IT HAS BEEN GENERALLY FELT THAT A NATIONAL POLICY OF ENCOURAGING RESIDENTIAL INTEGRATION OF NEGROES IN THE SUBURBS WOULD IMPROVE THEIR EMPLOYMENT POSSIBILITIES; BASED ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT EMPLOYMENT OPPORUNITIES ARE DECREASING IN THE CENTRAL CITIES AND INCREASING IN THE SUBRUBS. A NATIONAL POLICY OF HIGH LEVEL OVER-ALL EMPLOYMENT WOULD BE MORE SIGNIFICANT IN PROMOTING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES.
Scientific studies generally conclude that all the hazards of nuclear power combined, including accidents & waste disposal, will cause an average of about 10 deaths per year in the US -- even the antinuclear activists claim only 130. Yet polls show that the public views nuclear power as more of a threat than many other hazards that kill many thousands annually. As a consequence hundreds of millions of dollars are spent per life saved in protecting people from nuclear radiation while disdaining to spend one-thousandth as much to protect against other hazards. Coal-fired, rather than nuclear, plants are built, even though all studies agree that public misunderstanding is thus killing thousands of people & wasting billions of dollars each year. The media is blamed for this misinformation, & the following examples of journalistic misrepresentation are discussed: overcoverage; use of inflammatory language; failure to provide appropriate comparisons to aid understanding, implying that radiation is not well understood; using off-beat rather than reputable scientists as information sources, implying falsely that the scientific community is split on the dangers of radiation; treating strictly scientific issues (eg, health effects of radiation) as political issues; failing to transmit scientific consensus to the public; propagating antiscience; exaggerating dangers of nuclear accidents; failing to tell the public that there was never any substantial danger from the Three Mile Island accident; exaggerating the dangers of radioactive waste (which are actually thousands of times less than those of long-lasting carcinogens released in coal burning); & failure to put nuclear risks into perspective with other normal risks. AA
Reviews 5 books on the subject. Argues that there is no field in economics where there is such a dichotomy between theory and practice as in international trade. The theory, descended from Ricardo and Adam Smith, emphasises the benefits of unrestricted markets and free exchange, whilst in reality, mercantilism and protection are rampant. (SJK)
