CAREER: Mortgage and Healthcare Discrimination During COVID19 Pandemic and Use of Text Data in Economics

对代表性不足群体的歧视的经济研究几乎完全集中在劳动力市场，在极少数情况下也集中在住房市场。然而，在一些领域，代表性不足的群体面临歧视，这对整个社会同样有害。这项职业发展研究将使用四个项目和现代经济方法来研究在广泛的经济活动领域中对代表性不足群体的歧视。第一个项目调查在获得金属卫生服务方面对代表性不足群体的歧视，第二个项目调查covid - 19大流行是否加剧了精神卫生保健方面的歧视，而第三个项目调查在抵押贷款市场上对代表性不足群体的歧视。在第四个项目中，研究人员开发了新的分析工具来处理使用文本数据的经济学研究。本研究将为代表性不足的经济学研究生和本科生开发一个大规模的指导计划。该研究项目比以前的研究更广泛地了解了若干领域歧视的原因和后果，因此为减少对代表性不足群体的歧视的政策提供了投入。因此，这项研究将有助于确立美国在反歧视斗争中的全球领导者地位。这个为期五年的职业发展项目是一个综合性的研究和教育项目，旨在量化、理解和减轻对弱势群体的歧视。该项目包括两项实地审计实验，以代表性不足的少数民族地位为基础，研究获得精神保健的情况，并以代表性不足的一小部分群体为基础，研究抵押贷款的情况。这些审计现场实验采用实验方法将歧视与其他因素隔离开来，并在实际场景中观察歧视行为。实地审计实验也作出了重要的科学贡献，因为人们对获得医疗保健方面的歧视或在广泛的社会和经济互动领域中对代表性不足的人的歧视知之甚少。这两个项目通过使用计算语言学和机器学习方法来检测语言中的细微差别，扩展了审计现场实验的方法。精神卫生保健可及性的实地审计实验还包括及时扩展，通过探索大流行的强度和与大流行相关的政策（如就地安置条例）如何影响获得咨询和治疗预约，量化2019冠状病毒病大流行期间的精神卫生保健可及性。这些研究项目与旨在增加未被充分代表的少数民族的研究和指导机会的教育计划相配合。这项研究项目的结果将为减少对代表性不足群体的歧视的政策提供投入。因此，这项研究将有助于确立美国在反歧视斗争中的全球领导者地位。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Economic studies of discrimination against under-represented groups have focused almost exclusively on labor market, and in rare cases, on housing markets. Yet there are several areas in which under-represented groups face discrimination that are equally harmful society as a whole. This CAREER research will use four projects and modern economic approaches to study discrimination against under-represented groups in broad areas of economic activity. The first project investigates discrimination against under-represented groups in access to metal health services, the second project investigates whether discrimination in mental health care has been exacerbated by the COVID19 pandemic, while the third project investigates discrimination against under-represented groups in mortgage markets. The researchers develop new analytical tools to deal with economics research that uses text data in the fourth project. This research will develop a large scale mentoring program for under-represented graduate and undergraduate students in economics. The research project provides a broader understanding of the causes and consequences of discrimination in several areas than has been studied before and therefore provide inputs into policies to reduce discrimination against under-represented groups. This research will therefore help to establish the USA as the global leader in the fight against discrimination. This five-year CAREER development project is a comprehensive research and education program on quantifying, understanding, and mitigating discrimination against under-represented groups. The project includes two audit field experiments to study access to mental health care, based on under-represented minority status and mortgage loans, based on a sub-set of under-represented groups. These audit field experiments use the experimental method to isolate discrimination from other factors and observing discriminatory behavior in actual scenarios. The audit field experiments also make important scientific contributions since little is known about discrimination in access to healthcare or discrimination against under-represented people in broad areas of social and economic interactions. Both projects extend the methodology of audit field experiments by using computational linguistics and machine learning methodologies to detect subtle discrimination in language. The audit field experiment of access to mental health care also includes a timely extension to quantify access to mental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, by exploring how the intensity of the pandemic and pandemic-related policies, such as shelter-in-place ordinances, affect access to counseling and therapy appointments. These research projects are paired with educational plans that seek to increase research and mentorship opportunities for under-represented minorities. The results of this research project will provide inputs into policies to reduce discrimination against under-represented groups. This research will therefore help establish the USA as the global leader in the fight against discrimination.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.