Chosen Ones
Evidence from Field Experiments in Hiring Shows Substantial Additional Racial Discrimination after the Callback
Lincoln Quillian, John Lee & Mariana Oliver
Social Forces, forthcoming
Abstract:
Field experiments using fictitious applications have become an increasingly important method for assessing hiring discrimination. Most field experiments of hiring, however, only observe whether the applicant receives an invitation to interview, called the “callback.” How adequate is our understanding of discrimination in the hiring process based on an assessment of discrimination in callbacks, when the ultimate subject of interest is discrimination in job offers? To address this question, we examine evidence from all available field experimental studies of racial or ethnic discrimination in hiring that go to the job offer outcome. Our sample includes 12 studies encompassing more than 13,000 job applications. We find considerable additional discrimination in hiring after the callback: majority applicants in our sample receive 53% more callbacks than comparable minority applicants, but majority applicants receive 145% more job offers than comparable minority applicants. The additional discrimination from interview to job offer is weakly correlated (r = 0.21) with the level of discrimination earlier in the hiring process. We discuss the implications of our results for theories of discrimination, including statistical discrimination.
Asian American Discrimination in Harvard Admissions
Peter Arcidiacono, Josh Kinsler & Tyler Ransom
NBER Working Paper, April 2020
Abstract:
Detecting racial discrimination using observational data is challenging because of the presence of unobservables that may be correlated with race. Using data made public in the SFFA v. Harvard case, we estimate discrimination in a setting where this concern is mitigated. Namely, we show that there is a substantial penalty against Asian Americans in admissions with limited scope for omitted variables to overturn the result. This is because (i) Asian Americans are substantially stronger than whites on the observables associated with admissions and (ii) the richness of the data yields a model that predicts admissions extremely well. Our preferred model shows that Asian Americans would be admitted at a rate 19% higher absent this penalty. Controlling for one of the primary channels through which Asian American applicants are discriminated against -- the personal rating -- cuts the Asian American penalty by less than half, still leaving a substantial penalty.
Does School Desegregation Promote Diverse Interactions? An Equilibrium Model of Segregation within Schools
Angelo Mele
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, May 2020, Pages 228-257
Abstract:
This paper studies racial segregation in schools using data on student friendships from Add Health. I estimate an equilibrium model of friendship formation, with preferences allowing both homophily and heterophily in direct and indirect ties. I find that homophily goes beyond direct links: students also prefer racially homogeneous indirect friends, while there is heterophily in income. I simulate policies reallocating students across schools. Race-based policies have nonlinear effects on within-school segregation and other network features such as clustering and centrality. Policies increasing diversity through reallocations based on income have less impact on racial segregation.
The Disparate Impact of Up-or-Out Promotion Policy on Fertility Timing
Kyung Park & Nayoung Rim
American Law and Economics Review, Spring 2020, Pages 127-172
Abstract:
There is growing evidence that childbirth can have especially adverse effects on the career advancement of women. Our study examines how this affects the fertility decisions of men and women on the partner track. We use the After the JD study, a rich panel data set on a nationally representative sample of lawyers, and find that women are more likely than men to delay their first child until after the promotion decision is resolved. This difference in fertility timing is not easily explained by gender-based sorting; however, descriptive evidence suggests that reduced employer investment in mothers and social norms that tie women to child care are relevant mechanisms.
Information and the Persistence of the Gender Wage Gap: Early Evidence from California's Salary History Ban
Benjamin Hansen & Drew McNichols
NBER Working Paper, April 2020
Abstract:
Aiming to reduce the gender wage gap, several states and cities have recently adopted legislation that prohibits employers from asking about previously earned salaries. The advocates of these salary history bans (SHBs) have suggested pay history perpetuates past discrimination. We study the early net impact of the first state-wide SHBs. Using both difference-in-difference and synthetic control approaches, we find the gender earnings ratio increased by 1 percent in states with SHBs. We find these population wide increases are driven by an increase of the gender earnings ratio for households with all children over 5 years old, by workers over 35, and are principally driven by those who have recently switched jobs.
Comparing demographics of signatories to public letters on diversity in the mathematical sciences
Chad Topaz et al.
PLoS ONE, April 2020
Abstract:
In its December 2019 edition, the Notices of the American Mathematical Society published an essay critical of the use of diversity statements in academic hiring. The publication of this essay prompted many responses, including three public letters circulated within the mathematical sciences community. Each letter was signed by hundreds of people and was published online, also by the American Mathematical Society. We report on a study of the signatories’ demographics, which we infer using a crowdsourcing approach. Letter A highlights diversity and social justice. The pool of signatories contains relatively more individuals inferred to be women and/or members of underrepresented ethnic groups. Moreover, this pool is diverse with respect to the levels of professional security and types of academic institutions represented. Letter B does not comment on diversity, but rather, asks for discussion and debate. This letter was signed by a strong majority of individuals inferred to be white men in professionally secure positions at highly research intensive universities. Letter C speaks out specifically against diversity statements, calling them “a mistake,” and claiming that their usage during early stages of faculty hiring “diminishes mathematical achievement.” Individuals who signed both Letters B and C, that is, signatories who both privilege debate and oppose diversity statements, are overwhelmingly inferred to be tenured white men at highly research intensive universities. Our empirical results are consistent with theories of power drawn from the social sciences.
