i.justrealized

Did you know it is, in average, $8,000 cheaper to adopt a black baby than a white one? And that boys are cheaper by $2,000?

Discount babies

THE market is not politically correct. It often assigns lower values to humans (their wages) based on their race or sex, even after controlling for education and experience. It’s just as cruel to children. A few years ago I was disturbed to learn that it’s cheaper to adopt black American children than white. I recently had lunch with NYU Stern School economist Allan Collard-Wexler, who has estimated adoption price sensitivity. He found just how much adoption fees are sensitive to the race and gender of a baby. It’s about $8,000 cheaper to adopt a black baby than a white or Hispanic child and girls tend to cost about $2,000 more than boys.

What can explain the preference for non-black girls? The preference for girls is interesting because people tend to favour male biological children. The authors speculate this may be because girls are considered “safer” in terms of dysfunctional behaviour. The data also includes same-sex couples, which tend to favour girls (both male and female partners), even more than heterosexual couples. (Source: The Economist)

Ah, sensitive issues. Still interesting though.

Bill Browder, MBA ’89, founder and CEO, talks about Hermitage Capital Management’s investments in Russia and the fall out from the widespread corruption that still pervades Russia’s economy. Recorded Oct. 22, 2009

Hermitage CEO Browder: Don’t Invest in Russia Today

Thought-provoking. If you have an hour to spare, you should watch this video.

Political lobbying explained through the example of all-pay auctions. How an auction of $1.00 earns the auctioneer $2.75.

Political lobbying explained through the example of all-pay auctions

Rachel Maddow explains why to save the economy is to spend money and not to provide tax cuts and so on. Rachel Maddow Show – “…get out of the way of people who are actually trying to save the country.”

Rachel Maddow Show – “…get out of the way of people who are actually trying to save the country.”

• $1.00 in non-refundable tax rebates results in $1.02 of economic activity
• $1.00 in infrastructure spending results in $1.59 of economic activity
• $1.00 in food stamp spending results in $1.73 of economic activity.

USA dropped a stimulus package that is worth some 800 billion. Now I’m actually wondering what’s “bullpucky”, turns out it is a more polite way to say “bullshit”. Hmm… Then don’t say it! It ruins the whole point of using the word “bullshit”, if you can’t say it, don’t.

While the confidence of the economy continues to drop, Microsoft Songsmith sings happily.

Charts Music – Songsmith fed with Stock Charts

[via Gizmodo]

Melodies derived from Stock Charts, arranged with Songsmith, the Microsoft Composition Tool.

Well if the banking industry gets it, why not the porn industry?

Porn Kings to D.C. – Help Us Through Hard Times

Joe Francis and Larry Flynt claim the economy has made America’s sexual appetite go limp, so they’re going to the one place where sex is always rampant — Congress.

Flynt (the “Hustler” guy) and Francis (the “Girls Gone Wild” dude) are asking the government for a $5 billion bailout, claiming the adult entertainment industry has taken a huge shot to the face because of the downturn — citing the fact that XXX DVD sales are down 22% from a year ago.

“With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex is the farthest thing from their mind,” Flynt says. “It’s time for Congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America.”

Francis sees his industry like the big three automakers, only BIGGER: “Congress seems willing to help shore up our nation’s most important businesses; we feel we deserve the same consideration.”

Francis says he’s going to D.C. to personally make the pitch. Sounds like someone has a bone to pick. (Source: TMZ)

Of course I’m not suggesting you should bail out the porn industry. But seriously too much money has been poured to the bailout so US$5b for the porn industry? Perhaps this isn’t that significant after all

The same guy who predicted collapse of USSR, is predicting the collapse of U.S. That’s a horribly truncated title, I hope you can understand it. Well, didn’t want to break my layout’s look and feel.

As if Things Weren’t Bad Enough, Russian Professor Predicts End of U.S.

MOSCOW — For a decade, Russian academic Igor Panarin has been predicting the U.S. will fall apart in 2010. For most of that time, he admits, few took his argument — that an economic and moral collapse will trigger a civil war and the eventual breakup of the U.S. — very seriously. Now he’s found an eager audience: Russian state media.

In recent weeks, he’s been interviewed as much as twice a day about his predictions. “It’s a record,” says Prof. Panarin. “But I think the attention is going to grow even stronger.”

Prof. Panarin, 50 years old, is not a fringe figure. A former KGB analyst, he is dean of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s academy for future diplomats. He is invited to Kremlin receptions, lectures students, publishes books, and appears in the media as an expert on U.S.-Russia relations.

But it’s his bleak forecast for the U.S. that is music to the ears of the Kremlin, which in recent years has blamed Washington for everything from instability in the Middle East to the global financial crisis. Mr. Panarin’s views also fit neatly with the Kremlin’s narrative that Russia is returning to its rightful place on the world stage after the weakness of the 1990s, when many feared that the country would go economically and politically bankrupt and break into separate territories. (Source: WSJ)

But… US is too big to fail right?