Don't Be a Feminist: Essays on Genuine Justice
About this book
Bryan Caplan, Professor of Economics at George Mason University, and New York Times Bestselling author of Open Borders, The Myth of the Rational Voter, Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, and The Case Against Education, blogged for EconLog from 2005-2022. His latest book combines an all-new piece, “Don’t Be a A Letter to My Daughter,” with the very best of his EconLog writings on the virtue – and perversion – of justice.In the title essay, Caplan challenges the conventional view that we treat women less fairly than men. Men predominate at the bottom as well as the top of society. Performance gaps, not unfairness, are the best explanation. Feminism succeeds because it is society cares more when women suffer. Much more.Later essays debunk the “woke” movement as an Orwellian program of uniformity and exclusion. The alternative is the Beckerian view that free markets foster genuine justice by rewarding employers who put bigotry aside. That is why even xenophobic employers often hire illegal immigrants. Blaming all men, whites, or immigrants for the sins of some is emotionally appealing but economically absurd.