by Nicholas Beaudrot of Electoral Math
Three quick comments on the Warton-Price paper suggesting a slight racial bias in foul calls in the NBA:
- It's possible ... and I say this having not read the paper ... that fouls per 48 minutes is not the proper rate state to examine. It would be interesting to examine only fouls during the act of shooting, to see if black players are called for more fouls in the act of shooting fouls against players in the act of shooting than white players.
- It's also possible, though unlikely, that ... how to say this delicately ... African-American players and white players play the game differently, which accounts for the slight difference in foul rates.
- An increase in fouls of 2.5-4.5% per 48 minutes for African-American players is incredibly low. If state troopers only stopped black drivers 5% more often than white drivers we would be crowing about the incredible reduction of racial profiling.
Good reasons to read the paper when it's published. No one should take this study too seriously, lest we have some sort of reverse Bell Curve situation on our hands.
