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

对代表不足群体的歧视的经济学研究几乎完全集中在劳动力市场，在极少数情况下，还集中在房地产市场。然而，在几个领域，代表性不足的群体面临歧视，对整个社会同样有害。这项职业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对代表性不足群体的歧视。第一个项目调查在获得金属保健服务方面对任职人数不足群体的歧视，第二个项目调查精神保健方面的歧视是否因柯萨奇病毒19大流行而加剧，而第三个项目调查抵押贷款市场上对任职人数不足群体的歧视。研究人员开发了新的分析工具来处理第四个项目中使用文本数据的经济学研究。这项研究将为经济学专业中代表性不足的研究生和本科生开发一个大规模的辅导计划。该研究项目使人们对若干领域歧视的原因和后果有了比以前更广泛的了解，从而为减少对代表不足群体的歧视的政策提供了投入。因此，这项研究将有助于将美国确立为反歧视斗争的全球领导者。这个为期五年的职业发展项目是一个全面的研究和教育计划，旨在量化、理解和减少对代表不足群体的歧视。该项目包括两项实地审计实验，以研究获得精神卫生保健的情况，其基础是任职人数不足的少数群体地位，以及抵押贷款，其基础是任职人数不足的群体的一个子集。这些审计现场实验使用实验方法将歧视从其他因素中分离出来，并观察实际情景中的歧视行为。审计实地实验也作出了重要的科学贡献，因为人们对获得保健方面的歧视或在广泛的社会和经济互动领域对代表性不足的人的歧视知之甚少。这两个项目都扩展了审计实地实验的方法，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。获得精神卫生保健的审计实地试验还包括及时扩展，以量化在新冠肺炎大流行期间获得精神卫生保健的机会，方法是探索大流行病的强度和与大流行病相关的政策，如就地收容条例，如何影响获得咨询和治疗预约的机会。这些研究项目与教育计划相结合，寻求增加代表不足的少数群体的研究和指导机会。这一研究项目的结果将为减少对任职人数不足群体的歧视的政策提供投入。因此，这项研究将有助于将美国确立为打击歧视的全球领导者。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.