While researchers have long held that discrimination cannot endure in an increasingly competitive environment, there has been little work testing this dynamic process. This paper tests the hypothesis (based on Becker 1957) that increased competition resulting from globalization in the 1980s...

An argument dating from Gary Becker's work in 1957, but seldom tested, is that discrimination withers in an increasingly competitive environment because its practice raises production costs. This study finds that employers in concentrated U.S. manufacturing industries - which, compared to...