DISCRIMINATION AND DISPARITIES

An enlarged edition of Thomas Sowell's brilliant examination of the origins of economic disparities

Economic and other outcomes differ vastly among individuals, groups, and nations. Many explanations have been offered for the differences. Some believe that those with less fortunate outcomes are victims of genetics. Others believe that those who are less fortunate are victims of the more fortunate.

Discrimination and Disparities gathers a wide array of empirical evidence to challenge the idea that different economic outcomes can be explained by any one factor, be it discrimination, exploitation or genetics. The point of Discrimination and Disparities is not to recommend some particular policy "fix," but to clarify why so many policy fixes have turned out to be counterproductive, and to expose some seemingly invincible fallacies behind many counterproductive policies.

The first edition of this book addressed the seemingly invincible fallacy that statistical disparities in socioeconomic outcomes imply either biased treatment of the less fortunate or genetic deficiencies in the less fortunate. This edition takes on other widespread fallacies, including the prevailing social argument of our time - namely, that if individual economic benefits are not due solely to individual merit, there is justification for redistributing those benefits. Although these two, and other, fallacies seem plausible on the surface, Sowell attempts to undermine them with an investigation of their premises and the underlying facts.

This new edition almost is almost twice the size of the original and contains two entirely new chapters.

Thomas Sowell is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is the author of dozens of books and the recipient of various awards, including the National Humanities Medal, Presented by the President of the United States in 2003.