Morning Coffee and Paper

Whew. We both slept til 8am this morning. The 1-year-old actually slept til 8am. Was it a coincidence that we also drank too much last night, or some kind of divine intervention? Anyway, coffee never felt so good. Here's what I'm reading.

1. Inside Higher Ed debates and discusses the value of academic tenure. It also pointed to this interesting looking blog.

2. Apparently, The Dark Knight and Batman Begins are complements.

3. Anderson Cooper looks at the effect of recessions on Black Americans. There's an asymmetric effect. I wonder if a Black and White worker of the same age, same experience, same city, same employer, same education are equally likely to get fired during a recession. That is, holding their observable qualities constant, is the recession going to select the White or Black worker first? Because undoubtedly part of the story of the uneven effects of the recession on Blacks and Whites is the differences in education and the differences in occupations. Black Americans have, on average, lower educational attainment and tend to sort in the least recession-proof industries. But, I wouldn't be surprised if someone showed me that an employer was more likely to fire the Black worker over the White worker, even though both are comparable. Someone should do that study.

4. Ebert gives 3 1/2 stars to a new documentary about Roman Polanski.