IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/apandp/v111y2021p37-42.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the Inequity of Predicting A While Hoping for B

Author

Listed:
  • Sendhil Mullainathan
  • Ziad Obermeyer

Abstract

Algorithms trained to predict mismeasured proxy variables can reproduce and scale up racial bias. This mechanism of algorithmic bias is distinct from others in the literature and harder to detect. We show this using examples from health care, but the forces we consider apply to a range of other important social sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Sendhil Mullainathan & Ziad Obermeyer, 2021. "On the Inequity of Predicting A While Hoping for B," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 111, pages 37-42, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:aea:apandp:v:111:y:2021:p:37-42
    DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20211078
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pandp.20211078
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pandp.20211078.ds
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1257/pandp.20211078?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:apandp:v:111:y:2021:p:37-42. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.