Drink more, earn more
According to a recent study, social drinker earn more — lots more. That’s all interesting enough, though it should be noted that drinking alone at home doesn’t count. What’s more interesting, though, is that barhopping without drinking apparently doesn’t count either. What’s interesting here is that, having been alerted by Paul Graham to listen to and read the news looking for the public relations firm behind the story, my first instinct is to do an internet search on the story. Sure enough, the study is all over the news with same press release cited. More importantly, though, it’s essentially a recycled version of a story that ran in 2002 (including in the Wall Street Journal) and in 2003 (new reseach, sure, but the essential story is recycled) and reprises research from 1997 and earlier.
So what’s happening here? The authors belong to a libertarian think tank and want to block legislation limiting campus drinking at colleges and, of course, want to oppose legislation to increase taxes on alcohol. So here’s a news flash from The Ranter: Drive more. Earn more. How do I know? My extensive scientific research has shown that in general, countries where people drive a lot (say in the 80th percentile or higher for miles driven per capita) have higher per capita GDP than countries where people drive very few miles (say 20th percentile or lower for miles driven per capita).
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