The supply side of discrimination: evidence from the labor supply of Boston taxi drivers

Osborne Jackson

No 18-2, Working Papers from Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Abstract: This paper investigates supply-side discrimination in the labor market for Boston taxi drivers. Using data on millions of trips from 2010?2015, I explore whether the labor supply behavior of taxi drivers differs by the gender, racial/ethnic, or age composition of Boston neighborhoods. I find that disparities in shift hours due to neighborhood demographics exist even when differences in local earnings opportunities are taken into account. I observe heterogeneity in the amount that drivers discriminate and find that this discrimination is primarily statistical rather than taste-based. As drivers gain experience and learn to better anticipate wage variation, discrimination decreases.

Keywords: discrimination; labor supply; Boston taxis; wage elasticity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J22 J31 J71 L91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 68 pages
Date: 2018-06-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-knm, nep-lma and nep-ure
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