姜世国
段义孚、加里·贝克、斯蒂芬·列维特
2022-8-13 22:21
阅读:2253

转发一篇罗翔几年前写的文章:听段义孚讲回家故事段义孚Yi-Fu Tuan1930125日-2022810日),其父段茂澜为段祺瑞的族侄。英文版维基百科条目Yi-Fu Tuan中有下面这样一段八卦:

Yi-Fu Tuan stayed single throughout his life. In his autobiography,[6] Tuan revealed his gay sexuality for the first time:

As a schoolboy in Australia, I was drawn to another boy. ... But my feeling toward another boy, an athlete with the sleek beauty of a well-oiled machine, was another matter. I couldn't persuade myself even then that it was just displaced longing for female loveliness. ... I was then fifteen.

Tuan has not focused on either his ethnicity or his sexual orientation in his research. Rather than stress axes of difference or social power relations, he has attempted to capture universal human experiences. He works to show nuances of common phenomena such as the experience of "home" that cut across cultural divides even as they reveal distinct manifestations in different places and times.

罗翔文中提到去经济中心听加里·贝克Gary Stanley Becker)的报告,这里也略微补充一点。当时我一边听,一边打瞌睡,只是强撑着,才没有完全睡过去(中途也可能短暂睡过去了)——上大学时跟风在经济中心拿过经济学双学位,如果自己在贝克的讲座中居然睡过去了,罗翔会笑话我了。当时实在太困,不知道罗翔也在打瞌睡。

贝克是首位将微观经济学方法应用到社会学分析的经济学家,以理性选择及效用理论为出发点,对于种族歧视、犯罪、家庭决策、药物滥物等社会现象进行经济学分析,为新家计经济学(New Home Economics)壂定了基础,对于家庭经济学的发展有重大贡献。(维基百科)

贝克不是传统的经济学家(所谓正统),他后来的同事斯蒂芬·列维特Steven David Levitt)也是一样的路数,所以贝克理所当然地做了列维特的前辈/顾问(即mentor,为新同事提供建议和帮助等,不能简单地翻译为导师)。

列维特最著名也是争议最大的一篇论文(The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime, 2001)研究了堕胎合法化跟犯罪的关系。他提出美国的堕胎合法化是解释犯罪率下降的一个重要因素:不受欢迎或父母无法抚养的孩子更有可能成为罪犯(children who are unwanted or whose parents cannot support them are likelier to become criminals.),而堕胎的合法化减少了这类儿童的数量。

列维特论文引起的争议给他带来很大的不便,于是求助于贝克。贝克对列维特说:我很嫉妒你吸引了那么多人的关注,这是现在的我所不能做到的。贝克早年的研究也曾引起很大的争议,言下之意是他现在已经过气了。这是贝克通过自我调侃来安慰同事:做研究重在自己的兴趣和价值取向,不用在意是否会引起争议。

我在以前的几篇博客中提到过列维特,可见下面的链接:

1.内卷

2.虎年的一份书单

3.寓工于乐

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