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

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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.