The race discipline gap: A cautionary note on archival measures of behavioral misconduct
Sheryl Walter et al.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research on employee misconduct has increasingly adopted behavioral measures in field settings, such as archival organizational records, to circumvent potential issues of external validity and social desirability associated with laboratory experiments and self-reported surveys. However, similar to the issues facing the criminal justice and education systems, where racial disparities in punishment are well-documented, organizations face a difficult challenge in detecting and enforcing misconduct. Even when organizations adopt seemingly objective policies for addressing misconduct, it is still possible for certain groups to be disproportionately accused of misconduct and/or disciplined. Drawing from social psychological theories of social identity and aversive racism, we examined the extent to which Black employees (in contrast to White employees) are more likely to have formal incidences of misconduct documented in their employment records, even when there are no racial differences in the number of allegations of misconduct. Across three datasets collected from the police departments of three major metropolitan areas (Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia), we identified the presence of a race discipline gap in archival organizational records of behavioral misconduct. We discuss the implications of these findings and highlight the need for caution when researchers and practitioners use archival measures of behavioral misconduct.
Police Productivity and Performance Over the Career Course: A Latent Class Growth Analysis of the First 10 Years of Law Enforcement
Jillian Desmond et al.
Police Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
The present research investigates the productivity and performance of a large sample of police officers, beginning in the police academy and through their first 10 years of policing. Using longitudinal data and latent class growth analyses, we examine measures of productivity and performance over this time. Findings indicate that officers’ academy performance did not influence officer trajectories, but selected demographic variables were significantly related to performance across the career course. Among these, female and non-White officers were consistently rated lower in their performance evaluations. Overall, results suggest that factors predicting productivity and performance are dynamic, and there is no single combination of characteristics that predicts who will be a “good” officer.
Parents’ Beliefs about High School Students’ Spatial Abilities: Gender Differences and Associations with Parent Encouragement to Pursue a STEM Career and Students’ STEM Career Intentions
Katherine Muenks et al.
Sex Roles, May 2020, Pages 570-583
Abstract:
In the present study, we investigated whether parents’ beliefs about their high school aged adolescents’ spatial abilities (i.e., spatial visualization, mental manipulation, and navigation abilities) differed based on their child’s gender. We also examined whether these beliefs related to parents’ encouragement of their child to pursue a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) career as well as students’ actual STEM major and career intentions. Data were collected from 117 pairs of U.S. high school students and one of their parents. We found that parents of young men thought their child had higher mental manipulation and navigation abilities than did parents of young women, even after statistically controlling for adolescents’ actual spatial abilities. Parents who perceived that their child had higher mental manipulation ability were more likely to encourage their child to pursue a STEM career, and those students were more likely to report that they intended to pursue a STEM career. These findings suggest that parents’ beliefs about how good their child is at spatial tasks may be based more strongly on gender stereotypes than on their child’s actual spatial abilities. Helping to make parents aware of these beliefs could be a potential lever of intervention to increase women’s participation in STEM careers.
Disciplining Difference(s): Reproducing Inequalities through Disciplinary Interactions in Preschool
Heidi Gansen
Social Problems, forthcoming
Abstract:
This article offers an expansive conceptualization and examination of young children’s experiences of school discipline inequalities, which includes the variety of behavior management approaches (i.e., punitive discipline and positive discipline) that preschool teachers differentially use in response to students’ behavior (e.g., noncompliance). I draw on data from ethnographic observations in three preschools (nine classrooms total) with different racial and socioeconomic classroom compositions. I find that teachers’ varying approaches to behavior management for students from particular racial, gender, and socioeconomic backgrounds (i.e., low-SES girls and middle-class black boys) contributes to children’s hierarchical identity groups within preschool classrooms: “good kids” vs. “troublemaking kids.” Specifically, the messages children at Imagination Center received from teachers’ differential disciplinary responses to low-SES girls’ behaviors, and the messages children at Kids Company received from teachers’ differential disciplinary responses to middle-class black boys’ behaviors, shaped their understandings of whom they should or should not associate with. The findings reveal how school-level disciplinary practices/cultures (e.g., positive discipline rather than punitive discipline) can help to alleviate disciplinary inequalities apparent in some preschool classrooms. Additionally, these data illuminate how preschool teachers’ differential approaches to behavior management affect some marginalized students’ experiences of discipline inequalities as early as preschool.
Teachers Are People Too: Examining the Racial Bias of Teachers Compared to Other American Adults
Jordan Starck et al.
