Economics Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Discrimination: Discrimination is the unfair or prejudicial treatment of people and groups based on characteristics such as race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. See also Racism._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Gary S. Becker on Discrimination - Dictionary of Arguments
Henderson I 31 Discrimination/cost/Gary Becker/Henderson/Globerman: In 1957, Gary Becker, then an economics professor at Columbia University, published a path-breaking book titled The Economics of Discrimination(1). Cost of discrimination: The book's most important message is that an employer who discriminates in hiring on the basis of race rather than on the basis of productivity gives up profits. In other words, there is a cost to discriminating. Henderson I 32 Racism: Becker was careful to note that that does not imply that there will be no discrimination. Some employers are willing to give up profits in order to exercise what Becker called their "taste for discrimination." But his point was that discrimination is costly for those who do it and that that cost limits the amount of discrimination. Demand: The law of demand, which says that when the price of something rises people buy less ofit, applies to discrimination as well. Alchian/Kessel: Alchian and co-author Reuben Kessel of the University of Chicago took Becker's insight and ran with it. Monopolies and discrimination: In his book(1), Becker had noted that black people were discriminated against more frequently by monopolistic enterprises. While Becker didn't see that fact as a puzzle, Alchian and Kessel did. Alchian/Kessel: In their famous 1962 article, "Competition, Monopoly and Pecuniary Gain"(2), they asked, "But why do monopolistic enterprises discriminate against negroes more than do competitive enterprises?" AlchianVsBecker: They went on to point out that there was no good reason, or at least no reason that Becker gave, to expect monopolistic enterprises to discriminate more against black people than competitive enterprises did. >Discrimination/Alchian. 1. Becker, Gary (1957). The Economics of Discrimination. University of Chicago Press. 2. Alchian, Armen A., and Reuben A. Kessel (1962). Competition, Monopoly and Pecuniary Gain. In H.G. Lewis (ed.), Aspects of Labor Economics (National Bureau of Economic Research): 157-183._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Becker, Gary S. Henderson I David R. Henderson Steven Globerman The Essential UCLA School of Economics Vancouver: Fraser Institute. 2019 |
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