American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Attention Discrimination: Theory and Field Experiments with Monitoring Information Acquisition
American Economic Review
vol. 106,
no. 6, June 2016
(pp. 1437–75)
Abstract
We integrate tools to monitor information acquisition in field experiments on discrimination and examine whether gaps arise already when decision makers choose the effort level for reading an application. In both countries we study, negatively stereotyped minority names reduce employers' effort to inspect resumes. In contrast, minority names increase information acquisition in the rental housing market. Both results are consistent with a model of endogenous allocation of costly attention, which magnifies the role of prior beliefs and preferences beyond the one considered in standard models of discrimination. The findings have implications for magnitude of discrimination, returns to human capital and policy.Citation
Bartoš, Vojtěch, Michal Bauer, Julie Chytilová, and Filip Matějka. 2016. "Attention Discrimination: Theory and Field Experiments with Monitoring Information Acquisition." American Economic Review, 106 (6): 1437–75. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20140571Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C93 Field Experiments
- D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- J71 Labor Discrimination
- R31 Housing Supply and Markets