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Week of 5 April 2002 · Vol. V, No. 29
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Fortune Small Business: Sexism alive and well in small businesses

When women leave corporate America to start their own businesses, they attract a mere 5 percent of all equity investments, reports the April issue of Fortune Small Business. According to a new study conducted by researchers from five top schools, including Boston University, women own about a third of all privately held businesses in the United States, with the rest owned by men. In the past five years, venture capital money for women has remained at 5 percent but at 95 percent for men. The study is named the Diana Project, for the Roman goddess of the hunt.

Morning Edition, National Public Radio: 401(k)s could be troublesome for low- and moderate-income families

Tax-deferred retirement accounts, built on the premise that people will be in a lower income bracket during retirement, allow for sheltering of savings while working and then paying taxes on the income in retirement, when rates are lower. But an increasing number of people won't move into lower tax brackets in retirement, says Laurence Kotlikoff, a CAS professor of economics and chairman of the department, on the March 27 NPR show Morning Edition. "They may end up paying more taxes over their lifetime than if they saved outside of the 401(k) because of three reasons," he says. "One is they're going to be put into a higher tax bracket when they're retired. Another thing is that these withdrawals will trigger the taxation of their Social Security benefits." The third problem, according to Kotlikoff, is that people can lose out while they're working because when 401(k)s bump them into a lower tax bracket, that also lessens the value of their tax breaks, like the deduction for mortgage interest. High-income families don't have this problem.

Boston Globe: Race in police case at issue

After U.S. District Court Judge William Young, a LAW visiting professor of law instruction in the J.D. program, upheld the promotion of black Boston police officers who earned the same test scores as their white counterparts -- thereby ruling against eight white police officers who earned the same exam score as the black officers in 1996 but were passed over for promotion to sergeant -- legal scholars and lawyers were openly questioning his authority to carry out a controversial order in the ruling to act as gatekeeper for any race-based hirings or promotions by the police department. Young also rejected a longstanding position by police officials that hiring and promoting minorities are key to community policing in a large city, and therefore warrant race-based hiring.

"It's unprecedented," says Jack Beermann, a LAW professor of law instruction in the J.D. program and a civil rights expert, in the March 27 Boston Globe. "I don't see any basis articulated here for him to retain jurisdiction over the case." Beermann says Young's jurisdiction over the case ended when he ruled in favor of the city and the police department and therefore he cannot understand how Young could continue to exercise authority in future personnel decisions.
       

5 April 2002
Boston University
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