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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   29731 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 21, 2023

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Inspired by college loans discussion earlier, I'd like to apply a policy engineering lens:

  • What are the minimal changes necessary to get an epsilon away from the current model of "government guarantees the entire loan amount with no conditions and it's not dischargeable in bankruptcy, with private lenders available" and towards a model that incentivizes better behavior in schools and students?
  • Politically, what gets the nose under the tent most effectively, allowing further reforms?
  • More generally, it seems difficult to implement a series of small reversible reforms to explore a space; what drives that in a government implemented as largely autonomous opaque agencies, and is it itself reformable?

Unlikely to be resolved, because loan rates will differ by ethnic background because college completions differ by ethnic background.

This is currently illegal and would remain so. It doesn’t matter if an inscrutable AI model produces the same model.

Not interest rates - the number of people getting the loans in the first place. Should have clarified that.

It has similar political problems, which is why the college loan situation in the US is unlikely to be resolved. Libs have proven willing to accept a higher non-graduation rate and higher debt, but probably won't accept a difference in how often the loans are issued.

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