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A Characterisation of ‘Phelpsian’ Statistical Discrimination

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  • Christopher P Chambers
  • Federico Echenique

Abstract

We establish that a type of statistical discrimination—that based on informativeness of signals about workers’ skills and the ability appropriately to match workers to tasks—is possible if and only if it is impossible uniquely to identify the signal structure observed by an employer from a realised empirical distribution of skills. The impossibility of statistical discrimination is shown to be equivalent to the existence of a fair, skill-dependent, remuneration for workers. Finally, we connect the statistical discrimination literature to Bayesian persuasion, establishing that if discrimination is absent, then the optimal signalling problem results in a linear pay-off function (as well as a kind of converse).

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher P Chambers & Federico Echenique, 2021. "A Characterisation of ‘Phelpsian’ Statistical Discrimination," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(637), pages 2018-2032.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:econjl:v:131:y:2021:i:637:p:2018-2032.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ej/ueaa107
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Phelps, Edmund S, 1972. "The Statistical Theory of Racism and Sexism," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 659-661, September.
    2. Emir Kamenica & Matthew Gentzkow, 2011. "Bayesian Persuasion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2590-2615, October.
    3. Machina, Mark J., 1984. "Temporal risk and the nature of induced preferences," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 199-231, August.
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