Anyways, since you linked to such a relevant C21 response, do you know if there's a team-piketty response to Acemoglu? No longer have access to JSTOR etc, and am not necessarily well equipped to analyze the quantitative claims.
Anyways, since you linked to such a relevant C21 response, do you know if there's a team-piketty response to Acemoglu? No longer have access to JSTOR etc, and am not necessarily well equipped to analyze the quantitative claims.
The first two levels of discussion (C21 and Acemoglu's immediate answer) are digestible, though.
What's important to understand is that this is all part of a larger discussion on inequality, which has gained a lot of momentum in the last few years in economics (in all fronts -- wealth, income, education, etc.) It's fine to take the position of "I'm not sure" for the moment being, while informing yourself.
That is, noncognitive skills developed very early (age 0-4) are a huge factor in educational outcome and early childhood intervention is pretty close to agreed upon to be a necessary thing to improve the outcomes of children who grow up in a poor environment.
James Heckman's work on the topic might be worth reading.