Employers’ Neighborhoods and Racial Discrimination

Amanda Agan and Sonja Starr

The Journal of Legal Studies, 2024, vol. 53, issue 1, 115 - 158

Abstract: Using a field experiment, we show that the racial composition of employers’ neighborhoods predicts discrimination patterns in a direction suggesting in-group bias. Second, building on prior work on ban-the-box laws, we show that employers in less-Black neighborhoods appear much likelier to stereotype Black applicants as potentially criminal when information about criminal records is restricted. Third, our data also show racial disparities in geographic proximity to job postings; simulations illustrate how these job-availability and discrimination patterns together shape disparities. When jobs are far from Black neighborhoods, Black applicants are doubly disadvantaged: discrimination patterns disfavor them, and they have fewer nearby opportunities.

Date: 2024
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