FEBRUARY 24, 2009

Tyler Cowen of Marginal Revolution notes:

At least in the NBA, it is good, as reported by Price, Lefgren, and Tappen:

"Using data from the National Basketball Association (NBA), we examine whether patterns of workplace cooperation occur disproportionately among workers of the same race. We find that, holding constant the composition of teammates on the floor, basketball players are no more likely to complete an assist to a player of the same race than a player of a different race. Our confidence interval allows us to reject even small amounts of same-race bias in passing patterns. Our findings suggest that high levels of interracial cooperation can occur in a setting where workers are operating in a highly visible setting with strong incentives to behave efficiently."

Here is the paper, here are ungated copies. Can you imagine someone actually conceiving of this topic, let alone researching and writing it? Yes, Eric Holder.

(posted at 9:15 am by Mike Rulle)

 

A Throbbing Toothache of the Mind

(posted at 8:24 pm by Mike Rulle)