Cat Potts, Chapter 5, Question 5

Chapter Five addresses the elephant in the room when it comes to information- the more an employer or insurance company knows about a person, the greater the possibility to alter decisions based on new information. For example, Wheelan mentions the influence that medical issues have on an employer. If a man applying for a job has a history of a fatal disease in his family, he is less likely to be hired, as his health issues may get in the way of his career in the future. The employer, knowing that the man may die young, will hire a different candidate, even though he may be less qualified. This is also seen in employers hiring women; young women are less likely to be hired if up against a man the same age as she may want a family, and that would require her to take time off for maternity leave. This concept is something that we know happens, acknowledge is it wrong, yet do not try to fight it; mostly because we know that there's not a better way to approach the situation. There is a such thing as too much information for an employer (in the case of health issues), but also such a thing as too little (in the case of making assumptions about women wanting to start a family). Insurance companies and employers would rather find out more information, yet job applicants may prefer to keep some things under wraps, in case they have things about their pasts of which they are not proud, and have since changed their behaviors. Perhaps there is a balance between the two sides that we have yet to discover.