Footnote:
Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments May 11, 2021 erstellt
Description:
Models of statistical discrimination typically assume that employers make rational inferencefrom (education) signals. However, there is a large amount of evidence showing thatmost people do not update their beliefs rationally. We use a model and two experimentsto show that employers who are conservative, in the sense of signal neglect, discriminatemore against disadvantaged groups than Bayesian employers. We find that such irrationalstatistical discrimination deters high-ability workers from disadvantaged groupsfrom pursuing education, further exacerbating initial group inequalities. Excess discriminationcaused by employer conservatism is especially important when signals are veryinformative. Out of the overall hiring gap in our data, around 40% can be attributed torational statistical discrimination, a further 40% is due to irrational statistical discrimination,and the remaining 20% is unexplained or potentially taste-based