The Influence of Names on Demographics and Career Opportunities

18min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

This chapter explores the correlation between names and demographics, specifically among African American males born in the 1970s and 1980s. It discusses the naming patterns among different socioeconomic groups and how it relates to cultural movements and income segregation. The chapter also delves into the potential impact of names on job opportunities and resumes.

Former Google data scientist and bestselling author of Everybody Lies Seth Stephens-Davidowitz turns his analytic skills to the NBA.

Shermer and Stephens-Davidowitz discuss: why some countries produce so many more NBA players than others • the greatest NBA players adjusted for height • why tall NBA players are worse athletes than short NBA players • How much do NBA coaches matter and what do they do? • In a population of 8 billion today compared to centuries past, where are all the Mozarts, Beethovens, Da Vincis, Newtons, Darwins, etc.?

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz is a contributing op-ed writer for the New York Times, a lecturer at The Wharton School, and a former Google data scientist. He received a BA from Stanford and a PhD from Harvard. He is the author of Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are and Don’t Trust Your Gut: Using Data to Get What You Really Want in Life.