An alternative to statistical discrimination theory

Ariane Szafarz

Economics Bulletin, 2008, vol. 10, issue 5, 1-6

Abstract: This paper offers a new representation of discrimination on the job market based on the most recent findings in the socio-psychological academic literature about human behaviour. Put it simply, it is assumed that the agents prefer working with people like themselves. This "affinity" principle is modelled through a distance between an individual (the candidate for a job) and the staff of the firm. Contrary to the classical view according to which discrimination results from asymmetric information, this new model provides a rationale for the presence of discriminative attitudes on the job market even when full information is available on the skill levels of all candidates for a working position.

JEL-codes: J5 J7 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-04-20
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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