MV Lee Badgett, Director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration and Professor of Economics, was a featured guest in The Economist live debate over single-sex marriage on January 5, 2011.
Economist Debates transform traditional Oxford style of debating into a live, interactive, online forum. According to The Economist, “The format was made famous by the 186-year-old Oxford Union and has been practised by heads of state, prominent intellectuals and galvanising figures from across the cultural spectrum.”
The online debate begins with an assertion, in this case, “This house believes that single-sex marriage should be legal,” which is then defended and assailed by leading academic and professional experts, as well as interested lay readers and participants. Featured guest commentary, like Badgett’s remarks, provide necessary context and informed perspective on the subject. Each side has three chances to persuade readers: opening, rebuttal and closing. The single-sex debate opened January 3 and will close January 10. Ultimately, the debate will be decided by a public vote.
M.V. Lee Badgett is an economics professor and director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She also serves as research director of the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at UCLA’s School of Law. Her most recent book, “When Gay People Get Married: What Happens When Societies Legalize Same-Sex Marriage” (NYU Press, 2009), addresses the core issues in the marriage debates in European countries and America. She drew on that work in her recent testimony in the Perry v Schwarzenegger trial challenging California’s Proposition 8. Her first book was “Money, Myths, and Change: The Economic Lives of Lesbians and Gay Men”.