Steven Kates writes, inter alia:

What possible difference could it make to anyone whether income distribution in some measure that is invisible to everyone without a dataset and a computer happens to be more skewed in one direction today than it was at some moment in the past?

Is he seriously suggesting that science should take no interest in anything not visible to the naked eye?

Julian Wells

Dr Julian Wells

Principal Lecturer

Economics

Office: PR HH 0006

Phone: +44 (0)20 8417 2341

staff web-page: http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/staff/cv.php?staffnum=287

personal web-site: http://staffnet.kingston.ac.uk/~ku32530

Principal lecturer in economics

School of Economics, History and Politics

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Kingston University

Penrhyn Road

Kingston-upon-Thames

KT1 2EE

United Kingdom