The Economist - USA (2019-09-28)

26 United States The EconomistSeptember 28th 2019

pleadtheircasestopolice,whosedisbelief

canreturnthemtojail.

em’s defendersargue,correctly,thatre-

mainingathomewithananklemonitoris

betterthangoingtojail.Butthatisa lowbar

toclear.Likejail,whichchargesinmates

exorbitantfeesforessentials,emextracts

feesfrompeopleconvicted ofnocrime.

Statesandcitiescouldusethecostsavings

fromjailingfewerpeopletopayforem.In-

stead,manyseepoorpeopleasyetanother

sourceofrevenue.

Monitoringalsostigmatisespeople.As

DavidGaspar,operationsmanagerforthe

BailProject,notes,whenpeopleseesome-

onewithananklemonitor,theydonot

think“There’saninnocentperson.”They

wonderwhatthatpersondid.Andthebur-

densthisstigmaimposescanoutlastthe

reasonwhytheyarefitted.MsMerchant’s

casewasdismissedwhenthecomplainant

repeatedlyfailedtoappearincourt.She

stillowesMarionCountyhundredsofdol-

larsinmonitoringfees. 7

T

uneintoa collegefootballmatchin

America,andyoumightthinkthatyou

werewatchinga professionalratherthan

anamateur sport.The biggeststadiums

routinelyfillover100,000seats.Corporate

sponsorships are common. Television

broadcastsaresupersaturatedwithadsfor

expensivepick-up trucks and beers. All

told, America’s college athletic depart-

mentsbroughtinacombined$18.1bnof

revenuein2017,upfrom$9.8bnin2007.

Despitethepopularityoftheiroutput,

collegeathletesreceivenoremuneration.

TheNationalCollegeAthleticAssociation

(ncaa),whichgovernscollegesports,has

longforbiddenitsplayerstoreceiveany

compensation.Theseordinanceshaveal-

waysbeencontroversial.Butafteryearsof

legalchallengesandintensepublicscruti-

ny,thencaa’s clampdownonpayingjocks

isatlaststartingtocrack.

OnSeptember10thCaliforniapasseda

billwhichwouldallowathletesatcolleges

in the state with lucrative sports pro-

grammestohireagentsandearnmoneyon

the side through sponsorship deals or

autographsales.Thebillstillneedstobe

signed by the governor, and would not

comeintoeffectuntil2023.Similarlegisla-

tionisbeingconsideredinotherstatesand

atthefederallevel.

Somelawmakerswouldliketogoone

step further. Senator Bernie Sanders, a

presidentialcandidate,putit plainlywhen

hetweeted:“Collegeathletesareworkers.

Paythem.”Yettreatingathletesasemploy-

eescouldcreatecomplications.Titleix, a

federallaw, preventscolleges fromdis-

criminating between students by sex.

Wouldthismeanthatcollegeswouldhave

topaytheirfemalebasketballplayersas

muchasmales,forexample,evenifthe

menbringinmorerevenue?

RichardBorghesi,aneconomistatthe

UniversityofSouthFlorida-Sarasota,has

writtenapairofpapers looking athow

muchtopathleteswouldmakeif theywere

paidaccordingtotheirabilitytogenerate

revenuefortheircolleges.Inadditionto

ticketandmerchandisesales,collegeath-

letesalsoplaya roleinsolicitingdonations

fromrichalumni.Takingthesefactorsinto

account,MrBorghesiestimatesthatthe

top10%offootballand16%ofbasketball

playerswouldbepaidaround$400,000

and$250,000a yearrespectively.

ThencaaopposesCalifornia’sefforts.

Theassociationnotesthatcollegeathletes

alreadyreceivecompensationintheform

ofscholarships,andarguesthatanyfur-

therremunerationwould jeopardisethe

integrityofwhatismeanttobeanamateur

endeavour.Thencaahasalsothreatened

tobanCaliforniancollegesfromcompet-

inginnationalchampionships.

Although the ncaa’s objections may

havebeenvalidatsomepoint,theymake

littlesensetoday.Thetwomostlucrative

collegesports,Americanfootballandbas-

ketball,arehighlycompetitive.Manyuni-

versitiesare willing to bend overback-

wardstoenrolltalentedplayers.Andthe

argumentthatuniversityathleticsremains

amateurwouldhardlyearnpassingmarks

inevenanintroductorycollegecourse. 7

Studentathletesmayatlastbeallowed

toprofitfromtheirtalent

Collegesports

Payforplay

Half-timeorovertime?

A

merican mobile-phoneusers are in-

undated with spam callers. Hiya, a Se-

attle-based call-monitoring service, esti-

mates that consumers received 26.3bn

robocalls in 2018, up 46% from 18bn the

previous year. Phone manufacturers have

taken note of their customers’ woes. In its

latest software release, Apple has made it

possible for iPhone users to send all un-

known callers to voicemail automatically.

Although the feature will no doubt prove

useful to the millions of customers whose

peaceful suppers are ruined by fake calls, it

could be disastrous for the faltering public-

polling industry.

The challenges telephone pollsters face

have been growing. Polling by phone has

become very expensive, as the number of

Americans willing to respond to unexpect-

ed or unknown callers has dropped. Back in

the mid-to-late-20th century response

rates were as high as 70%, according to

ssrs, a market research and polling firm.

But the Pew Research Centre estimates that

it received completed interviews from a

mere 6% of the people it tried to survey in

2018. Although polls with low response
      rates can still be accurate, their costs in-
      crease dramatically as pollsters must
      spend more time and money calling more
      people. According to the American Associ-
      ation for Public Opinion Research, a tradi-
      tional, high-quality survey of 1,000 Ameri-
      cans costs roughly $48,000.
      Apple’s new call-blocking feature could
      push costs and response rates into more
      perilous territory. Robert Griffin, research
      director for the Democracy Fund Voter
      Study Group, a group of public-opinion re-
      searchers, says the software poses an “exis-
      tential problem”. With call-blocking, the
      barrier to carrying out good polls shifts
      “from people not picking up their phones
      to people not even getting the call at all”.
      Analysts do not even know precisely how
      the new technology will affect the indus-
      try—but with response rates already falling
      sharply, whatever is in store for pollsters
      cannot be good.
      Mr Griffin does his best to see a bright
      side. The challenges of phone-based pub-
      lic-opinion polling could spur researchers
      to adopt newer, more innovative methods,
      including online polls. They are cheaper
      and quicker than telephone surveys, and
      provide a better framework for studying
      Americans’ attitudes and behaviour. Sur-
      veys conducted over the internet allow re-

WASHINGTON, DC

A new iPhone feature poses a threat to

opinion surveys

Public polling

Unknown

numbers

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