Repugnant statistical analyses

Joshua Gans points us to an unusual case of repugnance. Here's the beginning of Joshua's blog post:

The unintended consequences of France’s ban on statistical analysis of Judges

"If someone had said that I would be writing a blog post to consider a law that might imprison people for conducting statistical analysis on publicly available data, I would have thought that was unlikely because who would ever propose, let alone enact, such a law?

"The other day we got our answer: France! The very country that produced Laplace, Pascal and Guerry!

"The law in question is Article 33 of the Justice Reform Act which was amended to read as follows:

"The identity data of magistrates and members of the judiciary cannot be reused with the purpose or effect of evaluating, analysing, comparing or predicting their actual or alleged professional practices.

"That maximum sentence (yes, criminal sentence) for violating this is 5 years. This puts ‘statistics’ in the category of a crime. Notice that it is actually using the data for a specific purpose and not something else like publishing outcomes that violate privacy.

What this means is that you cannot do statistical analyses that compare judges. "
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Here's a news article from a site called Artificial Lawyer, devoted to legal tech:

France Bans Judge Analytics, 5 Years In Prison For Rule Breakers

"In a startling intervention that seeks to limit the emerging litigation analytics and prediction sector, the French Government has banned the publication of statistical information about judges’ decisions – with a five year prison sentence set as the maximum punishment for anyone who breaks the new law.

"Owners of legal tech companies focused on litigation analytics are the most likely to suffer from this new measure.

"The new law, encoded in Article 33 of the Justice Reform Act, is aimed at preventing anyone – but especially legal tech companies focused on litigation prediction and analytics – from publicly revealing the pattern of judges’ behaviour in relation to court decisions.

"A key passage of the new law states:

‘The identity data of magistrates and members of the judiciary cannot be reused with the purpose or effect of evaluating, analysing, comparing or predicting their actual or alleged professional practices.’ "

Repugnance watch: In Paris: are public urinals (for men) sexist?

The NY Times has the story:

With Tampons and Concrete, Vandals Hit Paris Urinals Seen as Sexist

"To some, the new street urinals in Paris are a mere eyesore, to say nothing of the men using them. To others, they are no less than an emblem of sexism, still more evidence that men’s needs are put above women’s."

A cri de cœur against assortative matching for French college admissions

A French op-ed discusses the new college admissions system, 'Parcoursup':

Derrière l’algorithme de Parcoursup, un choix idéologique.  Par Hugues Bersini.
Gtranslate: Behind Parcoursup's algorithm, an ideological choice

The objection seems to be to assortative matching, which results when students largely agree on the desirability of universities, and universities largely agree on the desirability of students.  As a result, few students from poor neighborhoods are matched to top college programs.

Airbnb in Paris

The FT has an informative story about Airbnb's large footprint in Paris, the nuanced effects this has on the city, and French attempts at regulation:

 Airbnb: ‘It’s a cash machine. It’s magical. You are paid to go on holiday’

"The home-sharing site’s number one destination is Paris, where it stands accused of driving up rents and house prices"

French university admissions

The World View has a story on what I take to be ongoing attempts to reform university admissions in France in response to sometimes conflicting concerns.

The Reform of French University Admissions
by Stephanie Mignot-Gerard , March 13, 2018

"After months of extensive consultations, the French Minister of Higher Education and Research, Frederique Vidal, disclosed her bill for a reform of the French public universities admission system on October 30. The reform was rushed due to the turmoil of the random enrollment of 3000 bacheliers at 169 university programs. The randomized procedure concerned the fields of studies where student applications exceeded the seats available (especially in sport studies, psychology and law). The new system had been in place for a couple of years, but remained unnoticed until massive numbers of students were affected this year. A glitch in the software—Admission Post Bac (APB)—allowed 2016 bacheliers to re-start their first year in university in a different field. The result spurred student union protests throughout the summer.
...
"Prior to 2008, when APB was put in place, students had to rank 24 degree choices and university seats were allocated through a complex algorithm that took into account high school grades and the geographical location of student’s home. With the 2017 reform, students can only make 10 non-ranked program choices at any university within the national territory. But the major innovation is twofold. First, high school teachers now have responsibility for providing orientation and offering recommendations based on the choices a student has made. Second, even if the decision about where to apply remains with the student, universities still have the autonomy and right to reject them.

"Student unions remain divided on the government proposal. The reformist association, the FAGE, now a leader at the national level, sees the government’s decision to allow students to decide where to study as a victory. On the other hand, the leftist UNEF claims that the government project undermines the French legal principle of higher education for all and calls for demonstrations. Surprisingly, high school and university students are not easy to mobilize; the UNEF actually—likely deliberately—seems to ignore that the selective admission taboo ended a long time ago. A survey by the magazine L’Etudiant in 2016 of 2500 high school and university students indicated that more than 57% were in favor of some selection."

