Detecting Discrimination

James J Heckman

doi:10.1257/jep.12.2.101

journal article May 01, 1998

Detecting Discrimination

James J Heckman

Journal of Economic Perspectives Vol. 12 No. 2 pp. 101-116 · American Economic Association

View at Publisher Save 10.1257/jep.12.2.101

Abstract

The evidence on discrimination produced from the audit method is examined. Audits survey the average firm and not the marginal firm which determines the level of market discrimination. Taken on its own terms, there is little evidence of labor market discrimination from audit methods. The validity of audit methods is critically dependent on unverified assumptions about equality across race/gender groups of the distributions of unobserved (by audit designers) productivity components acted on by firms and about the way labor markets work. Audits can find discrimination when none exists and can disguise it when it does.

Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

References

9

[1]

Abowd John Industrial And Labor Relations Review (1983)

[2]

10.1086/298316

[3]

Donohue John Journal of Economic Literature (1991)

[4]

10.1086/262014

[5]

Heckman James Chicago Policy Review (1997)

[6]

10.1086/262045

[7]

William William Spriggs The Review of Black Political Economy (1996)

[8]

Seelye Katherine New York Times, Sunday (1997)

[9]

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, The Economic Progress of Black Men in America Clearinghouse Publication (1986)

Cited By

663

Current reproducibility practices in management: What they are versus what they could be

Jose M. Cortina, Tine Köhler · 2023

Journal of Management Scientific Re...

Employer Decision Making

Lauren A. Rivera · 2020

Annual Review of Sociology

Studying Abroad as a Sorting Criterion in the Recruitment Process: A Field Experiment Among German Employers

Knut Petzold · 2017

Journal of Studies in International...

Concealable Stigma and Occupational Segregation

András Tilcsik, Michel Anteby · 2015

Administrative Science Quarterly

Racial Disparities in Job Finding and Offered Wages

Roland G. Fryer, Devah Pager · 2013

The Journal of Law and Economics

Racial Discrimination in the Labor Market: Theory and Empirics

Kevin Lang, Jee-Yeon K Lehmann · 2012

Journal of Economic Literature

Pride and Prejudice: Employment Discrimination against Openly Gay Men in the United States

András Tilcsik · 2011

American Journal of Sociology

Education and Labor Market Discrimination

Kevin Lang, Michael Manove · 2011

American Economic Review

Studying Discrimination: Fundamental Challenges and Recent Progress

Kerwin Kofi Charles, Jonathan Guryan · 2011

Annual Review of Economics

GENDER DISCRIMINATION ESTIMATION IN A SEARCH MODEL WITH MATCHING AND BARGAINING*

Luca Flabbi · 2010

International Economic Review

Prejudice and gender differentials in the US labor market in the last twenty years

Luca Flabbi · 2010

Journal of Econometrics

The effects of age and family constraints on gender hiring discrimination: A field experiment in the French financial sector

Pascale Petit · 2007

Labour Economics

Discrimination and Skill Differences in an Equilibrium Search Model*

Audra J . Bowlus, Zvi Eckstein · 2002

International Economic Review

Metrics

663

Citations

9

References

Details

Published: May 01, 1998
Vol/Issue: 12(2)
Pages: 101-116

Authors

J

James J Heckman

Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Senior Fellow, American Bar Foundation, Chicago, Illinois.

Cite This Article

James J Heckman (1998). Detecting Discrimination. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 12(2), 101-116. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.12.2.101

Detecting Discrimination

You May Also Like