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Kyle Montanio

@[email protected]

I'm an environmental economist who researches econ pedagogy to make learning economics marginally less dismal.
My pipe-dream is to write a fantasy novel/economics textbook, which is getting closer to reality every day.
#economics #TeachEcon #sustainability #DoughnutEconomics #degrowth #AmWriting
Profile pic is me grinning in front of a whiteboard with econ gibberish on it
Background is my dog, Freya, who is very nervous because Luna, my cat, is demanding the chair Freys is sitting in.

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Neoclassical Economics: self-interested agents will willingly trade time to businesses for a wage in a labor market, and the magic of competition will ensure efficient (by which we mean best) wage that benefits workers and businesses.

Reality: Fashion models from outside the US often fall into "agency debt" - the costs they pay to the agency for housing, etc. outweighs what they make - to companies who they are often financially and legally required to make money for, making them prime targets of exploitation.

Ayn Rand stans: Hell yes! People should be able to sell themselves into slavery. That's freedom, baby!

H/t: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-conspiracy-she-wrote-194720781/episode/how-modeling-agencies-built-epsteins-pipeline-332259871/

#economics #power

iHeartHow Modeling Agencies Built Epstein's Pipeline - Conspiracy, She Wrote | iHeartJeffrey Epstein didn't invent his victim pipeline from scratch. Modeling agencies had already built one. For decades, agencies like Elite Model Management legally...
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#AI ethics question:

I am currently between jobs. I'm transitioning from teaching economics to something like data analyst, data scientist, or economic consultant.

Most of the jobs I'd be a good fit for require more experience than I have and my technical coding (R, SQL, Python) are not as built up as they could be; I've focussed more on teaching the intuition behind the models we use to make inferences - theory over practice, in essence. So, while job hunting, I am building these skills.

I don't use AI. I don't apply to jobs that emphasize AI use. I hate AI. I hate AI for good reasons many (most?) here share.

That said, I am confronted by the prospect of decent paying gig-work to train AI by analyzing its output on statistical projects. At the core, my question is:

is working to improve beneficial aspects of AI (which I think making statistical analysis better is) morally problematic?

(Or help me #GetFediHired to remove this question entirely, for me. #FediHire #FediHired)

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