Blacks’ optimism about their standard of living exceeds those of whites, according to Gallup’s Standard of Living Index.

Overall, an average of 70% of blacks say they are currently satisfied with their standards of livings. This is compared to 64% in 2009 and 52% in 2008. Whites’ satisfaction with their standards of living has “remained even during the height of the financial crisis.”

According to Gallup:

Blacks have become more optimistic about their standards of living since the financial crisis of 2008. It is not clear whether this is grounded in real economic gains for blacks over this time, or whether it is merely the result of greater optimism among blacks in general about the economic climate for the United States and their own families.

The latter explanation seems more likely, given that blacks began to be more optimistic around the same time that Barack Obama was inaugurated as president, but before his economic policies could have had a tangible impact on Americans’ lives. Blacks voted overwhelmingly for Obama in 2008 and continue to support him at high levels today even as his overall approval rating has declined.

Scott Adams dreams:

When you eliminate cash, you also eliminate a lot of crime. Criminals need cash to stay off the radar. In a cashless world, drug dealers and crime syndicates could try to set up fake businesses to launder their revenues, but it wouldn’t work. Imagine setting up a fake dry cleaner, for example. The government could easily determine whether that business is buying the type and quantity of dry cleaning supplies typically needed, and whether the profit margins are at industry norms. All of that information would be available through the tax records. A drug dealer could pretend to be a consultant, but even then you expect a digital trail for buying printer ink, business travel, and the like. Perhaps the drug dealer’s address and educational level would be tip-offs too.

The Department of Labor recently released its annual study Highlights of Women’s Earnings in 2009:

In 2009, women who were full-time wage and salary workers had median weekly earnings of $657, or about 80 percent of the $819 median for their male counterparts. In 1979, the first year for which comparable earnings data are available, women earned about 62 percent as much as men. After a gradual rise in the 1980s and 1990s, the women’s-to-men’s earnings ratio peaked at 81 percent in 2005 and 2006.

Mark Perry gives his thoughts:

Doesn’t the BLS’ use of the term “male counterparts” (Webster definition: “one remarkably similar to another”) imply an “apples to apples” comparison between male and females workers, as if all relevant explanatory factors have been controlled for, i.e. the ceteris paribus condition has been imposed?

In the chart above, BLS data show that marriage and having children affect male and female earnings differently, so that men and women workers can’t really be considered “counterparts” in a statistical sense, and any unadjusted comparisons would be comparing apples to oranges.  For example, single women earn about 95% of what men earn, but married women earn 75.6% of what married men earn (from Table 1), and married women with children between the ages of 6-17 earn 70.25% of their male “counterparts” (Table 8).  Also from Table 8, for the marital status that includes “never married, divorced, separated and widowed,” and with “no children under 18 years old,” women in that group make 96.3% of their “male counterparts.”

According to the BLS report, marriage and motherhood can explain a large portion of the gender pay gap.

People who have something to gain, according to a new study by Jerry L. Anderson, Aaron Brees, and Emily Renninger.

The authors surveyed zoning boards in the over 100 of the largest U.S. cities to determine the occupational composition of board members. It comes as no surprise that the boards are overwhelming populated with white-collar citizens, with business owners and real estate development the most prevalent occupations represented. The authors then conducted a survey of citizens to determine whether this skewed board composition makes any difference to the decision-making process. The study concludes that the composition of the board does matter, but not always in ways one might predict.

HT: Freakonomics

Will Saletan is appalled by competitive eating

Ten years ago, the record at the Nathan’s contest was 25 hot dogs. Now it’s 68, and Chestnut claims to have forced down 72 in a practice session.