Educational Researcher, forthcoming
Abstract:
Schools are heralded by some as unique sites for promoting racial equity. Central to this characterization is the presumption that teachers embrace racial equity and teaching about this topic. In contrast, others have documented the ongoing role of teachers in perpetuating racial inequality in schools. In this article, we employ data from two national data sets to investigate teachers’ explicit and implicit racial bias, comparing them to adults with similar characteristics. We find that both teachers and nonteachers hold pro-White explicit and implicit racial biases. Furthermore, differences between teachers and nonteachers were negligible or insignificant. The findings suggest that if schools are to effectively promote racial equity, teachers should be provided with training to either shift or mitigate the effects of their own racial biases.
Do Female Occupations Pay Less but Offer More Benefits?
Leslie Hodges
Gender & Society, forthcoming
Abstract:
Workers in predominantly female occupations have, on average, lower wages compared to workers in predominantly male occupations. Compensating differentials theory suggests that these wage differences occur because women select into occupations with lower pay but more fringe benefits. Alternatively, devaluation theory suggests that these wage differences occur because work performed by women is not valued as highly as work performed by men. One theory assumes that workers choose between wages and benefits. The other assumes that workers face constraints that restrict their wages and benefits. To examine whether female occupations pay less but offer more benefits, I used individual-level data from the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey and occupation-level data from the American Community Survey and from the Occupational Information Network. Contrary to compensating differentials theory, results from multivariate regression analysis provide little evidence that benefits explain wage differences between male and female occupations. Instead, consistent with devaluation theory, workers in female occupations are less likely to be offered employer health insurance coverage and are less likely to have retirement plans compared with workers in male occupations.
It’s All in the Definition: Color‐Blind Interpretations of School Diversity
Amy Petts
Sociological Forum, forthcoming
Abstract:
Color‐blind theory posits that ignoring race is a purposeful tool for protecting white privilege. Implicit in this theory is the idea that color blindness arises in times of racial threat because color‐blind attitudes provide individuals with a tool for justifying racialized practices. Schools provide an ideal context for testing these implicit assumptions of color‐blind theory. Public schools have shifted from using race conscious practices, such as forced busing, to racially ambiguous ones, such as touting diversity to address racial integration. Diversity is racially ambiguous because it can be interpreted as the inclusion of racial minorities but can also have a broader, color‐blind meaning. In this study, I use a survey experiment to test whether experiencing racial threat leads white participants to have a color‐blind interpretation of school diversity and whether racialized practices (in this case, picking a whiter school) mediates that relationship. I find evidence corroborating color‐blind theory. Experiencing racial threat increases the probability that participants have a color‐blind understanding of school diversity. Further, I find evidence that the mechanism explaining this relationship is participants picking whiter schools, highlighting that color blindness can be used as a tool to justify racialized practices.
Making the Invisible Visible: Identifying and Interrogating Ethnic Differences in English Learner Reclassification
Ilana Umansky, Rebecca Callahan & Jennifer Lee
American Journal of Education, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study explores disparities in reclassification outcomes between Chinese and Latinx English learner (EL) students in one large school district, along with possible mechanisms that drive these differences. Using mixed methods including discrete-time hazard modeling of longitudinal administrative data and analysis of in-depth interviews with veteran EL educators and administrators, we find large and persistent ethnic differences in reclassification outcomes across grade levels. Drawing on prior research on inequalities among immigrant students, we find evidence that individual background characteristics, social capital, school and instructional contexts, and stereotypes and bias all contribute to variation in reclassification patterns. Importantly, reclassification processes may be sensitive to racial and ethnic biases, disproportionately limiting Latinx EL students’ reclassification.
In Living Color: Does In-Person Screening Affect Who Gets Hired?
John Manuel Barrios, Laura Giuliano & Andrew Leone
University of Chicago Working Paper, March 2020
Abstract:
When hiring new workers, employers often screen large numbers of written applications before selecting a subset for more costly, in-person interviews. A large literature suggests that information frictions lead to screening on imperfect quality signals - e.g., educational pedigree and network-based referrals - and that these practices can perpetuate labor-market inequities. In theory, a reduction in the cost of in-person screening could lead to improvements in both efficiency and equity by reducing the use of blunt signals that disadvantage certain groups. We test this hypothesis by studying the introduction of a labor-market intermediary, the Accounting Rookie Camp (ARC), that greatly facilitated in-person screening in the labor market for PhD accountants. Using a novel data set with information on new PhDs, recruiters and market outcomes over 11 years, we estimate difference-in-difference models that leverage variation in the timing of ARC adoption. We find that degree program rank and adviser connectedness are strong predictors of initial job placements, but that their impacts are significantly reduced by participation in ARC. The results suggest that the historical returns to program reputation and adviser networks were driven partly by their signaling values, which were reduced by new the information channels created by ARC. They also indicate that in some respects, ARC adoption helped foster greater diversity in hiring. At the same time, we find no evidence that ARC reduced existing disparities in placements by gender and only weak evidence that it benefited under-represented minorities. Finally, using names to predict nationality and native language, we find that ARC led to worse placements for candidates whose native language is very different from English.