We investigate the effect of skin tone on employment probabilities in a longitudinal data set. Using an objective measure of skin tone from a light-spectrometer and a self-reported measure of race we find that over time the effect of skin tone on employment has diminished. These results hold...

According to Becker's (1957) theory of taste-based employer discrimination, pure economic rents are necessary for discrimination to be observed in the labor market. Increased competition and reduced rents in the market for final goods should therefore lead to reduced labor market discrimination....

Racial wage inequality and discrimination have pervaded South African society for centuries. Apartheid legislation cemented these disparities by institutionalizing white job reservation and many other unfair practices. While racial wage gaps started to decline towards the end of apartheid, they...

This paper uses Social Security longitudinal earnings records matched to Current Population Survey data to examine changes in the relative earnings of Hispanic men during a period of dramatic change in public and private policies toward race and ethnicity characterized by, but not limited to,...

Jurisdictions across the United States have adopted “ban the box” (BTB) policies preventing employers from asking about job applicants' criminal records until late in the hiring process. Their goal is to improve employment outcomes for those with criminal records, with a secondary goal of...

The disproportionate burden of COVID-19 among communities of color, together with a necessary renewed attention to racial inequalities, have lent new urgency to concerns that algorithmic decision-making can lead to unintentional discrimination against members of historically marginalized groups....

The Obama presidency intensified discussions of how electing a black leader affected white Americans' attitude toward black Americans. I test for its causal impact using black electoral victories in local elections. Using Race Implicit Attitude Test scores as a measure of racial prejudice and...

Racial inequality in economic outcomes, particularly among the college educated, persists throughout US society. Scholars debate whether this inequality stems from racial differences in human capital (e.g., college selectivity, GPA, college major) or employer discrimination against black job...

The Great Recession had a devastating impact on labor force participation and employment. This impact was not unlike other recessions, except in size. The recovery, however, has been unusual not so much for its sluggishness but for the unusual pattern of recovery in employment by race. The black...

In this paper I demonstrate, both theoretically and empirically, that the interpretation of regression estimates of between-group differences in economic outcomes depends on the relative sizes of subpopulations under study. When the disadvantaged group is small, regression estimates are similar...