Charles Murray
American political scientist, born in 1943; author of Losing Ground (1984).
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What they believe
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Reversing a cause of a social problem does not necessarily solve it years later
And, as years went on after Losing Ground, I became a lot more aware of the way in which something can be a cause of a problem at one point in time, but reversing it isn’t necessarily going to be the solution to the problem ten years later.
conversationswithbillkristol.orgSaid 7 Feb 2018This on korrents
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Trying to provide more for the poor produced more poor instead
We tried to provide more for the poor and produced more poor instead.
archive.orgSaid c. 1984This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 12 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
Reversing a cause of a social problem does not necessarily solve it years later
And, as years went on after Losing Ground, I became a lot more aware of the way in which something can be a cause of a problem at one point in time, but reversing it isn’t necessarily going to be the solution to the problem ten years later.
Conversations with Bill Kristol: Charles Murray III (taped February 7, 2018; transcript) Said 7 Feb 2018
The 1960s social reforms were a major contributor to rising out-of-wedlock births
I will still defend the proposition that the social reforms of the 1960s were a major contributor to the acceleration of out-of-wedlock births.
Conversations with Bill Kristol: Charles Murray III (taped February 7, 2018; transcript) Said 7 Feb 2018
Abolishing welfare would not restore the old norms around family formation
And so, I had to come with terms to the fact that I don’t think getting rid of the welfare system would in any way fully restore the same kind of milieu, in which teenage boys and teenage girls made decisions about this sort of thing.
Conversations with Bill Kristol: Charles Murray III (taped February 7, 2018; transcript) Said 7 Feb 2018
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For low-income people, the social fabric that made families form has frayed enormously
Families only form in the first place because there are very powerful social and economic pressures when kids are 20 years old to do that thing. And that fabric has just frayed enormously, for low-income people.
Conversations with Bill Kristol: Charles Murray III (taped February 7, 2018; transcript) Said 7 Feb 2018
The family matters for how children turn out, but less than once thought
So, the family is still important, it is not as important as I used to think.
Conversations with Bill Kristol: Charles Murray III (taped February 7, 2018; transcript) Said 7 Feb 2018
The environment siblings share explains far less of how they turn out than once thought
It is settled science that this shared environment the siblings have explains far less about how they turn out than we thought it did.
Conversations with Bill Kristol: Charles Murray III (taped February 7, 2018; transcript) Said 7 Feb 2018
Heredity matters more than he understood in the 1980s
I did change my mind on that as well. I wasn’t as conscious of the role of heredity in the 1980s as I became when I was working on The Bell Curve.
Conversations with Bill Kristol: Charles Murray III (taped February 7, 2018; transcript) Said 7 Feb 2018
Trying to provide more for the poor produced more poor instead
We tried to provide more for the poor and produced more poor instead.
Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980 (Basic Books, 1984) Said c. 1984
Removing barriers to escaping poverty inadvertently built a trap
We tried to remove the barriers to escape from poverty, and inadvertently built a trap.
Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980 (Basic Books, 1984) Said c. 1984
The new welfare rules made short-term behaviour that was destructive in the long term profitable for the poor
The first effect of the new rules was to make it profitable for the poor to behave in the short term in ways that were destructive in the long term.
Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980 (Basic Books, 1984) Said c. 1984
Any objective eligibility rule for a transfer program will irrationally exclude some people
Any objective rule that defines eligibility for a social transfer program will irrationally exclude some persons.
Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980 (Basic Books, 1984) Said c. 1984
Any social transfer makes the condition that prompted it more worth being in
Any social transfer increases the net value of being in the condition that prompted the transfer.
Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980 (Basic Books, 1984) Said c. 1984
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