Economic Measurement of Discrimination

Discrimination is the differential treatment of people based on identity or perceived identity (race, gender, ethnicity, LGBTQ+ status, age, religion, disability, immigration status, etc.). Such behavior violates some legal, social, and moral norms and has a negative impact on those discriminated against.

For these and other reasons, it is important to be able to formally identify discrimination from data. But how do we know that A’s treatment of B is because of B’s identity as opposed to some other characteristic of B or A that we may not even have a variable for?

In this class, we will explore economists’ methodologies for answering this question. We will survey the economic literature on discrimination against a variety of types of people in a variety of markets and across countries. Students are encouraged to explore discrimination in contexts not covered in the reading in their final projects.