July 2014

IZA DP No. 8319: Is Ethnic Discrimination Due to Distaste or Statistics?

Stijn Baert, Ann-Sophie De Pauw

revised version published in: Economics Letters, 2014, 125 (2), 170 - 273

Employing a lab experiment, we directly test the empirical importance of key attitudes underlying the models of taste-based and statistical discrimination in explaining ethnic hiring discrimination. We find evidence that employer concern that co-workers and customers will prefer collaborating with native individuals drives unequal treatment.