Surrogacy in France (and IVF for unmarried folks)

Surrogacy has long been illegal in France, but the fact that it is legal elsewhere in the world (such as California) has put pressure on French authorities to recognize French parents and children who have come through surrogacy.

Here's a post from frequent surrogacy-watcher Ellen Trachman at Above the Law on recent progress:
French Gay Dads Win A Surrogacy Victory

"Many European countries have either completely banned surrogacy, or at least severely limited its legality. France is among those European countries that have outlawed surrogacy within its borders. But despite the ban, high demand by French citizens — including gay couples who want a biologically-linked child — has led to many French citizens conceiving children abroad via surrogacy, and in some cases, turning to desperate measures.
...
"Last week, the Court of Cassation — which is apparently what they call France’s highest court of appeals — ruled on a surrogacy dispute. (Here’s the French manuscript for my fluent followers.) In the case, four couples with children born via surrogacy outside of France asked the court to require the government to recognize their (and especially the non-biological parent’s) parental rights to their child.

At Least It’s Not Three Years Ago. Fortunately, the couples at least had one parent with recognized rights to the child. Three years ago, France was refusing to recognize any French parental rights or French citizenship for a child born elsewhere via surrogacy. The European Court of Human Rights chastised the French government, finding that such a stance was a violation of human rights — specifically for the parentless, and possibly country-less, child. That 2014 ECHR ruling allowed a genetically-linked father to a surrogate-born child to be recognized as the legal parent, and the child be given French citizenship.

...

"[Last week]...the court agreed to a middle route, and ruled that the non-bio partner could adopt the surrogate-born child. 

...  [and on to IVF]

"While campaigning, President Emmanuel Macron took the position that single women and same-sex female couples should be eligible to use assisted reproductive technology services to conceive. Currently, the country allows those services to be available only for heterosexual couples. ...

... Macron hedged his position by saying that he would wait for the National Consultative Ethics Committee to issue a recommendation on the matter before acting. ... last week, after considering the issue for over three years, the Committee finally issued its opinion. It concluded that, indeed, singles and same-sex couples should be permitted to use assisted reproductive technology services. "

France introduces opt-out policy on organ donation

The Guardian has the story:
France introduces opt-out policy on organ donation
Change in law means consent for organs to be removed is presumed unless person joins official ‘refusal register’

"France has reversed its policy on organ donations so that all people could become donors on their death unless they join an official register to opt out.
The new law presumes consent for organs to be removed, even if it goes against the wishes of the family.

Until 1 January, when the legislation took effect, unless the person who had died had previously expressed a clear wish for or against donation, doctors were required to consult relatives who, in almost a third of cases, refused.

Those who do not want all or any of their organs to be used must now put their name on a “refusal register” – so far 150,000 people have signed up. The authorities have promised to make it easier for those who wish to refuse by allowing them to join the register online instead of by registered post.

Alternatively, those vehemently opposed to their organs being used can leave a signed document with their next-of-kin or transmit their wish orally to relatives who must make a written declaration of non-consent to doctors at the time of death. The process is explained on the agency’s Facebook page.

In November, the French Agence de la Biomédecine released a film, Déjà-vu2, aimed at encouraging 15- to 25-year-olds to agree to organ donation.

The European Union has highlighted the lack of organs for transplant and the increasing number of patients on waitings lists worldwide. Its figures claim that in 2014, 86,000 people were waiting for organ donations in EU states, Norway and Turkey, and 16 people were dying every day while waiting for a transplant.

In the UK, doctors lament one of the lowest consent rates in Europe, as well as a shortage of donors from black or Asian communities. A record number of organs were donated and transplanted in the UK in 2015-16, but the rate remains short of the target of 80% by 2020. The biggest obstacle remains relatives’ opposition, who have vetoed transplants even from registered donors.

NHSBT, which is responsible for the NHS organ donor register and for matching and allocating donor organs, said it was considering further steps it could take when approaching families to ensure more potential donors’ decisions were not vetoed.

One option would be to no longer ask the next-of-kin to confirm consent or authorisation. Their permission is not required by law if someone has registered a decision to donate on the NHS organ donor register.

Families in Scotland are already required to complete a retraction form to record why they overturned a relative’s decision to donate. NHSBT said a similar form be introduced across the UK."

