This week, I explored a metric I used about a decade ago to measure diversity and its effects. Essentially, it seeks to solve the statistical problem of not having a good way to measure diversity as a singular number. Solving this problem allows us to compare a population to its leaders, its police department, and evaluate it over time. This metric can also be used to determine the impacts (politically, social, economic) of diverse versus non-diverse communities communities. The metric outperforms "% white" or "% minority" because it simultaneously measures changes in all racial groups.
I found several things when I analyzed this data and documented in my blog (link below), importantly:
-The American population is still MUCH more diverse than Congress, especially the Senate.
-The growth of diversity in the United States is stunning, especially when projected out to 2050.
-A diversity index is highly correlated to democratically controlled State legislature.
I also found a failing in this metric. It doesn't measure instances of massive inequality very well. Specifically, I found this when looking at the Ferguson Police Department and extrapolated to a somewhat similar demographic situation in Apartheid era South Africa.
A link to my full write-up with methodological explanation and fuller data is here.
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