A Reply to Epstein and Martin's "Does Age (Really) Matter?"

In: Social science quarterly, Band 85, Heft 1, S. 31-36

Abstract

A reply to Lee Epstein & Andrew D. Martin's comment on the authors' "Does Age Matter? Judicial Decision Making in Age Discrimination Cases" (both, 2004) takes issue with many of their assertions. It is argued that there is no theoretical justification for most of the cohorts that Epstein & Martin test & that the majority of them are not plausible. Further, inconsistencies in the model outcomes in race & gender cases raise questions as to the utility of age cohort as a predictor in such cases. While Epstein & Martin raise some interesting points regarding data grouping, & while acknowledging the possibility of debate over age cutoff points, the authors maintain that their findings are theoretically interesting & robust enough to evoke more extensive studies to determine the validity of their conclusions. 1 Table. Adapted from the source document.