In: Economics
Read the article "Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination" by M. Bertrand and S. Mullainathan. Write a one page summary of the article stating its main question, empirical strategy used (explain why they chose to use it) and main conclusions. Also add a paragraph with your assessment of the article (for example, do you find weaknesses? what are the main strengths?
Abstract
We perform a field experiment to measure racial discrimination in
the labor market. We respond with fictitious resumes to help-wanted
ads in Boston and Chicago newspapers. To manipulate perception of
race, each resume is assigned either a very African American
sounding name or a very White sounding name. The results show
significant discrimination against African-American names: White
names receive 50 percent more callbacks for interviews. We also
find that race affects the benefits of a better resume. For White
names, a higher quality resume elicits 30 percent more callbacks
whereas for African Americans, it elicits a far smaller increase.
Applicants living in better neighborhoods receive more callbacks
but, interestingly, this effect does not differ by race. The amount
of discrimination is uniform across occupations and industries.
Federal contractors and employers who list “Equal Opportunity
Employer” in their ad discriminate as much as other employers. We
find little evidence that our results are driven by employers
inferring something other than race, such as social class, from the
names. These results suggest that racial discrimination is still a
prominent feature of the labor market