HT: Frank McCormick

Jean Tirole interviewed in the Financial Times

Tirole thinks both about French economists and the French economy:
French lessons from a Nobel Prize winner

"...Laffont and Tirole thought internationally. Tirole says: “We started teaching in English 20 years ago, when it was illegal.”
...
"...economists aren’t heard or understood much in France. Tirole explains: “In France, in most universities you specialise very early but you don’t learn any economics. France came to a market economy pretty late, too. If you think about France, a lot of the decisions were administrative.”
Would-be reformers such as Tirole or economy minister Emmanuel Macron get shouted down with the ultimate French insult: “Libéral!” This essentially means “Laissez-faire capitalist”. Tirole explains: “People don’t know what libéral means. The truth is I don’t know economists who are for laissez-faire, so to speak. They may be for more or less regulation.”
...
"Tirole sketches France’s looming economic triple whammy. ...Third, he says, the digital economy will quickly destroy many jobs. He adds, half-jokingly: “Maybe my job won’t exist any more. Maybe all teaching will be done from Cambridge, Mass.”
...
"But if the far-right leader Marine Le Pen becomes president in 2017, would that ruin his hopes for France? “Yes,” sighs Tirole. “It ruins the country’s image but also the country’s economics. Leaving the euro, nationalising firms, pouring more money into civil-service jobs, and stopping migrants and imports will make markets even more inefficient, will increase the public deficit, and we will lose the discipline of the euro. I don’t want to answer your question. I don’t want to think about it.”

To help Paris, donate blood... later (guest post by Carmen Wang)

Carmen Wang writes:

To help Paris, donate blood... later.

Paris needs blood donations in the aftermath of the Attacks, although not that much more than a typical Saturday (EFS press release). Real shortages, however, are very likely in the upcoming winter and holiday season. Market designers point out that blood donations, with kind intention, can happen at wrong times. Instead, would-be donors can register their names and availability with the blood service, and help later when blood is most needed.

Paris:
Long queues to donate blood everywhere 

EFS (French Blood Service) informing of enough blood supply and asking donors to come back later

Boston in 2013:
Various calls for blood donations after the Boston Marathon Bombing, for example

(Notice the time of this tweet and that of the next tweet)

The American Red Cross politely declining more blood donations

What happened in the two cities are not coincidences.

Similar phenomenon in blood donations has happened during so many disasters like 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Victoria Bushfire in Australia. In severe cases, it leads to blood, the gift of life, being left expired on the shelf. However, in 'normal' times most countries suffer recurring blood shortages, especially during winter, due to the holiday season and that many regular donors are affected by cold and flu. Particularly this time in Paris, the winter is coming. The blood collected today will expire in a few weeks right at beginning of the winter months. Moreover, donors who donated today, when there is no real blood shortage, will not be able to donate in winter when shortages do occur. We can only donate blood approximately once every 3 months. Blood is so precious, so donate wisely.

The reason why the above phenomenon repeats itself across the world is because blood donations need to follow the demand for blood, but most people do not have the necessary information. In addition, other people's donations also affects the supply of blood in real time, which makes it impossible for an individual donor to decide whether it is a good time to donate blood. In Paris, we do want to help those who are injured in the Attacks, but not all donors need to respond at the same time. Too many donations can quickly lead to wasteful congestion and oversupply, and worse, potentially affect the blood supply immediately afterwards.

The solution is surprisingly simple, which is to set up a blood donation registry. People who want to help now can sign up in a registry, and commit to donate later when a blood shortage does occur. After all, a need for blood anytime is a need for blood. What difference does it make if it occurs during the Paris Attacks, Boston Marathon Bombing, Australia's Victoria Bushfire versus other 'ordinary' times? The blood service, which knows the need for blood at any given time, can contact donors in the registry to meet any excess demand for blood, and maintain an adequate level of blood supply in the long term. With the help of the registry, registered donors can be informed correctly not only when there is a potential shortage in aggregate, but more importantly, when their donations are needed and when others have donated enough. 

So to people in Paris, how about a registry in memory of Paris Attacks? The registry not only helps smooth out supply in disaster times, but also helps donors to stay informed, and donate whenever there is a need in normal times. And to donors anywhere in the world, the need for blood in your local area might be more than that in Paris as today. If you would've helped were you in Paris, maybe someone needs your help right now right around you.

