The Asian American ‘advantage’ that is actually an illusion
washingtonpost.com
The Asian American ‘advantage’ that is actually an illusion
1–10 of 106 posts
Re: The Asian American ‘advantage’ that is actually an illusion
#2>So while Asian American households seem richer on paper, many of them don’t really feel richer because they live in places where the rent is high and the groceries are more expensive.
Ok, but other things like online purchases and college tuition aren't affected by cost of living. If you live in a high cost of living area sending a kid to an Ivy is relatively cheaper for you than someone in a lower cost of living area.
Cost of living is high partially because there is higher demand for that place. Cincinnati isn't San Francisco.
Re: The Asian American ‘advantage’ that is actually an illusion
#3I guess it goes without saying that the headline is clickbait. The difference isn't "an illusion". Rather, the article describes an insightful way of looking at incomes based on cost-of-living for different geographies.
The yawning difference between Asians and whites mostly disappears after accounting for geography. But it's still quite large versus other segments (blacks, hispanics).
Based on the headline, I was expecting to see income convergence among the four groups. Not the case at all.
Re: The Asian American ‘advantage’ that is actually an illusion
#4>So while Asian American households seem richer on paper, many of them don’t really feel richer because they live in places where the rent is high and the groceries are more expensive. Ok, but other things like online purchases and college tuition aren't affected by cost of living. If you live in a high cost of living area sending a kid to an Ivy is relatively cheaper for you than someone in a lower cost of living ar…
>If you live in a high cost of living area sending a kid to an Ivy is relatively cheaper for you than someone in a lower cost of living area.
I don't disagree with your point but this is a very strange example. Most people don't send their kids to Ivies (most don't even think about applying), and even fewer pay full price.
Re: The Asian American ‘advantage’ that is actually an illusion
#5This article sure is strange:
>>The contrast between whites and Asians is particularly stark. Nearly 1 in 5 white Americans reside in rural counties, where a dollar goes a lot further. But 97 percent of Asian Americans live in or near a major city, where the cost of living is higher.
By definition of living in a lower income area and subsequently making less money, you are unable to live in a nicer, high cost of living area. Personal preference aside, this means you're living in a more desirable area (for many, by definition) and these areas tend to have more job opportunities.
>> Asian Americans, largely for historical reasons, cluster near expensive coastal cities. More than 25 percent of Asian Americans live in one of the four metro areas with the highest costs of living — Honolulu, San Jose, New York and San Francisco. Overall, about 73 percent live in metro areas with above-average costs, 24 percent live in metro areas with below-average costs, and 3 percent live in rural areas.
This is basically irrelevant. One could also say, Black Americans, largely for historical reasons, cluster near more Southern large cities and towns (Dallas, Georgia, New Orleans, etc.)
>> When we factor in these geographic patterns, the racial income gaps start to look a little different
Yeah, Asian Americans still are making much more than Black and Hispanics. If this is supposed to negate the assertion many make that "For that reason, Asian Americans have often been invoked as a way to excuse the income gaps between whites and blacks or whites and Hispanics..." this isn't doing a great job.
>> If you compare whites and Asian Americans with the same amount of schooling, Asian Americans actually make less money.
They should also compare Asian Americans with Black and Hispanic Americans too, for good measure.
---
This conclusion may be faulty, but I'm basically getting the following: for "elite Asians" (keep in mind, most Asians are not "elite"), they enjoy inklings of White privilege, if there's such a thing. However, they do not receive as much of said privilege as actual White people.
Re: The Asian American ‘advantage’ that is actually an illusion
#6>So while Asian American households seem richer on paper, many of them don’t really feel richer because they live in places where the rent is high and the groceries are more expensive. Ok, but other things like online purchases and college tuition aren't affected by cost of living. If you live in a high cost of living area sending a kid to an Ivy is relatively cheaper for you than someone in a lower cost of living ar…
>If you live in a high cost of living area sending a kid to an Ivy is relatively cheaper for you than someone in a lower cost of living area. I don't disagree with your point but this is a very strange example. Most people don't send their kids to Ivies (most don't even think about applying), and even fewer pay full price.
My general point is that college is a large cost that isn't affected by CoL. Same for vehicles.
Re: The Asian American ‘advantage’ that is actually an illusion
#7This article has a glaring logic flaw. After COLA, Asians and Whites show roughly the same median household income. But among minorities, Asians still have higher median household incomes than their Black and Hispanic counterparts. The author barely makes an attempt explain why this is the case. Doesn't the data just reinforce the perception that Asians are the model minority?
So what the article should have said, is after COLA, Asians still have an "advantage" over Blacks and Hispanics. But the illusion is that they don't do better than Whites, they perform the same. Which is not the illusion most people had in mind.
Re: The Asian American ‘advantage’ that is actually an illusion
#8Jeff Guo at the Washington Post seems to be making some odd conclusions lately.
For the study, Upward Mobility and Discrimination: The Case of Asian Americans, compare his reporting: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/11/29/the-r...
To Marginal Revolution's reporting: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2016/11/upw...
It's like they read totally different papers. Or Guo is just gonna talk about whatever he wants to talk about regardless of what's on his desk, I guess. Which might be what's happening here.
If you're really interested compare both of them to the study: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8J_qdFYwNJ6TXdRVkM5S3lMNUU...
Re: The Asian American ‘advantage’ that is actually an illusion
#9This is such incredibly poor agenda-driven "journalism", with cherry-picked data used to (poorly) attack a sort of straw man argument: Asian Americans seem to offer proof that minorities can prosper — and even leapfrog whites — if they work hard and jump through the right hoops. For that reason, Asian Americans have often been invoked as a way to excuse the income gaps between whites and blacks or whites and Hispanics.
So even assuming the (unconvincing) argument that where asians live can account for the fact they are more successful than whites, how does their nonetheless COL-adjusted near parity (still ahead!) vs. whites undermine the idea that minorities can succeed in the USA?
It's easy and cheap to virtue-signal your care for this difficult problem, but the elephants in the room here are IQ and culture, and mainstream liberalism is frankly bordering on fraudulence with its refusal to confront these topics. If you actually care about fixing the worsening income and wealth gap between races - and I would suggest everyone should, as it is clearly toxic to our social fabric - it's long past time to have honest conversations about all of the potential underlying causes and possible solutions.
Re: The Asian American ‘advantage’ that is actually an illusion
#10This article sure is strange: >>The contrast between whites and Asians is particularly stark. Nearly 1 in 5 white Americans reside in rural counties, where a dollar goes a lot further. But 97 percent of Asian Americans live in or near a major city, where the cost of living is higher. By definition of living in a lower income area and subsequently making less money, you are unable to live in a nicer, high cost of livi…
What he's trying to imply is that the place people live is affected by more than simple economics. There are differing historical and cultural reasons why blacks and Asians might live in different cities, regardless of their economic power.
So controlling for their environment, Asians stand out less than they do just by looking at raw numbers. Compared to where they live, they stop outperforming whites, they just tend not to live in poor areas where whites also populate.