example: Brad Delong has postulated recently that 1870 was a turning point in incomes in the West (though Brad incorrectly calls it an "inflection point"). What Brad is talking about is income of the average worker, with 1870 being the time when there was a sudden shift away from and above subsistence levels. GapMinder shows that Brad is correct, for the U.S., and allowing a few years either side, for the other colonies or former colonies of Britain. I know this probably isn't what you had in mind with your post, but thanks anyway. :)