Income Distribution Commons^™

Assessing The Cost Of Discrimination, Madhavi Venkatesan

Madhavi Venkatesan

In economics, discrimination is modeled as a cost that individuals are willing to bear to limit contact or interaction with specific types or groups of individuals. As a result, discrimination is evaluated as though it were a rational behavior rather than a sub-optimal action that prevents the attainment of a more optimal social justice-based sustainable outcome. In my Spring 2015 Economics of Race (ECON 427) course we explored the contribution of economics with respect to the persistence of discrimination and specific to the manner in which the discipline has evaluated the cost and benefit of discrimination. The presentation includes both …