More details, see paperSlonim, Robert, Carmen Wang, and Ellen Garbarino (2014). The Market for Blood. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 28(2), 177-196.
And two upcoming working papers (inquire authors for more information)Slonim, Robert and Carmen Wang (2015), Market design for altruistic supply: Evidence from the Lab

Garbarino, Ellen, Stephanie Heger, Robert Slonim and Carmen Wang, Redesigning markets for blood donations: A blood donation registry

In France, children born to surrogates become legal, even while surrogacy does not

The NY Times has the story: France: Surrogate Children Win Legal Recognition

"France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, on Friday granted legal recognition to surrogate children, in a major turnaround that will make their daily lives easier and could lead to greater acceptance of new forms of families. The court ruled that while surrogacy would remain banned in France, children born abroad through this practice would now be legally tied to their parents and would be granted birth certificates and immediate means to prove their French citizenship. Surrogacy procedures are used by heterosexual couples unable to conceive, gay couples, and single parents. Until now, surrogate children were deprived of any legal connection to their parents, or any civil status in France. These children could not get automatic ID cards or passports, or register for state health care or other services."

Extra-marital sex in France: Gleeden (and the importance of hyphens)

The NY Times is shocked: Extramarital Dating Site Unsettles the Land of Discreet Affairs

"The ads for the dating website Gleeden, which bills itself as “the premier site for extramarital affairs designed by women,” were recently splashed on the backs of buses in several French cities. Seven cities decided to withdraw the ads, and opponents have mobilized against them on social media, providing the latest example of a prominent cultural divide in France about the lines between public morality, private sexual conduct and the country’s vaunted freedom of expression.
...
"A campaign by Ashley Madison, another extramarital website, featured President François Hollande and his three predecessors with smudged lipstick on their faces. “What do they have in common?” the ad asked. “They should have thought of ashleymadison.com.”
...
Gleeden, launched in 2009, has a million subscribers in France, and 2.4 million globally, who can anonymously trawl profiles for lovers.
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An aside: some years ago, there was a book called Eats, shoots and leaves, pointing out that punctuation is important: the presence or absence of a comma can change how you read that book title.  Similarly, hyphens are important, although the NY Times has made "extramarital" one word--there's a world of difference between extra marital sex and extra-marital sex...

Kidney exchange in France

Here (with the aid of Google Translate) is the announcement from November 2013:

  Le don croisé de reins va démarrer en 2014  (Paired kidney donation will start in 2014)

And here's an update from FRANCE ADOT, la fédération des Associations pour le Don d'Organes et de Tissus humains .:

When these transplants living will they start?

Since the passage of the law, such "cross-transplants" have been done because of the difficulty of simultaneously compatible with a pair A pair B. The specialists think that they should have a number approaching fifty pairs for this to work and ABM identifies existing pairs in the hope of starting these transplants living in Spring 2014. Thirty pairs are already on the list. These new forms of graft must respect the rule of anonymity and levies and transplantation between the two pairs can only be made in parallel and simultaneously to preserve equality of opportunity between two recipients.

HT Shengwu Li

In France: are buyers as well as sellers of prostitution criminals?

343 French sign 'Don't Touch My Whore' petition

Feminist wrath as Dominique Strauss-Kahn's lawyer joins "manifesto of the 343 b-------" in petition against plans to criminalise clients of prostitutes

HT: Ron Shorrer

Kidney exchange about to begin in France?

The story (in French) is here: Dons croisés d'organe : c'est maintenant (ou presque) ! 

Here's Google translate:

"In France, the law authorizing donations cross between living persons of July 2011 and its implementing decree was published in the Official Journal in September 2012. With the development of matching software, the first cross-kidney donation could take place before the end of 2013. Experts expect twenty additional transplants per year in the country.
Organ donation called "crossover" allows a living person who has expressed its intention to grant the benefit of a receiver identified on hold, to be offered to participate in a cross organ donation in cases of medical incompatibility receiver initially selected. General ethical principles for donations and uses of elements and products of the human body must be met: consent to the collection, revocable at any time, free, anonymous; estimate of the risk / benefit of interventions and implementation of the system of health surveillance . That the pairing mechanism is put in place, there must be at least 50 "couples" of volunteers. The selection process is currently underway. Each donor should have a complete medical checkup. The "couples" then pass a special committee to verify the absence of coercion and financial dealings. The donor is heard by a court. Then the couples are reviewed by the National Center for allocating grafts, which decides on their eligibility or not the database pairs.
It must be the work of computerized winners of Nobel Prize in Economics in 2012 matching the Americans Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley. Their game theory has revolutionized the organization of cross donation for kidney transplantation in the United States by allowing the matching of thousands of donors and recipients of organs. It is estimated that about 2000 patients so far received a kidney through this system, without which they would not have been grafted.
On the occasion of the third day of the Biomedicine Agency, held in Paris on Thursday 30 and Friday, May 31, Marie-Alice Macher, the transplant center strategy, announced the start of the first cross donations, originally scheduled for last spring, was now imminent. "The matching software is ready, the agreements were signed with most departments of institutions, which must leave the operating room available in case of successful matching. The only thing we lack is a sufficient number of pairs of donors in the database, "she said. The logistics system is also heavy as to ensure the reciprocity of gifts, the two samples and two transplants must be performed simultaneously, requiring the mobilization of four operating theaters."

