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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

As some of the better objectors to Hanson's argument have pointed out, what he has done is claimed that the line between discrimination the state should allow and discrimination the state should not allow is a quantitative one, not a qualitative one. The part they object to is Hanson's claim that there are factors at work in the quantitative analysis besides "being forced to share a kitchen is more intrusive than being forced to share an elevator"; that is, "the greater the size of the firm, the less discrimination the state should permit". I don't have a dog in this fight, but there are interesting issues here to consider.

1. Jean is a 23-year-old woman with a college education who lives alone. (a) Should the state prevent her from discriminating between sexual partners on the basis of race? (b) If she wishes to do so, does it matter why she prefers one race to another? (c) If she has a reason, does it matter whether that reason is backed by evidence? (For example, maybe she thinks black men's penises are too big but has never slept with a black man or done any research into whether this is true). (d) Should she be able to advertise (on Craigslist, for example) for potential sexual partners with explicitly race-based restrictions? (e) Does the answer to any of the above depend on what race Jean is or what race she wishes to discriminate against?

2. Jean is a 23-year-old woman with a college education who lives alone. Since prostitution has been legalized, she has been the sole proprietor of her own prostitution business, which is operated out of her home and of which she is the only employee. (a)? (b)? (c)? (d)? (e)?

3. Jean is a 23-year-old woman with a college education. Since prostitution has been legalized, she has been working at Bedford's Brothel Inc., whose CEO is a man. There are 100 women employed to provide sexual services. There are 50 other employees, 60% of whom are male, including management, guards, bartenders, health services, and janitorial staff. All of them (except management) are unionized and receive good pay and benefits.

(a) Should the state prevent Bedford's from discriminating against potential clients on the basis of race? Do the gender politics within the corporation matter? If Bedford's isn't allowed to discriminate, should individual prostitutes it employs, such as Jean, be allowed to? Should the union be allowed to negotiate for provisions prohibiting certain races or allowing individual prostitutes to discriminate based on race?(b)? (c)? (d) If Bedford's is allowed to discriminate based on race, should it be allowed to advertise this? If the union is able to negotiate terms allowing its members to discriminate based on race, should it be allowed to point this out when trying to recruit new members?(e)?

The point here is to try to figure out exactly which intuitions are driving the policy and, once we find them, figuring out whether they are rational and whether we should keep them.

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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

William Easterly says that empirically Schelling's model doesn't match the data.

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