Revealed Preference

A good note on Andrew Sullivan today on revealed preferences in the abortion debate:

"The arguments for and against aborting babies who will be born with disabilities are not much different than the arguments for abortion in general. If you believe that the fetus is a person from the start, then the consistent position is not to abort babies with disabilities. After all, they are people, and just as you would not euthanise them after they were born, or as adults, you would not kill them before they are born. On the other hand, if you believe that the fetus is not yet a person, then deliberately allowing a disabled child to be born is akin to abuse.

Just as you would not maim a child after it is born in order to cause mental or physical handicaps, you would also not allow such a child to form in the first place when you could avoid it.

In other Revealed Preference news, I would suggest I have accidentally revealed that I'm not the big left-leading liberal I thought. When the choice came to take a job in Washington state vs. staying in Massachusetts (arguably the bluest state currently still in the union), I chose to move. The money is the same in both cases, the housing situation is about equal etc., so the conclusion I come to is that the value of living there, despite laws which were favorable and a good political climate were minor compared with the novelty of exploring a new area of the country.