Measuring the Sources of Taste-Based Discrimination Using List Experiments

Ariel Listo, Ercio Muñoz and Dario Sansone

No 14488, IDB Publications (Working Papers) from Inter-American Development Bank

Abstract: This paper examines how attitudes among supervisors, co-workers, and customers contribute to discrimination against sexual minorities in the workplace. A large, nationally representative sample in Chile was recruited in collaboration with a local firm. The survey employs a series of double list experiments designed to measure attitudes on sensitive issues while reducing social desirability bias, followed by direct questions on attitudes toward sexual minorities. Findings reveal a discrepancy between reported and actual comfort levels with gay individuals in the labor market. Respondents underreported their discomfort by 15 to 23 percentage points, with the largest bias and lowest comfort levels observed when asked about supervising a gay employee. Additionally, respondents consistently underestimated broader societal support for gay employees and co-workers. These differences are reflected in real-stakes donation behavior: respondents who chose not to donate any amount from a lottery to a local LGBTQ-related NGO also reported lower comfort levels and exhibited greater misreporting.

Keywords: LGBTQ+; discrimination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 D91 J15 J71 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-01
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english ... List-Experiments.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:idb:brikps:14488

DOI: 10.18235/0013927

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IDB Publications (Working Papers) from Inter-American Development Bank Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Felipe Herrera Library ().