The Problem? Or the Solution?

I’m not calling him a saint by any means, and he could learn some lessons in how to express ideas better, but where others see a problem, I see the solution. Well, most of the solution. Change doesn’t generally happen because people in power are super nice, it happens because it gives someone an advantage. Branch Rickey hired Jackie Robinson partly because he was less racist than others, but largely because he was looking for a way to get ahead. After a while it became obvious to everyone that their racist “thinking” was hurting them, and baseball as a whole changed.

When companies hire programmers in India for less than they’d make here, but more than they’d make otherwise, is that immoral? I’m sure Thornley saw people (women) at other companies he wanted to hire, figured out what he had to offer to bring them over, and offered that. In a sexist industry that means they’ll still make less than they should, but more than they would have. I wish we could snap our fingers and make prejudice disappear, but it doesn’t happen like that.

Tabarrok is good on this also.