Toward an Understanding of Why People Discriminate: Evidence from a Series of Natural Field Experiments

Uri Gneezy, John List and Michael Price

No 17855, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Social scientists have presented evidence that suggests discrimination is ubiquitous: women, nonwhites, and the elderly have been found to be the target of discriminatory behavior across several labor and product markets. Scholars have been less successful at pinpointing the underlying motives for such discriminatory patterns. We employ a series of field experiments across several market and agent types to examine the nature and extent of discrimination. Our exploration includes examining discrimination based on gender, age, sexual orientation, race, and disability. Using data from more than 3000 individual transactions, we find evidence of discrimination in each market. Interestingly, we find that when the discriminator believes the object of discrimination is controllable, any observed discrimination is motivated by animus. When the object of discrimination is not due to choice, the evidence suggests that statistical discrimination is the underlying reason for the disparate behavior.

JEL-codes: C93 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-lab, nep-ltv and nep-soc
Note: EEE IO LS
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (86)

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Working Paper: Toward an Understanding of Why People Discriminate: Evidence from a Series of Natural Field Experiments (2012)
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