4 ms·

The part he quoted was about running a more efficient business (i.e. outcompeting the competition), not being morally better. Markets are generally pretty good

• hectorlorenzo 4y ago
  Get it, then I think disagreement runs deeper than I thought. As a sibling comment mentioned, I believe that markets are meant to serve humans, not the other way around. Edit: typo
  • olalonde 4y ago
    The question is: is it more desirable for society to have the most competent people running a business or to have a balanced representation of gender, sexual orientation, skin color or <insert other arbitrary way to classify people here> running it? Free market proponents would argue the former is more desirable.
    • TheOtherHobbes 4y ago
      Free market proponents would be wrong. If you're excluding a significant proportion of your population from leadership roles - which is what happens predictably, almost as if by magic, when "markets" make decisions about leadership - your markets are anything but free.
      • olalonde 4y ago
        > your markets are anything but free I believe you are using a non standard definition of "free market" here? Also I am not sure I understand what you mean by "excluding a significant proportion of your population from leadership roles". Of course, competency/qualification requirements excludes a large proportion of the population.
    • hectorlorenzo 4y ago
      This question might be a binary over-simplification. We currently do not have the tools to measure who is "the most competent people running a business". Markets are never pure so I do not think that the current situation (predominantly white men in boards) is the outcome of rational optimisation over the years. If anything, free market proponents should welcome these laws as a way to experiment with different variables to empirically determine what's the best way to run a business. I also do not think that (most) proponents of a balanced representation favour diversity over competency. Speaking for myself, I do believe (from experience) that having diversity in a team results in more resilient, efficient, and "optimal" decision-making. Again, we do not have sufficient tools to prove that empirically, so we better A/B test the hell out of it :)
      • thrill 4y ago
        "free market proponents should welcome these laws as a way to experiment" Mandated experiments are not experiments.
        • hectorlorenzo 4y ago
          As nice as this sounds, I do not think I follow. Can you elaborate?
          • deleted 4y ago
            [deleted]
  • Proven 4y ago