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Multiple Dimensions of Bureaucratic Discrimination: Evidence from German Welfare Offices

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  • Johannes Hemker
  • Anselm Rink

Abstract

A growing experimental literature uses response rates to fictional requests to measure discrimination against ethnic minorities. This article argues that restricting attention to response rates can lead to faulty inferences about substantive discrimination depending on how response dummies are correlated with other response characteristics. We illustrate the relevance of this problem by means of a conjoint experiment among all German welfare offices, in which we randomly varied five traits and designed requests to allow for a substantive coding of response quality. We find that response rates are statistically indistinguishable across treatment conditions. However, putative non‐Germans receive responses of significantly lower quality, potentially deterring them from applying for benefits. We also find observational evidence suggesting that discrimination is more pronounced in welfare offices run by local governments than in those embedded in the national bureaucracy. We discuss implications for the study of equality in the public sphere.

Suggested Citation

  • Johannes Hemker & Anselm Rink, 2017. "Multiple Dimensions of Bureaucratic Discrimination: Evidence from German Welfare Offices," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 61(4), pages 786-803, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:61:y:2017:i:4:p:786-803
    DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12312
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    Cited by:

    1. Ian Peacock & Emily Ryo, 2022. "A study of pandemic and stigma effects in removal proceedings," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(3), pages 560-593, September.
    2. Halla, Martin & Kah, Christopher & Sausgruber, Rupert, 2021. "Testing for Ethnic Discrimination in Outpatient Health Care: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Germany," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 319, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    3. Mattie Mackenzie-Liu & David J. Schwegman & Leonard M. Lopoo, 2020. "Do Foster Care Agencies Discriminate Against Gay Couples? Evidence from a Correspondence Study," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 224, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
    4. Pfaff, Steven & Crabtree, Charles & Kern, Holger L. & Holbein, John B., 2018. "Does religious bias shape access to public services? A large-scale audit experiment among street-level bureaucrats," SocArXiv 9khds, Center for Open Science.
    5. Adman, Per & Larsson Taghizadeh, Jonas, 2020. "Public officials’ treatment of minority clients," Working Paper Series 2020:12, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    6. René Lehwess-Litzmann & Janina Söhn, 2022. "Jobcenters’ strategies to promoting the inclusion of immigrant and native job seekers: a comparative analysis based on PASS survey data," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 56(1), pages 1-24, December.
    7. Mattie Mackenzie‐Liu & David J. Schwegman & Leonard M. Lopoo, 2021. "Do Foster Care Agencies Discriminate Against Gay Couples? Evidence from a Correspondence Study," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(4), pages 1140-1170, September.
    8. Luca Fumarco & Benjamin Harrell & Patrick Button & David Schwegman & E Dils, 2020. "Gender Identity, Race, and Ethnicity-based Discrimination in Access to Mental Health Care: Evidence from an Audit Correspondence Field Experiment," NBER Working Papers 28164, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Kolstad, Karoline Larsen, 2023. "Overburdened Bureaucrats: Providing Equal Access to Public Services during COVID-19," OSF Preprints zmt5y, Center for Open Science.
    10. Michael Rochlitz & Evgeniya Mitrokhina & Irina Nizovkina, 2020. "Bureaucratic Discrimination in Electoral Authoritarian Regimes: Experimental Evidence from Russia," Bremen Papers on Economics & Innovation 2010, University of Bremen, Faculty of Business Studies and Economics.
    11. Gundacker, Lidwina & Kosyakova, Yuliya & Schneider, Gerald, 2021. "Global norms, regional practices: Taste-based and statistical discrimination in German asylum decision-making," Working Papers 05, University of Konstanz, Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality. Perceptions, Participation and Policies".
    12. Marc Helbling & Rahsaan Maxwell & Simon Munzert & Richard Traunmüller, 2022. "The importance of citizenship for deserving COVID-19 treatment," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-8, December.
    13. Carol, Sarah & Kuipers, Coco & Koesling, Philipp & Kaspers, Milan, 2021. "Ethnic and Religious Discrimination in the Wedding Venue Business: Evidence from Two Field Experiments in Germany and Austria," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Advance A, pages 1-1.

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