Ethnicity, race and gender in the labor market.

Abstract

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-03, Section: A, page: 1104. Adviser: Christopher Taber. Ph. D.,Northwestern University,2008 Ethnicity, race and gender play an important role in labor markets; labor market outcomes such as hiring and compensation are very different across different social groups. These differentials are partly the result of differences in productivity and preferences and partly the result of discrimination. Chapter two uses an audit study to determine the existence and extent of caste-based discrimination in the Indian private sector. The study also has policy implications for recent debates regarding introduction of caste-based quotas in Indian private sector jobs. Resumes with caste-specific names are sent to employers for entry-level jobs and callback rates measured. On average, low-caste applicants need to send 20% more resumes than high-caste applicants to get one callback. There is also heterogeneity in callback gaps by recruiter characteristics and firm size which indicates the presence of prejudice against low-caste workers and is consistent with commitments made by large firms to hire actively from among low-caste groups. In chapter three I find partially identified treatment effect for arrest and other treatments by looking at recidivism for a sample of domestic assault offenders. The treatment effects are not fully identified due to non-compliance with assigned treatment and the possibility of a non-random treatment assignment. Partially identified treatment effects are estimated by making minimal assumptions on the counterfactual probabilities. Chapter four (based on joint work with Wallace Mok) examines the difference in non-wage compensation between African Americans and whites in the US. Using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) and National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), we find that without controlling for the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) scores, white men are more likely to receive non-wage compensation and white women are not more likely to get non-wage compensation. With controls for AFQT scores we find that white men are not more likely to receive non-wage compensation but black women are more likely to get non-wage compensation. We also find that the percentage differences in total compensation and the percentage differences in wages across racial groups are essentially the same.