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Is there a taste for racial discrimination amongst employers?

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  • Bryson, Alex
  • Chevalier, Arnaud

Abstract

Research on employers' hiring discrimination is limited by the unlawfulness of such activity. Consequently, researchers have focused on the intention to hire. Instead, we rely on a virtual labour market, the Fantasy Football Premier League, where employers can freely exercise their taste for racial discrimination in terms of hiring and firing. The setting allows us to eliminate co-worker, consumer-based and statistical discrimination as potential sources of discrimination, thus isolating the effect of taste-based discrimination. We find no evidence of racial discrimination, either in initial hiring or through the season, in a context where employers are fully aware of current and prospective workers' productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Bryson, Alex & Chevalier, Arnaud, 2015. "Is there a taste for racial discrimination amongst employers?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 51-63.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:34:y:2015:i:c:p:51-63
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2015.03.002
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    Cited by:

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    2. Tjaden, Jasper Dag & Schwemmer, Carsten & Khadjavi, Menusch, 2018. "Ride with Me - Ethnic Discrimination, Social Markets and the Sharing Economy," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 34(4), pages 418-432.
    3. Lippens, Louis & Baert, Stijn & Ghekiere, Abel & Verhaeghe, Pieter-Paul & Derous, Eva, 2020. "Is labour market discrimination against ethnic minorities better explained by taste or statistics? A systematic review of the empirical evidence," GLO Discussion Paper Series 615, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Brunello, Giorgio & Yamamura, Eiji, 2023. "Desperately Seeking a Japanese Yokozuna," IZA Discussion Papers 16536, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Tjaden, Jasper Dag & Schwemmer, Carsten & Khadjavi, Menusch, 2017. "Ride with me: Ethnic discrimination in social markets," Kiel Working Papers 2087, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    6. Vojtech Kotrba & Robert Holman, 2021. "Sports Market As A Data Source For Economics: With Special Emphasis On Betting And Fantasy Sports," International Journal of Economic Sciences, European Research Center, vol. 10(1), pages 53-70, June.
    7. Brox, Enzo & Krieger, Tommy, 2022. "Birthplace diversity and team performance," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    8. Kotrba, Vojtěch, 2019. "Direct preferences of sports fans: Is there a superstar effect in the fantasy league?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 89-97.
    9. Vojtech Kotrba, 2023. "Testing “hot hand” hypothesis at the individual athletes' level in soccer," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 43(3), pages 1356-1365.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Race; Labour market discrimination; Football;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • M51 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Firm Employment Decisions; Promotions

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