Ethnic discrimination: Evidence from China

Markus Mobius, Tanya Rosenblat and Qiqi Wang

European Economic Review, 2016, vol. 90, issue C, 165-177

Abstract: We study the role of ethnicity in experimental labor markets where “employers” determine wages of “workers” who perform a real effort task. This task requires a true skill which we show is not affected by minority status. In some treatments, we provide subtle priming to employers about minority status of workers as commonly depicted on Chinese “Hukou” identification system. We conduct our experiments at two sites located in provinces that differ by their historical shares of ethnic groups in the population. We find that: (1) Han and minority workers are equally productive in both provinces; (2) in the diverse province, there is no difference in the wages between Han and minority workers; (3) in the non-diverse province, minority workers receive 4–7% lower wages than Han workers.

Keywords: Ethnic discrimination; Minority stereotype; Experimental labor market (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C90 J31 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:90:y:2016:i:c:p:165-177

DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2016.04.004

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