Do Field Experiments on Labor and Housing Markets Overstate Discrimination? A Re-examination of the Evidence

David Neumark and Judith Rich

No 22278, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: There have been over 80 field experiments on traditional dimensions of discrimination in labor and housing markets since 2000, in 23 countries. These studies nearly always find evidence of discrimination against minorities. However, the estimates of discrimination in these studies can be biased if there is differential variation in the unobservable determinants of productivity or quality of majority and minority groups, so it is possible that this experimental literature as a whole overstates the evidence of discrimination. We re-assess the evidence from the 10 existing studies of discrimination that have sufficient information to correct for this bias. For the housing market studies, the estimated effect of discrimination is robust to this correction. For the labor market studies, in contrast, the evidence is less robust, as just over half of the estimates of discrimination either fall to near zero, become statistically insignificant, or change sign.

JEL-codes: J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-lma, nep-ltv and nep-ure
Note: LS
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published as David Neumark & Judith Rich, 2019. "Do Field Experiments on Labor and Housing Markets Overstate Discrimination? A Re-examination of the Evidence," ILR Review, vol 72(1), pages 223-252.

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Journal Article: Do Field Experiments on Labor and Housing Markets Overstate Discrimination? A Re-examination of the Evidence (2019)
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