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In the fall of 2007, when the U.S. economy first seemed in peril, I began answering reader queries here on the Business Desk. I still do so, but this page has expanded to include posts from eminent economists, "far-flung correspondents," and a variety of voices that have intriguing and/or useful things to say about economics, broadly defined. Please feel encouraged to respond to any and all of them.

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You Tell Us: Do You Live in a Bubble?

Bubbles Creative Commons photo by Marceltheshell via Wikimedia Commons.

The "Do You Live in a Bubble?" quiz, concocted by Charles Murray and first published here on Making Sen$e back in March, has generated more than 200,000 views thus far, and is still going strong. Our sole regret: that we never asked readers for their scores.

To rectify matters, we're relinking to the quiz Tuesday with one small request: Please, please send us your final score. We don't need your name or any personal information. All you need do is fill in the blank at the bottom of the page with your score. Below, the real-time results for all to see. I'm intensely curious to see how bubbled you are as a group, and I imagine you may be as well.

To begin the bidding, I repeat my score: a feeble 31 (though I did watch Fiona Apple videos on YouTube the other day). Charles Murray, by contrast, posted a 48.

And you?

Note: quiz data may take a moment to populate as it's being updated in real time.

Click here to take the quiz.

See below for scores Charles Murray would expect, based on a few broad demographic generalizations. Note that there is a range of scores for each category and some overlap among them.

The higher your score, the thinner your bubble. The lower, the more insulated you might be from mainstream American culture.

48-99: A lifelong resident of a working-class neighborhood with average television and movie going habits. Typical: 77.

42-100: A first-generation middle-class person with working-class parents and average television and movie going habits. Typical: 66.

11-80: A first-generation upper-middle-class person with middle-class parents. Typical: 33.

0-43: A second-generation (or more) upper-middle-class person who has made a point of getting out a lot. Typical: 9.

0-20: A second-generation (or more) upper-middle-class person with the television and movie going habits of the upper middle class. Typical: 2.

This entry is cross-posted on the Rundown- NewsHour's blog of news and insight.

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-- Posted July 24, 2012 | Comments ( ) | Permalink

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Comments

*Creative Commons photo by [**Marceltheshell**](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jenny_Bubbles.png) via Wikimedia Commons.* The [**"Do You Live in a Bubble?" quiz**](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2012/03/do-you-live-in-a-bubble-a-quiz.html), concocted by Charles Murray and first published here on Making Sen$e back in March, has generated more than 200,000 views thus far, and is still going strong. Our sole regret: that we never asked readers for their scores. To rectify matters, we're [**relinking to the quiz Tuesday**](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2012/03/do-you-live-in-a-bubble-a-quiz.html) with one small request: Please, please send us your final score. We don't need your name or any personal information. All you need do is fill in the blank at the bottom of the page with your score. Below, the real-time results for all to see. I'm intensely curious to see how bubbled you are as a group, and I imagine you may be as well. To begin the bidding, I repeat my score: a feeble 31 (though I did watch Fiona Apple videos on YouTube the other day). Charles Murray, by contrast, posted a 48. And you? *Note: quiz data may take a moment to populate as it's being updated in real time.* [***Click here to take the quiz.***](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2012/03/do-you-live-in-a-bubble-a-quiz.html) See below for scores Charles Murray would expect, based on a few broad demographic generalizations. Note that there is a range of scores for each category and some overlap among them. The higher your score, the thinner your bubble. The lower, the more insulated you might be from mainstream American culture. 48-99: A lifelong resident of a working-class neighborhood with average television and movie going habits. Typical: 77. 42-100: A first-generation middle-class person with working-class parents and average television and movie going habits. Typical: 66. 11-80: A first-generation upper-middle-class person with middle-class parents. Typical: 33. 0-43: A second-generation (or more) upper-middle-class person who has made a point of getting out a lot. Typical: 9. 0-20: A second-generation (or more) upper-middle-class person with the television and movie going habits of the upper middle class. Typical: 2. *This entry is cross-posted on the [**Rundown**](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/)- NewsHour's blog of news and insight.*

Follow @paulsolman