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Is your argument that outcomes of different policy decisions cannot be compared across different jurisdictions?

Not without carefully controlling for all kinds of variables, demographics, geography, internal and external connectivity and so on. No two areas are closely alike in all those respects.

Do you similarly feel that comparisons across different populations are invalid for arguing the affirmative?

e.g. arguments like "we should try masking / UBI / $15 minimum wage / free healthcare / universal pre-k because it worked well in ${location}" are also "not how this works" because we can "only compare with the future that wasn't?"

Do such arguments need to control for the infinite number of confounding variables before having any value?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com