Discrimination

[Richard]

Actuaries discriminate every day based on age, sex, and other factors.  Most people like to tell me how evil discrimination is.  Do you think it is evil?

Would you, a 20 year old, want to pay the same for life insurance that a 65 year old is paying, just because discriminating based on age is evil?

How about you, a 20 year old MALE driver with a clean record, paying 3x as much for car insurance as a 20 year old FEMALE with an accident on her record?

Should the government be allowed to forbid companies from discriminating in such ways?

I'm sure everyone knows my answer, but I'm curious to what the more liberal people on the forum think.

[dazzleman]

Well, I'm not one of the more liberal people on the forum, but I have always argued that not all discrimination is bad.

In our society, if you repeat something often enough, people believe it without really thinking about it.  That is the case with discrimination.  We discriminate every day of our lives, with the decisions that we make.  What matters is the type of discrimination, and the basis on which the decisions are made.

It would be ridiculous to charge a 20-year-old the same amount for life insurance as a 70-year-old.  The actuarial predictions are the whole basis of the life insurance business, and doing away with that "discrimination" would end up increasing costs for everyone, as older people would seek to buy greater amounts of life insurance at artificially low rates.

The car insurance issue is a little grayer.  I understand the reasons for charging young males higher insurance rates - they have higher accident rates.  My own anecdotal observation is that young men are more highly competent, but more reckless, drivers than young women in general.  But the numbers don't lie as far as accident rates are concerned.  Once again, if we are forced to charge young men less, then others will have to pay more to spread the risk around more broadly.

I don't believe in further government regulation of auto insurance, so I believe we should allow the current practices to continue.

[Gabu]

Actuaries discriminate every day based on age, sex, and other factors.  Most people like to tell me how evil discrimination is.  Do you think it is evil?

Would you, a 20 year old, want to pay the same for life insurance that a 65 year old is paying, just because discriminating based on age is evil?

How about you, a 20 year old MALE driver with a clean record, paying 3x as much for car insurance as a 20 year old FEMALE with an accident on her record?

Should the government be allowed to forbid companies from discriminating in such ways?

I'm sure everyone knows my answer, but I'm curious to what the more liberal people on the forum think.

Discrimination is a bad thing only when it's completely baseless and arbitrary, such as a company choosing not to hire a black person purely because the owner doesn't like black people.  Such discrimination produces absolutely nothing and actively hurts the community and likely even the business itself, as it could prevent the company from hiring the most competent individual purely based on an arbitrary decision not to hire black people.  This is the only kind of discrimination that I speak out against.

Discrimination is a good thing when there's actually a reason behind it.  Not everyone is equal, so treating them as if they were would not achieve the most optimal outcome.

[Richard]

When there is a reason behind it... Hmm.  OK, say my business is mostly in a very white state or city.  It should be perfectly acceptable to JUST hire white males because the people you'll be dealing with (white males) feel more comfortable with people like themselves.  Do you agree?


Ontario is about to pass legislation making it illegal to discriminate based on sex.  Guess what women?  No longer will you be able to go to bars free (where guys have to pay the cover).  No longer will you enjoy lower auto insurance rates.

I hope you enjoy being the equals of men.

(Yes I'm bitter about this law.)

[John Dibble]

Could we get a link with more details on the law, Richius?

[Gabu]

When there is a reason behind it... Hmm.  OK, say my business is mostly in a very white state or city.  It should be perfectly acceptable to JUST hire white males because the people you'll be dealing with (white males) feel more comfortable with people like themselves.  Do you agree?

When I say it's "bad", that means that I think that a company shouldn't do it, not that it should be forced not to do it.  A company should be free to do what it wants with regards to hiring employees.