Economics and race.

April 1, 2005 6:11 AM

Economics and Race: "Twenty-seven-year-old Harvard economist Roland Fryer grew up poor and black, in a family that was falling apart. His mother abandoned him. His father drank heavily and beat him. Fryer sold drugs and carried a gun. Then, at age 15, after he got pulled over by the police and then let go, he decided he wanted something different."
posted by yoga (8 comments total)

Here's another profile of Fryer from the NYT.
posted by gwint at 6:15 AM on April 1, 2005

List of papers Fryer's authored and co-authored here. Titles include The Causes and Consequences of Distinctively Black Names, A Categorical Model of Cognition and Biased Decision-Making, and An Economic Analysis of 'Acting White'.
posted by yoga at 6:17 AM on April 1, 2005

This is a great interview, and I've sort of in my own laymen's way pondered these things. The stuff about names was great.
posted by kavasa at 8:25 AM on April 1, 2005

Mh there's something curious ongoing...in the NYT article the mention of some "salt problem" is something I personally never heard of. Afaik the biggest problem in the past maritime transport was scorbutus, not salt...which could also be supplemented by salty foods.

Anyway...I started reading one of his papers...and damn he could learn some other writing style, it's far more dense then usual academia even for people "in the know"

On a tangent:
1. get *somecolor* dude
2. exploit vulnerability : *somecolor* must enter due to *somepolticalpoint*
3. have *somecolor* declare grossly insane, but plausible for the public statement..something that's hard to prove or disprove
4. watch academia kick *somecolor* statement for irrationality
5. defend *somecolor* from the attack accusing academia of being racist
6. ???
7. PROFIT !
posted by elpapacito at 8:32 AM on April 1, 2005

Interesting stuff. Thanks, yoga.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 9:01 AM on April 1, 2005

That school study he is running should be interesting even if it shows no changes from incentives.
posted by Mitheral at 12:15 PM on April 1, 2005

I love science.
posted by ewkpates at 1:19 PM on April 1, 2005

NYTimes profile was fascinating.
posted by jcruelty at 2:46 PM on April 1, 2005