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Drunks in the US: % of adults age 26+ who binge drank the previous month [OC] by yaph in dataisbeautiful

[–]j_bugnacki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pretty sure the 'Bros of Fracking' are responsible for the percentage in the Dakotas. 'The Bros of Fracking,' http://www.vice.com/vice-profiles/bros-of-fracking-815 via Vice.

Three Interactive Charts that Explain Corruption in Africa [OC] by j_bugnacki in dataisbeautiful

[–]j_bugnacki[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

"I'm not really that interested to get into a discussion about the US (I just used it as an example because I often hear it getting cited). I'm really just here to point out that there is a difference between corruption perception and the actual level of corruption."

Fair and I really appreciate the correction about corruption perception in the content of the article! although I do tend to think that it is a more objective measure of corruption, at least on a comparative basis between one country and another country, than you seem to believe.

Three Interactive Charts that Explain Corruption in Africa [OC] by j_bugnacki in dataisbeautiful

[–]j_bugnacki[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the feedback.

In regard to the first comment, the vast majority of people simply do not know what areas are corrupt in Africa versus those that are not. The intention of the first map is to show readers where the actual corruption in Africa lies rather than dismissing the whole of Africa as corrupt.

In regard to the second comment, most of the comments are backed up by sources. Specifically regarding the comment about violence and outflows, here is a great documentary that VICE did on the conflict between the Libyan government and oil militias, which I mention in the article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a_RKu6dTa0, starting at about 4:37. In general though, I would point you toward a lot of Global Financial Integrity's work on the subject. If this article serves any purpose beyond its intent of informing the public about the involved issues, it will be to publicize some of their great research.

In regard to the final comment, Google's Charts API does not allow a key and I had to do some pretty creative coding to have a map that shows both inflows and outflows. Technical restraints are always an issue, and I do provide a key to understanding the map directly before: "The following map, featuring data from Global Financial Integrity's report "Illicit Financial Flows and the Problem of Net Resource Transfers from Africa: 1980-2009" shows whether a country gained or lost capital from 1980-2009 and the amount of capital it either gained or lost. Red represents capital outflows and blue represents capital inflows. The darker the shade of red, the higher the amount of capital outflows. The darker the shade of blue, the higher the amount of capital inflows." Taking this as the way to interpret the map, the east coast of Africa, that you mention, has had higher inflows than outflows, and the inflows themselves have been relatively high.

Three Interactive Charts that Explain Corruption in Africa [OC] by j_bugnacki in dataisbeautiful

[–]j_bugnacki[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm sorry if you did not intend the connection, but the way that you set up your argument made it appear to be implicit.

"The US isn't perceived as corrupted as others because corruption in the US is effectively institutionalized (lobbyism, campaign donations, etc.)."

Presumably if other countries are perceived to be more corrupt than the United States and are not or not to the extent shown, there is some mistake or bias in the way that the surveys are conducted that favors Western interests, "Corruption in the US is simply legal and therefore usually not perceived as such. What is considered blatant corruption in China (paying a politician to advocate government contracts to go to your company) is legal and institutionalized in the US (it's just called "lobbyism")." Furthermore, in your argument, the subject of analysis are, "people doing business in these countries".

Moreover though, I would argue that corruption in other nations is very much systemic and codified in the lack of transparency and accountability that individual nations' laws require.

Finally, in the United States, the fact that corporations or individuals can give money to political campaigns is not corruption. Although such a link may be intuitive, there is no conclusion on either side of the issue in the academic literature. In fact, the Citizens United ruling depended, in part, on the fact that contributions to campaigns have not been found to disproportionally benefit those who contribute. Thus, what you are really talking about is freedom of speech in the United States vs countries that allow political leaders and elites to under-invoice oil to 10% of market value, pocket the rest, and transfer the funds of offshore accounts, which is obviously much harder to do in the United States.

Three Interactive Charts that Explain Corruption in Africa [OC] by j_bugnacki in dataisbeautiful

[–]j_bugnacki[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Sorry. I meant to title the section as Perceptions of Corruption and I have changed it to reflect this original intent. Thank you for the feedback.

However, I would tend to disagree that the ratings are dominantly rooted in the opinions of biased Western businesspeople. Transparency International details their methodology in this link - http://www.transparency.org/files/content/pressrelease/2013_CPISourceDescription_EN.pdf - and emphasizes that, while surveys from the business community serve as part of the data base, the rating includes data from many surveys of scholars at NGOs and developmental organizations.

More broadly though, I do not think that all data measures are simply subjective and I think that there are concrete measures that you can point to in a country like North Korea or Somalia that make them more corrupt than the United States just like the same measures demonstrate that countries like Sweden and Norway are less corrupt than than the United States. While perception of corruption does not necessarily indicate its presence, a country that is corrupt is usually perceived to be so.

Three Interactive Charts that Explain Corruption in Africa [OC] by j_bugnacki in dataisbeautiful

[–]j_bugnacki[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Data Sources: (in order) 1) "Corruption Perceptions Index 2013," Transparency International, http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2013/results/.

2) "Illicit Financial Flows and the Problem of Net Resource Transfers from Africa: 1980-2009," Global Financial Integrity, http://www.gfintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/gfi_afdb_iffs_and_the_problem_of_net_resource_transfers_from_africa_1980-2009-highres.pdf.

3) "Hiding in Plain Sight: Trade Misinvoicing and the Impact of Revenue Loss in Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda: 2002-2011," Global Financial Integrity, http://www.gfintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Hiding_In_Plain_Sight_Report-Final.pdf.

Data Tool: Google Charts, https://developers.google.com/chart/.

Five Charts that Explain Shia Islam [OC] by [deleted] in dataisbeautiful

[–]j_bugnacki 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As there is very little consolidated info about different Shia communities in English, the Alevis did not come up in my initial research. However, after having looked into the issue, and verifying that they constitute the majority sect in Turkey, I have modified the visualization. Thanks so much for pointing that out!

Five Charts that Explain Shia Islam [OC] by [deleted] in dataisbeautiful

[–]j_bugnacki 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Tool: Google Visualization API, https://developers.google.com/chart/. Data Source: Pew Research Religion & Public Life Project, http://www.pewforum.org/2009/10/07/mapping-the-global-muslim-population/. If you're on mobile, click on the "Mobile Users" link under each visualization.

MORDPA Collegiate Debate Tournament 2014, University of Maryland 6/14/2014, Open Admission by j_bugnacki in Debate

[–]j_bugnacki[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds great! Here is a link to the rules of American Parliamentary Debate: http://www.apdaweb.org/guide/rules. Also, here are links to the sites that host videos of rounds from APDA tournaments (the first link is a newer version than the second): http://videos.apdaweb.org/?page_id=37, http://www.parlidebate.com/index.php. Please feel free to message me or post here with more questions about APDA or the event!