Deck 10: Discrimination

Question 1

Most mainstream economists view discrimination as

A) a mistake due to the misperception of people's true skills.
B) a way for capitalists to keep the working class from uniting.
C) a taste.
D) overstated.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

If discrimination led to lower pay for black basketball players then why didn't an enterprising owner hire all blacks and make huge profits?

Answer 2

In fact, something close to this did happen. In the early 1950s, the Boston Celtics were among the first teams to sign a black player. In the early 1960s, they were the first team to start five black players. During this period they established themselves as the dominant franchise in the NBA, a position they held until basketball became largely integrated. Other teams did not follow suit, in part because of consumer discrimination. Studies
have shown that teams' revenues increase with the number of white players. An unprejudiced employer may therefore discriminate because he prefers satisfying his clientel's prejudices to losing their business.

Question 3

Jackie Robinson was the first African American

A) to play Major League Baseball.
B) to play Major League Baseball since the early 1890s.
C) to play professional baseball in the United States.
D) to play a professional sport of any kind in the United States.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

How can there be discrimination against African-American basketball players when they make
20 percent more on average than white players?

Question 5

Explain how expansion can be used to comply with Title IX.

Question 6

What are the three ways that compliance with Title IX may be achieved ?

Question 7

Distinguish between employer discrimination and employee discrimination.

Question 8

Integration was much faster in football than in baseball because

A) of the competition provided by a rival league.
B) the owners in the NFL were less discriminatory than the owners in MLB.
C) football fans are far less discriminatory than baseball fans.
D) football had to get the approval of liberal-minded colleges and universities.

Question 9

What is statistical discrimination? Give an example.

Question 10

In 2007, the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer signed Cuauhtémoc Blanco, one of Mexico's most famous players. They have paid Blanco, an aging star, the second highest salary in Major League Soccer solely to cater to Hispanic fans in Chicago. This is an example of

A) employer discrimination.
B) employee discrimination.
C) customer discrimination.
D) All of the above.
E) None of the above.

Question 11

Why do studies show that discrimination against French-speaking Canadians in the National Hockey League is less prevalent in the province of Quebec than elsewhere?

Question 12

One problem with Title IX has been

A) there are now more opportunities for women than interested athletes.
B) women do not perform as well as men in athletics.
C) it forces women to compete directly with men.
D) some schools have dropped men's sports instead of adding women's.

Question 13

Title IX requires that schools demonstrate

A) equality in programming for all sports.
B) equality in spending on men's and women's sports.
C) proportionality and program expansion and accommodation of interests.
D) proportionality or program expansion or accommodation of interests.

Question 14

Why is Title IX an economic problem?

Question 15

It is difficult to determine whether women are victims of discrimination in professional sports because

A) women have brought far fewer discrimination suits.
B) it is difficult to separate out racial effects from gender effects.
C) women aren't as good at sports as men.
D) women seldom compete with men in the same event.

Question 16

Distinguish between employer discrimination and consumer discrimination.

Question 17

If the proportion of women is greater at Temple University than at Villanova then Title IX says

A) Temple University should spend a higher percentage of its athletic budget on women's sports.
B) Temple University should spend a greater amount of money on women's sports.
C) both schools should spend 50 percent of their athletic budgets on women's sports.
D) nothing because Title IX is based on the number of female athletes.

Question 18

Explain how proportionality can be used to comply with Title IX.

Question 19

Explain how athletic interests of the underrepresented sex can be used to comply with Title IX.

Question 20

What is positional discrimination? Give an example.

Question 21

Judging a player by the average performance of the group to which she/he belongs is known as:

A) Worker discrimination.
B) National discrimination.
C) Employee discrimination.
D) Statistical discrimination.

Question 22

Why is it difficult to isolate gender discrimination in professional leagues of team sports?

Question 23

According to Becker's economic theory of the roots of discrimination, it is: a. A psychological defect borne out of ignorance.
B) Designed to create division among the working classes.
C) Just another component of the desire for profit-maximization.
D) An element of our tastes and preferences.

Question 24

Title IX requires that schools demonstrate:

A) Proportionality and program expansion and accommodation of interests.
B) Equality in spending on men's and women's sports.
C) Proportionality or program expansion or accommodation of interests.
D) Equality in programming for all sports.

Question 25

According to a 2007 study by Justin Wolfers and Jason Price that received significant national attention, referees in the NBA exhibit racial bias with all-white referee crews calling an average of 0.2 more fouls per game against black players than do all-black referee crews. Aside from the obvious implications for the league, why should a regular person care about this finding?

Question 26

Suppose 44 percent of athletes at the University of Minnesota are female while 54 percent of the student body is female. Both the men's and women's track teams consists of roughly 55 members. Could UMN legally drop the women's track team and under what conditions could it do so (if any)?

Question 27

If the firm hires a player other players do not like, those employees with a taste for discrimination will view their wage to be:

A) wd
B) w * (1 - d)
C) w/(1 + d)
D) w
Answer: b

Question 28

From an economic point of view, should professional tennis tournaments pay the men's and
women's bracket an equal amount of prize money? Why or why not? How might one determine
the economically "fair" amount to pay each bracket? Why might the "fair" value be difficult to determine?

Question 29

What does Becker's theory of discrimination use as a measure of the intensity of preferences?

A) Money
B)Actions
C) Hours
D) Vibes

Question 30

According to Becker, in a competitive market, discriminatory firms will:

A) Be the most profitable.
B) Be fined.
C) Be driven out of business.
D) Be the largest.
Answer: c