Average age of the online economics community is around 50
Reported figures range from 29 to 46 years old, but the prevailing estimate puts the average age near 50: half of members would not be working
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Anonymous survey: the average age is around 50 and no new generation is coming through
Twenty years. That is how long someone says they have been inside a community they joined at 20 and where they have just turned 40. Their case is an X-ray of a digital community that discusses economics and has dared to ask itself how old it is: an anonymous survey by age brackets, with a reassuring argument for the veterans — nobody will know who ticked which box.
The data are stubborn. Ages of 29, 36, 40 and 46 (one month short of 47) show up. The most repeated estimate holds that most members are over 60 and that the average age is around 50. The uncomfortable punchline: "not even half of them work." There is no way to verify it. The sample is minimal, self-selected and nobody has shown the tally.
What a voluntary census by age brackets reveals
An anonymous survey by age ranges does not measure a population: it measures whoever feels like answering. The bias is obvious, and yet the pattern fits something familiar: the audience that consumes economic analysis online is ageing faster than it is renewing itself. The higher brackets fill up without embarrassment. The 18-30 bracket exists on the form, but it is occupied by a single person.
Some argue the real average is close to 40 and that the noise from the oldest members distorts perception. Against that weighs an obvious argument: whoever has been registered for two decades is usually also the one who writes the most.
Felipe V, the toad and the academy
As almost always, the conversation drifted into banter: one person placed a veteran as a member of the language academy in the days of Felipe V (King Philip V of Spain), and another replied with the legend about the first Bourbon, whom court tales credited with croaking and hopping around the garden. An old anecdote, of no use for calculating an average age. Useful, however, for knowing who is on the other side.
The survey remains open. The youngest bracket on the form has a single occupant, and that occupant turns 30 in twelve months.
Twenty years. That is how long someone says they have been inside a community they joined at 20 and where they have just turned 40. Their case is an X-ray of a digital community that discusses economics and has dared to ask itself how old it is: an anonymous survey by age brackets, with a reassuring argument for the veterans — nobody will know who ticked which box.
The data are stubborn. Ages of 29, 36, 40 and 46 (one month short of 47) show up. The most repeated estimate holds that most members are over 60 and that the average age is around 50. The uncomfortable punchline: "not even half of them work." There is no way to verify it. The sample is minimal, self-selected and nobody has shown the tally.
What a voluntary census by age brackets reveals
An anonymous survey by age ranges does not measure a population: it measures whoever feels like answering. The bias is obvious, and yet the pattern fits something familiar: the audience that consumes economic analysis online is ageing faster than it is renewing itself. The higher brackets fill up without embarrassment. The 18-30 bracket exists on the form, but it is occupied by a single person.
Some argue the real average is close to 40 and that the noise from the oldest members distorts perception. Against that weighs an obvious argument: whoever has been registered for two decades is usually also the one who writes the most.
Felipe V, the toad and the academy
As almost always, the conversation drifted into banter: one person placed a veteran as a member of the language academy in the days of Felipe V (King Philip V of Spain), and another replied with the legend about the first Bourbon, whom court tales credited with croaking and hopping around the garden. An old anecdote, of no use for calculating an average age. Useful, however, for knowing who is on the other side.
The survey remains open. The youngest bracket on the form has a single occupant, and that occupant turns 30 in twelve months.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (23 replies).
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