I stole this graph from some law blog a couple months back, and now I can't remember where I got it. Regardless, I'm two-bit enough that nobody's going to sue me. Well, actually... It was a law blog...
...Oh well:
OK, the green line is all U.S. civil discrimination cases, and the black line is, as you can see, only discrimination cases against employers.
What I think is wildly interesting about this graph is that starting at the end of 1991, after 10 years of almost no change, employment discrimination cases started a massively steep climb that didn't cap out until almost 1999. So I'm thinkin' that one or more of the following must be true from 1991 to 1998:
1. Employers were discriminating more,
2. Employees were filing more discrimination lawsuits, independent of employer behavior,
And/Or
3. The small possibility that the legal system started classifying discrimination lawsuits differently.
#3 poses a problem, though: If it were true, why does this graph even exist without disclaimer (this is only mildly troubling) and, also, why was there such a steep decline in lawsuits from 1999 to 2008?
The blog I stole this from didn't have much insight into the matter, if I remember correctly, and I have only one theory (two actually, but the second is overly simplistic, I think). But, of course, my theory is entirely dependent on economics. This narrow view is usually never enough in these situations, so I figured I'd enlist some help.
So here's your challenge, dear 4ECon Readin' Types:
Make up a narrative that fits the graph. In other words, make some crap up that could possibly help explain why the black line on the graph looks the way it does. I'm thinking that pretty much any theory will help shine some light on it, so let your imaginations go freakin' wild.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Stolen Graphs 1: Make Some Crap Up
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3 comments:
Between 1991 and 1998--when the baby boomers starting hitting 40--a bunch of younger, more technologically apt members of the next generation started getting good jobs and quick promotions and the baby boomers cried age discrimination and started suing the shit out of their employers. Then in 1998 the baby boomers stopped caring about the kids taking their jobs away because they were very enthralled with President Clinton and his doings with That Woman. They also were very busy stocking up canned goods for Y2K. After Y2K didn't happen, the number of employment discrimination suits rose again slightly because frivolous lawsuits were very much in style at that time. In 2002, lots of baby boomers started hitting 50 and decided they cared more about retirement than suing people, and thus the number of employment discrimination lawsuits has sharply declined ever since.
I am very much a fan of this narrative.
It satisfies A) my dislike of old people, B) the vague idea I had in the '90s that people were going lawsuit-crazy, C) the constraints of the graph almost perfectly and D) best of all, it satisfies the feeling I have that the losers from economic [technological] growth will do anything in their power to get government to solve their problems instead of embracing change, but can be easily distracted because they're old.
It is remarkable, very valuable message
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