IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aejapp/v12y2020i3p40-71.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Value of Reference Letters: Experimental Evidence from South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Martin Abel
  • Rulof Burger
  • Patrizio Piraino

Abstract

We show that reference letters from former employers alleviate information frictions in a low-skill labor market, improving applicant screening and gender equity. A resume audit study finds that using a reference letter in the application increases callbacks by 60 percent. Women drive the effect. Letters are effective because they provide valuable information about workers' skills that employers use to select applicants of higher ability. A second experiment, which encourages job seekers to obtain and use a reference letter, finds consistent results. In particular, reference letters raise job interviews and employment for women.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Abel & Rulof Burger & Patrizio Piraino, 2020. "The Value of Reference Letters: Experimental Evidence from South Africa," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 40-71, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:40-71
    DOI: 10.1257/app.20180666
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/app.20180666
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/app.20180666.data
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/app.20180666.ds
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1257/app.20180666?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:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

    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:aejapp:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:40-71. 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.