Attention Discrimination: Theory and Field Experiments with Monitoring Information Acquisition

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American economic review 2016-06, Vol.106 (6), p.1437-1475
Main Authors: Bartoš, Vojtěch, Bauer, Michal, Chytilová, Julie, Matějka, Filip
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Data collection
Decision making
Discrimination
Economics
Ethnicity
Experiments
Field study
Housing
Information
Labor market
Minority & ethnic groups
Names
Reading
Rentals
Social sciences
Studies
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0002-8282
1944-7981
DOI:10.1257/aer.20140571