CHAPTER 5 - QUESTION 7

      After reading chapter 5 alone, it has taught me a bit more about rational racial profiling, our healthcare system and insurance companies. It was oblivious to me that both our healthcare system and insurance companies were so slimy and greedy. My pre-existing knowledge of these two particular topics was that our healthcare was meant to be beneficial for everyone and that insurance companies were there to be relied on. I knew that our healthcare system wasn't perfect but it shocked me to find out that doctors may not give correct treatment to their patients based on their financial position. Also, it was appalling to discover that insurance companies make it so difficult for troubled people to receive aid. Racial profiling on the other hand, I knew a bit about. After watching Freakonomics, a movie about global statistics, I was taught that white people were 5 times more likely to be hired for a job than african americans were strictly based off of the applicants name. Besides the racial discrimination, Naked Economics also points out gender discrimination. For example, even though a young gal may be more qualified for a job, she may loose it to someone less qualified because she is a woman. This is so because perhaps she would want to settle down in the near future, start a family and thus take maternity leave. That would mean that the company would have to teach her the in and outs of the job and pay for her future maternity leave when she might not even return to the job after having her child. Rather than this, the company would hire a male assuming that even when/if he starts a family, it will not affect his work.