Discrimination “robs the economy of…human capital,” says UBS.
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, UBS re-circulated a 2013 note from its global economist Paul Donovan laying out an economic argument for legalizing gay marriage, Business Insider reports. The original note was written when England and Wales legalized same-sex marriage two years ago. Writes Donovan:
“Economists passionately oppose discrimination, because it wastes or even destroys human capital… If a group in society are told again and again that they are less valuable, they are likely to be less ambitious and to underachieve academically or in the workplace. That robs the economy of human capital it would otherwise have had.”
With that argument, the new U.S. ruling could be a good economic boost, outside of the money that will be poured into traditional wedding ceremonies. Less time spent arguing for equal rights means more time contributing to society in other ways.
Seems like there’s an upside to same-sex marriage for almost everyone.
Photo: Guillaume Paumier via Flickr.