| Kommentar |
Studies in many different countries of immigration have shown that, even if we control for education and demographic characteristics, immigrants and their descendants tend to have lower rates of labour market participation, higher unemployment rates, and are concentrated in lower status and lower income jobs. In this course, we investigate to what extent such “ethnic penalties” are due to discrimination or to immigrant-specific human and social capital deficits. Regarding discrimination we ask what the contribution is of different characteristics in triggering discrimination by employers: is it a question of ethnicity, race, religion or cultural distance? We also discuss the theoretical difference between so-called “taste” and “statistical” discrimination. Finally, we discuss the legitimacy and efficacy of ways to combat discrimination, such as affirmative action or anonymized application procedures. We discuss both the main theories of discrimination and key statistical and field-experimental empirical studies. |
| Literatur |
Literature (selection)
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• Becker, Gary S. 1957. The Economics of Discrimination. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Bertrand, M. & S. Mullainathan. 2004. Are Emily and Greg more employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A field experiment on labor market discrimination. American Economic Review: 94: 991-1013.
• England, P. 1992. Comparable Worth. Theories and Evidence. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
• Heath, A.F. & S.Y. Cheung. 2007. Unequal Chances: Ethnic Minorities in Western Labour Markets. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Kaas, L. & C. Manger. 2011. Ethnic discrimination in Germany’s labour market: A field experiment. German Economic Review 13: 1-20.
• Kalev, A., F. Dobbin & E. Kelly. 2006. Best practices or best guesses? Assessing the efficacy of corporate affirmative action and diversity policies. American Sociological Review 71: 589-617.
• Pager, D., B. Bonikowski & B. Western. 2009. Discrimination in a low-wage labor market: A field experiment. American Sociological Review 74: 777-799.
• Phelps, E.S. 1972. The statistical theory of racism and sexism. American Economic Review 62: 659-661.
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