Hiring a Homosexual, Taking a Risk? A Lab Experiment on Employment Discrimination and Risk Aversion

Stijn Baert

No 2, GLO Discussion Paper Series from Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Abstract: We investigate risk aversion as a driver of labour market discrimination against homosexual men. We show that more hiring discrimination by more risk-averse employers is consistent with taste-based and statistical discrimination. To test this hypothesis we conduct a scenario experiment in which experimental employers make a hiring decision concerning a heterosexual or homosexual job candidate. In addition, participants are surveyed on their risk aversion and other characteristics that might correlate with this risk aversion. Analysis of the (post-)experimental data confirms our hypothesis. The probability of a beneficial hiring decision for homosexual candidates decreases by 31.7% when employers are a standard deviation more risk-averse.

Keywords: Hiring discrimination; statistical discrimination; sexual orientation; scenario experiment; risk aversion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 J15 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Hiring a Homosexual, Taking a Risk? A Lab Experiment on Employment Discrimination and Risk Aversion (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:glodps:2

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