The Economics of Same-Sex Marriage

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Legalizing marriage for same-sex couples in New York would have impacts beyond allowing individuals to make the full legal commitments to their partners that opposite sex couples take for granted. Marriage equality would provide economic benefits to New York State and New York City, especially in the years immediately following enactment of legislation granting this important civil right. The economic benefits would be derived primarily from the increase in visitors from other states who come to New York for the purpose of marrying or attending weddings.

Legalization of marriage for same-sex couples would also entail costs to businesses. In particular, businesses that offer health insurance to employee spouses would be required to cover same-sex spouses. However, this additional cost would be partially offset because many firms already offer coverage for domestic partners.

from Love Counts: The Economic Benefits of Marriage Equality for New York, Exective Summary.

I was listening to Doug Henwood’s radio show Beyond the News the other day, and he had a great interview with Lee Badgett on the economics of same-sex marriage. (I am always behind; this interview is from June 21, 2007.) It’s not that the legalization of gay marriage would by itself create an economic boom, but neither would it be an enormously expensive proposition, as some have argued.

Henwood interviewed Badgett on the occasion of the publication of a report, “Love Counts,” (caution, the above link goes to a .pdf file) by the New York City Comptroller’s Office. What’s important is the way these cool facts can or should counter the crazy myths spread by that small group that fears this sort of equality. Equality is an not a luxury we can’t afford. Badgett has a charmingly old-fashioned website, where you can find out more about her work, here.

Posted in: Economics, Language, Online Places, Writing

Danah Boyd on Class, Facebook and MySpace

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I want to take a moment to make a meta point here. I have been traipsing through the country talking to teens and I’ve been seeing this transition for the past 6-9 months but I’m having a hard time putting into words. Americans aren’t so good at talking about class and I’m definitely feeling that discomfort. It’s sticky, it’s uncomfortable, and to top it off, we don’t have the language for marking class in a meaningful way. So this piece is intentionally descriptive, but in being so, it’s also hugely problematic. I don’t have the language to get at what I want to say, but I decided it needed to be said anyhow. I wish I could just put numbers in front of it all and be done with it, but instead, I’m going to face the stickiness and see if I can get my thoughts across. Hopefully it works.

danah boyd
June 24, 2007

Boyd’s piece is short and impressionistic but quite effective for what it is. Even the comments on her blog are fun to read. What’s fascinating to me is the way she feels compelled to remind readers that she is just testing out ideas, not writing an “academic essay.” She’s not defensive, but she’s puzzled by the often fierce response to her piece.

“I can’t decide if the response is good or bad,” Boyd writes, “I’m clearly getting raked through the coals by lots of folks from lots of different perspectives.” One problem, she thinks, “is that I also clearly pissed off the academics by inappropriately appropriating academic terms in an attempt to demarcate groups.”

Why such a rapid shift away from a discussion of class and towards a focus on Boyd’s authority? As she says, class is a loaded subject in the United Sates. “It’s sticky,” she writes, and “uncomfortable.” I also think she hit a nerve by hinting at a critical view of the material and social privilege associated with high-status universities. This debate is really about class in academia and the way professorial privilege is policed through language.

Posted in: Economics, Online Places, Professional, Writing

Fast-Education

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A major factor for e-learning’s growth potential is the part-time or adjunct instructor. Each adjunct costs about 20 percent (or less) of a full-time counterpart on a per-class basis.6 An adjunct professor often receives no office, phone, mailbox, computer, health benefits, and so forth, and needs another full-time job to survive… The growth of part-time faculty has been significant: according to the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), during the period 1975 to 2003, full-time tenure-track positions increased by 18 percent while full-time non-tenure-track and part-time positions grew at 10 times that rate.

from E-Learning at a Crossroads—What Price Quality?
By Stephen R. Ruth, Martha Sammons, and Lindsey Poulin

I wrote about this subject at a recent Computers and Writing presentation I gave and while it was well received I could also tell that I had not persuaded my audience of the scale and scope of the problem. I think this is because they were mostly traditional academics immersed in the trials and tribulations of attempting to integrate technology into education.

They have a particular agenda, and a specific set of associated problems, and it is hard for them to commit their limited energies elsewhere. I understand that completely, because I was in that situation for a long time. This problem cannot be ignored for long. As I argued in my talk, I believe that the proprietary institutions are creating a second tier of education focused on the bottom of the class hierarchy.

On the one hand, this could be making education available to those that would not otherwise have access. On the other, this could be the birth of the fast-education market, analogous to the birth of fast food in the 1950s. Ruth, Summons, and Poulin, somewhat optimistically argue that “the biggest problem could be finding and integrating tens of thousands of new adjunct professors as partners in the academy.”

I am a little less optimistic, simply because the U.S. academic system is so profoundly rooted in class privilege and material entitlement. It might be possible, for example, to isolate and shrink proprietary education by offering a cheaper alternative taught by well-paid (and medically insured) full-time professors. That might even be the ethical thing to do. It’s as difficult, though, as asking the insurance industry to accept national health care.

Posted in: Autobiographical, Composition, Economics, Language, Online Places, Professional, Writing

Earth 911

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The mission of Earth 911 is to empower the public with community-specific resources that improve their quality of life. While sustainable prevention programs are by far the best way to protect our nation’s environment, the costs associated with many of these programs can be astronomical. That is why the use of this Public and Private Sector Partnership is so important in effectuating prevention ideals. Through the Partnership, economies of scale and scope are achieved, promoting this public service across the nation and centralizing environmental resources into one user-friendly network.

Mission Statement, Earth 911

Every year our little town has this ‘trash day’ when everyone can dump all of those awkwardly big items that you can’t just put out on the curb. You drive out to the fairgrounds in your truck and toss your stuff in a dumpster.

There’s always a big line, each truck filled with couches, chairs, sinks, old fans, broken coffee makers, and computers. Once a dumpster starts getting full a guy with a front loader comes up and starts smashing it down so more will fit. It lasts all day.

I have two dozen or so cans of paint in my basement that have been there for years. Unfortunately, you can’t dump liquids on ‘trash day.’ That’s when you turn to sites like Earth 911. You punch in your zip and what you want to get rid of and you get a list of places to take it.

Unfortunately, the nearest place to take my paint is apparently in Massachusetts. The Earth 911 data bases has some obvious gaps. Still, I learned that Staples will now recycle electronics– that’s better than the city, which just smashes things up for the landfill.

Posted in: Autobiographical, Economics, Miscellaneous, Online Places, Writing