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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday December 15 2016, @01:08PM   Printer-friendly
from the better-than-growing-up-to-be-a-sink dept.

Scientists at Kings College London performed a longitudinal study to test the 'Pareto principle' and found that adults who were greater users of public services were most likely to have had a low score on the intelligence and impulsivity test administered at age three.

"About 20 per cent of population is using the lion's share of a wide array of public services," said Prof Terrie Moffitt, of King's College and Duke University in North Carolina. "The same people use most of the NHS, the criminal courts, insurance claims, for disabling injury, pharmaceutical prescriptions and special welfare benefits.

"If we stopped there it might be fair to think these are lazy bums who are freeloading off the taxpayer and exploiting the public purse.

"But we also went further back into their childhood and found that 20 per cent begin their lives with mild problems with brain function and brain health when they were very small children.

"Looking at health examinations really changed the whole picture. It gives you a feeling of compassion for these people as opposed to a feeling of blame.

"Being able to predict which children will struggle is an opportunity to intervene in their lives very early to attempt to change their trajectories, for everyone's benefit and could bring big returns on investment for government."

Full Paper: Childhood forecasting of a small segment of the population with large economic burden DOI: 10.1038/s41562-016-0005


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 15 2016, @06:17PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 15 2016, @06:17PM (#441706)
  • (Score: 1) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Thursday December 15 2016, @07:50PM

    by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Thursday December 15 2016, @07:50PM (#441738)

    Are the slums smaller because they are all lifted out of poverty?

    Or do the 35,000 private security forces just keep the undesirables out of sight?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 15 2016, @08:01PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 15 2016, @08:01PM (#441742)

      I dunno, if you bothered to fucking watch it instead of grandstanding your ignorance, you might learn that yes, the slums are generally less than average.

      But of course it is better to have most people living under poverty instead of having some path forward. In a short period of time, 100 million were lifted out of poverty.

      I defy you to show me any other program that has had such dramatic results.

      You know you can't, I know you can't, so the best you have to offer is complain that capitalism hasn't done more while decrying capitalism in the first place.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 15 2016, @11:33PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 15 2016, @11:33PM (#441843)

        I have yet to see any comments about capitalism being bad, only arguments that "the free market" will not solve all of the problems. Also, it isn't "capitalism" that is doing the work, its people! Humans used to live in huts, then millenia go by and they're building pyramids, castles, cities. All that without this modern capitalism. Progress is what humans do, and it isn't the magic "system of the day" which did the heavy lifting.

        Unchecked capitalism has also done a huge amount of harm, but I guess you don't want to address that...

        Now as for the video, that has to be the biggest joke ever and you fell for it!!!

        Unregulated city gets massive influx of international corporate financing so they can cut costs and reduce taxes. So, we shift the prosperity from one section of the world to another. This isn't magic, its globalization. Everyone agrees that globalization has helped a lot of people out of poverty, but it sure as hell wasn't the ideal way to go about it. The US is plunging fast into chaos for exactly this reason. Where did your jobs go? To India, Mexico, China, etc. Your magic capitalism is just wealth distribution, at least some people are helped by it but its the very thing you free market types like to complain so bitterly about.

        The only grandstanding ignorance is your own, you lack the ability to see the interconnected variables and effects. I personally won't complain too bitterly since this wealth redistribution is what I advocate, but don't kid yourself that this is some magic accomplishment. Roads get better in India, and worse in the US. Ideally we wouldn't need to make this trade off, but we're using a stupid economic system that does not favor a humane approach to problems. Instead we get slash and burn, in this case wealthy western countries are slashed and burned to make way for 3rd world growth.

        And to give myself that emotional little bump so I can personally feel better: you're a fucking close minded idiot.