Rotundus.com

It seems that recently I've begun to come across a lot more article looking at the financial implications of divorce. One such article was Two Classes, Divided by ‘I Do’ from this past weekend's New York Times. What do you find there? An excerpt:

Estimates vary widely, but scholars have said that changes in marriage patterns — as opposed to changes in individual earnings — may account for as much as 40 percent of the growth in certain measures of inequality. Long a nation of economic extremes, the United States is also becoming a society of family haves and family have-nots, with marriage and its rewards evermore confined to the fortunate classes.

... About 41 percent of births in the United States occur outside marriage, up sharply from 17 percent three decades ago. But equally sharp are the educational divides, according to an analysis by Child Trends, a Washington research group. Less than 10 percent of the births to college-educated women occur outside marriage, while for women with high school degrees or less the figure is nearly 60 percent.

Long concentrated among minorities, motherhood outside marriage now varies by class about as much as it does by race.

The article talks about child being born to unwed mothers previously being concentrated primarily among minorities. What they don't tell you is what can be found in Figure 5 in this paper. What you see there is that up until the welfare system and the sexual revolution kicked in around the 1960s African Americans were not less but slightly MORE likely to be married.

The New York times piece notes that now those most likely to financially benefit from marriage are now least likely to be married, whereas it seems as though the reverse was the case back then. In the 50 years or so since a broader welfare system was introduced in the USA, the probability that African Americans were married dropped from similar but slightly higher than that of their white fellow citizens, to about half its former levels.

How the 2 Americas Spend Their Time

"Today, the higher your degree, the fewer hours you have to relax." (the study seems to stop at college - nothing really with graduate degrees in this post).

Target to open with Canadian content on shelves

I generally apply the if-it's-Canadian-it's-crap heuristic to media, but perhaps I need to start applying it to what's on store shelves as well.

Microhydro Drives Change in Rural Nepal

The power still seems kind of expensive - 80 cents / KWh, but still seems to have brought a lot of positives to the community. This is run-of-the-river hydro they're talking about - no dams required.

Lawyers alarmed at criminal charges in family cases

On the laying of criminal charges as a tactic to gain a foothold in a child custody battle. The lawyer cited in the article: "I have successfully established fabrication in at least 15 per cent of the cases with very clear contradictions in evidence, including differences in affidavit evidence tendered in the family court proceedings. Yet not one case resulted in charges being laid against the complainant."

Hospital kills ‘wrong’ twin in selective abortion – both babies now dead

"It is interesting that the killing of an ‘unwanted’ child with special needs in the womb is regarded as ‘normal’ whilst the killing of a ‘wanted’ normal child is seen as a tragedy and worthy of international news coverage."

NYC mayor challenges apartment builders to think smaller

How much space do you actually need? "Mayor Michael Bloomberg ... announced a competition for architects to submit designs for apartments measuring just 275 to 300 square feet (25.5 to 28 square meters) to address the shortage of homes suitable and affordable for the city's growing population of one- and two-person households. ... Under New York City's zoning regulations, the average apartment size in a new building must be at least 400 square feet (37 square meters), although there are exceptions to the rule." What fraction of New York apartment rental rates are explainable by rent control keeping many apartments off the market.

Empirical Evidence, Sexual Harassment, and the Economic Way of Thinking

"What the theory and the empirical results are saying is that people exposed to a higher risk of sexual harassment are paid more, just as people exposed to a higher risk of death are paid more. In the case of risk, however, the firm’s owners (shareholders) are paying higher wages but also getting the benefits of risky work. But in the case of sexual harassment the shareholders are paying higher wages but not getting the benefits of sexual harassment. In other words, from the firm’s point of view sexual harassment is a bit like employee theft – with the stealing being done by the harassers."

Twilight of the Lecture

This is one of these "active learning" articles. What I found most interesting were the parts on student resistance to much of this. One quote I particularly liked: "We have to train people to tackle situations they have not encountered before. Most instructors avoid this like the plague, because the students dislike it. Even at Harvard, we tend to keep students in their comfort zone. The first step in developing those skills is stepping into unknown territory."

Meet Canada’s first full-badge quadriplegic police officer

Working a desk job might still be doable as seems to have happened in this case. Reduced fitness standards for the riot police on the other hand seems likely to be counterproductive - even if the courts will fine the police service for not lowering them for women.