Gay marriage in France

Here's the story from the Guardian about what appears to be the end to a contentious transition in France from an illegal, repugnant transaction (actually, not just marriage, but also adoption, so two repugnant transactions) to transactions fully sanctioned by law, although still with substantial numbers of opponents:

France approves same-sex marriage: Passing of law allowing gay couples to marry and adopt children comes after heated debate in parliament and weeks of protest

France has become the 14th country to legalise same-sex marriage , pushing through François Hollande's flagship social change after months of street protests, political slanging matches and a rise in homophobic attacks.

After 331 votes for and 225 votes against, there were chants of "Equality. Equality." in the French assembly, where the Socialists have an absolute majority. But thousands of riot police and water cannons were in place near the parliament building in Paris in advance of planned demonstrations against the law.

The right to marriage and adoption for everyone regardless of sexual orientation has proved bitterly divisive in France, triggering the biggest conservative and rightwing street protests in 30 years. Recent weeks have seen more than 200 arrests as police teargassed late-night demonstrators near parliament. More than 172 hours of heated debate in the assembly and the senate meant the bill was one of the most debated in recent history, with furious clashes and a near fist-fightbetween politicians.

One rightwing MP warned the government was "killing children" by allowing same-sex married couples to adopt and one senator warned gay marriage would open the way to people being able to marry animals or objects. MPs in favour of the bill received death threats, skinheads attacked a gay bar in Lille, and gay rights groups reported a rise in homophobic attacks.

Before the vote, the speaker of the assembly ordered the expulsion of noisy protesters from the public gallery, calling them "enemies of democracy".

The vote makes France the ninth country in Europe to legalise same-sex marriage and the first ceremonies could take place this summer.

Same sex marriage legislation under consideration in Britain, France and Rhode Island

Three legislature, three bills, three pictures...



Gay Marriage Bill Approved in Rhode Island House Vote (now on to the State Senate)

And across the sea, Thousands Rally in Paris For Same-Sex Marriage (as the legislature prepares to consider a bill supported by the new government).

and
British House of Commons Approves Gay Marriage (not wit)hout a lot of dissent from the governing party

update: and it's not over til it's over:

Tory rebels may scupper gay marriage in the Lords

David Cameron faces another bitter battle over his plans to introduce gay marriage, with more than half of Conservative peers expected to vote against the move.

Eating horse meat in France: could it become repugnant even there?

Alex Peysakhovich sends along the following evidence that there are those in France who find eating horsemeat repugnant...and take out ads on buses. Of course the chevalines (horse butchers) are fighting back with stickers of their own...

Same sex marriage in France: protest and counterprotest

Protests erupt in France over same-sex marriage

"More than 100,000 protesters organized by Catholic groups staged separate demonstrations in French cities over the weekend to protest against government plans to legalize same-sex marriage next year.

"Most of them took to the streets on Saturday, backed by the French Catholic Church and joined by several senior clerics, and several thousand more paraded with ultra-traditionalist Catholics in Paris on Sunday."

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Topless activists clash with an anti-gay marriage protest in France

The handover of power in France

Signs of the times: Hollande Sworn In as President of France

"Mr. Hollande, the seventh president of the Fifth Republic, was accompanied by his partner, Valérie Trierweiler; they will be the first unmarried couple to represent France.

"Mr. Hollande entered the Élysée along a long red carpet in the courtyard, met by Nicolas Sarkozy, who was the first incumbent president to lose re-election since 1981. Both men, in dark suits, shook hands and disappeared inside for a meeting, in which, it is said, Mr. Sarkozy handed over France’s nuclear codes to his successor. Some suggested he also handed over the password to the Élysée Twitter account

Prostitution, in Canada and France

Two stories on the same day last week caught my eye. Here they are, both from the Globe and Mail:

Landmark ruling legalizes brothels in Ontario
"Ontario’s highest court has legalized brothels in a sweeping decision that condemned current prostitution laws for adding to the hazards of a highly dangerous profession."

Strauss-Kahn faces preliminary charges in prostitution case
"Dominique Strauss-Kahn was handed preliminary charges Monday alleging he was involved in a French prostitution ring, his lawyer said. The former International Monetary Fund chief is denying wrongdoing."