Chapter Five

(Q6)
This chapter was particularly interesting to me because it mostly dealt with the people side of economics. How and why racial profiling happens as well as gender discrimination, are something's that I have never thought much about. The author talked about how the laws set in place to protect some people actually hurts others. When applying for a job a person doesn't need to disclose all of their personal information. However, this hurts the majority of people in the long run. Although racial profiling is unethical and racist the author points out the reason why it is still something that happens.  If an employer is hiring an adult male and there are two people (one black, one white) trying to get the job statistics say that the black male is more likely to have a criminal record then the white male. (23% vs. 8%). The employer has to go with the information that they do have, opposed to going with information that they don't have access to. This is also the case with women. If a young man and young woman are equally qualified for a job position employers are more likely to hire the man because women take time off for maternity leave and may not return afterward. This is all true information, but the woman may never be intend to have children whereas the man may want to be a stay-at-home dad. Since employers can't ask these types of questions while interviewing a potential employee they have to stick to what they have access too. This is frustrating because the consequences cause problems even for people who have done everything right, but repealing the laws may cause more problems.