Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement in Economics: Supply-Side Responses to Discrimination

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。该项目将调查人们如何应对实际和预期的歧视。经济学中关于歧视的文献主要集中在评估雇主是否以及如何歧视雇员。调查员工对歧视的反应，以及他们是否可能积极避免预期受到歧视的情况的研究要少得多。这些反应可能是女性在男性主导的高薪工作中代表性不足的重要驱动因素。在第一组项目中，作者将进行一系列实验室实验，在这些实验中，受试者面临在不同环境中工作的选择。这些环境的不同之处在于它们是否有歧视某些主体群体的规则。通过激发受试者对这些环境的偏好，研究人员将评估受试者是否愿意放弃金钱以避免面临歧视。在第二组项目中，研究人员将调查人们对劳动力市场潜在歧视信号的信念，以及这些信念如何影响他们的选择。在这个项目中，研究人员将调查歧视预期在劳动力市场中扮演的角色，以及提供有关歧视信号的信息如何影响工人的选择和信念。许多关于歧视的经济学文献都把重点放在雇主的作用上。理论论文表明，供应方(雇员)对歧视的看法可能在集团一级工资差距的持续和加剧中发挥关键作用(Coate和Loury，1993；Lang等人，2005)。然而，关于员工歧视预期的相关性和作用的实证研究还很有限。在这个项目中，研究人员将进行一系列实验，以检验供给侧对歧视的预期在劳动力市场中的作用。在第一项研究中，研究人员将进行一项实验室实验，以测试个人是否反对歧视环境。也就是说，受试者是否愿意为了避免面临歧视而放弃利润？有关公平的文献表明，个人可能反对歧视性规则，但这一理论尚未得到直接检验。歧视厌恶的证据将为导致工资差距的机制提供理论上的洞察，工资差距可能被掩盖为偏好。在第二项研究中，研究人员将进行一项信息实验，调查人们对劳动力市场潜在歧视信号的看法，并分析人们对有关这一信号的信息的反应。总之，这些研究有可能通过对歧视的供给侧预期，对歧视的理论和经验作用提供更全面的看法。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。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).This project will investigate how people respond to actual and anticipated discrimination. Literature on discrimination in economics has primarily focused on evaluating whether and how employers discriminate against employees. Substantially less research has investigated how employees respond to discrimination, and whether they may actively avoid situations in which they anticipate being discriminated against. These responses may be important drivers of the underrepresentation of women in male-dominated high paying jobs. In the first set of projects, the authors will conduct a series of laboratory experiments in which subjects face choices over working in different environments. These environments differ based on whether they have rules that discriminate against certain groups of subjects. By eliciting subjects’ preferences over these environments, the researchers will evaluate whether subjects are willing to give up money to avoid facing discrimination. In the second set of projects, the researchers will investigate people’s beliefs about potential signals of discrimination in the labor market and how these beliefs affect their choices. Together, these projects will provide insight into the role that beliefs about and responses to discrimination may play in the persistence of wage gaps in the labor market.In this project, the researchers will investigate the role that discrimination anticipation plays in the labor market, and how providing information about signals of discrimination affects workers' choices and beliefs. The emphasis for much of the economics literature on discrimination has been placed on the role of the employer. Theoretical papers have shown that supply-side (employee) perceptions of discrimination may play a crucial role in the persistence and exacerbation of group-level wage gaps (Coate and Loury, 1993; Lang et al, 2005). Yet, empirical research on the relevance and role of discrimination anticipation among employees is limited. In this project, the researchers will conduct a series of experiments to examine the role of supply-side anticipation of discrimination in the labor market. In the first study, the researchers will run a laboratory experiment to test whether individuals are averse to discriminatory environments. That is, are subjects willing to forego profits in order to avoid facing discrimination? Literature on fairness suggests that individuals may be averse to discriminatory rules, but this theory has not been directly tested. Evidence of discrimination aversion would provide theoretical insight into mechanisms leading to wage gaps, which may be masked as preferences. In the second study, the researchers will run an information experiment to investigate beliefs about a signal of potential discrimination in the labor market and to analyze how people respond to information about this signal. Together, these studies have the potential to provide a more holistic view of the theoretical and empirical role of discrimination, through supply-side anticipation of 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.