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Indiscriminate Discrimination: A Correspondence Test for Ethnic Homophily in the Chicago Labor Market

Abstract

The extent of racial discrimination in the labor market is now clearly identified, but its nature largely remains an open question. This paper reports results from an experiment in which fabricated resumes are sent to help-wanted advertisements in Chicago newpapers. We use three groups of identical resumes: one with Anglo-Saxon names, one with African-American names and one with fictitious foreign names whose ethnic origin is unidentifiable to most Americans. We find that resumes with Anglo-Saxon names generate nearly one half more call-backs than identical resumes with African-American or Foreign names. Resumes with non-Anglo-Saxon names, whether African-American or Foreign, show no statistically significant difference in the number of callbacks they elicit. We also find that discrimination is significantly higher in the Chicago suburbs - where ethnic homogenity is high - as opposed to the city proper. We take this as evidence that discriminatory behavior is part of a larger pattern of unequal treatment of any member of non-majority groups - ethnic homophily.

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Paper provided by Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne in its series Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne with number 11013.

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Length: 19 pages
Date of creation: Feb 2011
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:mse:cesdoc:11013
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Keywords: Correspondence testing; racial discrimination.;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
  • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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  1. Miguel, Edward & Gugerty, Mary Kay, 2005. "Ethnic diversity, social sanctions, and public goods in Kenya," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(11-12), pages 2325-2368, December.
  2. John A. List, 2004. "The Nature and Extent of Discrimination in the Marketplace: Evidence from the Field," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 119(1), pages 49-89, February.
  3. Alesina, Alberto & La Ferrara, Eliana, 2005. "Ethnic Diversity and Economic Performance," Scholarly Articles 4553005, Harvard University Department of Economics.
  4. Alison L. Booth & Andrew Leigh & Elena Varganova, 2012. "Does Ethnic Discrimination Vary Across Minority Groups? Evidence from a Field Experiment," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 74(4), pages 547-573, 08.
  5. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2003. "Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination," NBER Working Papers 9873, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  6. Laura Giuliano & David I. Levine & Jonathon Leonard, 2006. "Manager Race and the Race of New Hires," Working Papers 0722, University of Miami, Department of Economics.
  7. Raphael, Steven & Stoll, Michael A. & Holzer, Harry J., 2000. "Are Suburban Firms More Likely to Discriminate against African-Americans?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 485-508, November.
  8. Jennifer L. Doleac & Luke C.D. Stein, 2011. "The Visible Hand: Race and Online Market Outcomes," Discussion Papers 10-025, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
  9. Goldberg, Matthew S, 1982. "Discrimination, Nepotism, and Long-Run Wage Differentials," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 97(2), pages 307-19, May.
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  11. Phelps, Edmund S, 1972. "The Statistical Theory of Racism and Sexism," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 659-61, September.
  12. Marianne Bertrand & Dolly Chugh & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2005. "Implicit Discrimination," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 94-98, May.
  13. Becker, Gary S., 1971. "The Economics of Discrimination," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 2, number 9780226041162, Spring.
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  15. Claudia Goldin & Cecilia Rouse, 1997. "Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of 'Blind' Auditions on Female Musicians," Working Papers 755, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
  16. M. A. Stoll & H. J. Holzer & K. R. Ihlanfeldt, . "Within Cities and Suburbs: Racial Residential Concentration and the Spatial Distribution of Employment Opportunities across Submetropolitan Areas," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 1189-99, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty.
  17. Chaim Fershtman & Uri Gneezy & Frank Verboven, 2005. "Discrimination and Nepotism: The Efficiency of the Anonymity Rule," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(2), pages 371-396, 06.
  18. Peter A. Riach & Judith Rich, 2004. "Deceptive Field Experiments of Discrimination: Are they Ethical?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(3), pages 457-470, 08.
  19. Michael A. Stoll & Steven Raphael & Harry J. Holzer, 2004. "Black job applicants and the hiring officer's race," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 57(2), pages 267-287, January.
  20. David T. Ellwood, 1986. "The Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis: Are There Teenage Jobs Missing in the Ghetto?," NBER Chapters, in: The Black Youth Employment Crisis, pages 147-190 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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  22. Doris Weichselbaumer, 2004. "Is It Sex or Personality? The Impact of Sex Stereotypes on Discrimination in Applicant Selection," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 30(2), pages 159-186, Spring.
  23. Marc Bendick & Charles Jackson & Victor Reinoso, 1994. "Measuring employment discrimination through controlled experiments," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 25-48, June.
  24. Bollinger, Christopher R. & Ihlanfeldt, Keith R., 2003. "The intraurban spatial distribution of employment: which government interventions make a difference?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 396-412, May.
  25. Bursell, Moa, 2007. "What's in a name? A field experiment test for the existence of ethnic discrimination in the hiring process," SULCIS Working Papers 2007:7, Stockholm University Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies - SULCIS.
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Cited by:

  1. Edo, Anthony & Jacquemet, Nicolas & Yannelis, Constantine, 2013. "Language Skills and Homophilous Hiring Discrimination: Evidence from Gender- and Racially-Differentiated Applications," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 1313, CEPREMAP.
  2. Jacquemet, Nicolas & Edo, Anthony, 2013. "La discrimination à l’embauche sur le marché du travail français," Opuscules du CEPREMAP, CEPREMAP, number 31, November.
  3. Waddell, Glen R. & Lee, Logan M., 2014. "The Timing of Preference and Prejudice in Sequential Hiring Games," IZA Discussion Papers 8445, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  4. Anthony Edo & Nicolas Jacquemet, 2014. "Discrimination à l'embauche selon l'origine et le genre : défiance indifférenciée ou ciblée sur certains groupes ?," PSE - Labex "OSE-Ouvrir la Science Economique" halshs-00935241, HAL.
  5. Claire L. Adida & David D. Laitin & Marie-Anne Valfort, 2014. "Muslims in France: identifying a discriminatory equilibrium," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00977076, HAL.
  6. Deuchert, Eva & Kauer, Lukas & Liebert, Helge & Wuppermann, Carl, 2013. "No disabled student left behind? - Evidence from a social field experiment," Economics Working Paper Series 1336, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
  7. Manant, Matthieu & Pajak, Serge & Soulié, Nicolas, 2014. "Do recruiters 'like' it? Online social networks and privacy in hiring: a pseudo-randomized experiment," MPRA Paper 56845, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  8. Claire Adida & David Laitin & Marie-Anne Valfort, 2014. "Muslims in France: identifying a discriminatory equilibrium," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 1039-1086, October.
  9. repec:hal:cesptp:halshs-00935241 is not listed on IDEAS
  10. Adida, Claire L. & Laitin, David D. & Valfort, Marie-Anne, 2012. "Muslims in France: Identifying a Discriminatory Equilibrium," IZA Discussion Papers 6953, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  11. Philip Oreopoulos, 2011. "Why Do Skilled Immigrants Struggle in the Labor Market? A Field Experiment with Thirteen Thousand Resumes," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 148-71, November.
  12. Anthony Edo & Nicolas Jacquemet & Constantine Yannelis, 2013. "Language Skills and Homophilous Hiring Discrimination: Evidence from Gender-and Racially-Differentiated Applications," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00877458, HAL.
  13. Rich, Judy, 2014. "What Do Field Experiments of Discrimination in Markets Tell Us? A Meta Analysis of Studies Conducted since 2000," IZA Discussion Papers 8584, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).

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