Dennis Prager talks to Walter Williams, Professor of Economics at George Mason University. His new book is Race and Economics: How Much Can Be Blamed on Discrimination?
If a white and a black are sent out for the same job with the same resume, how come blacks are not hired as often?
Walter Williams, a black economist, says: “It’s utter nonsense to think that a black with a high school diploma and a white with a high school are equally diploma because all the data show that a black graduating today with a high school diploma has the reading, writing and computating skills of a white student in seventh or eighth grade. The employer knows this. The same goes for bachelor degrees.”
Dennis: “Was that [stat about high school] true a hundred years ago?”
Walter: “No. There were few blacks graduating from high school, but those that did were as competent as whites graduating from high school.”
“Too much is blamed on racial discrimination explaining the problems black Americans face when there are other factors such as fraudulent high school diplomas or market entry restrictions.”
“Affirmative action has been a negative [for blacks]. Affirmative action increases the costs of firing a worker because you might get charged with racial discrimination. Anything that increases the cost of firing a person increases the cost of hiring a person.”
