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The Mystery of Discrimination in Latin America

Author

Listed:
  • Alberto Chong
  • Hugo Ñopo

Abstract

In this paper we focus on a particular family of studies, namely, wage gaps decompositions. Numerous efforts have focused on documenting earnings differentials between females and males, indigenous and nonindigenous people, or Afro-descendants and whites. As the pieces of the literature that we survey in this section show, comparisons of hourly labor earnings (wages or self-employment income) suggest the existence of notorious gaps. However, non-indigenous (or male) workers exhibit human capital characteristics that are, on average, more desirable than those of indigenous (or female) workers. Examples of those characteristics include education, labor market experience, and field of specialization. To attribute the whole earnings gap to the existence of labor market discrimination would therefore be misleading. At least a component of the gap can be attributed to differences in observable human capital characteristics that the labor market rewards and, hence, is not attributable to the existence of discrimination. Blinder and Oaxaca were the first to explore this avenue of research, in which the profession has been able to identify, to some extent, the magnitude of this component

Suggested Citation

  • Alberto Chong & Hugo Ñopo, 2008. "The Mystery of Discrimination in Latin America," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Spring 20), pages 79-115, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:col:000425:008611
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Delprato, Marcos & Frola, Alessia & Antequera, Germán, 2022. "Indigenous and non-Indigenous proficiency gaps for out-of-school and in-school populations: A machine learning approach," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    2. Pasquier-Doumer, Laure & Risso Brandon, Fiorella, 2015. "Aspiration Failure: A Poverty Trap for Indigenous Children in Peru?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 208-223.
    3. Hugo Nopo & Natalia Winder, 2008. "Ethnicity and Human Capital Accumulation in Urban Mexico," Research Department Publications 4619, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    4. Carlos Gradín, 2016. "Race, Ethnicity, Immigration, and Living Conditions in Costa Rica," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 62(S1), pages 90-119, August.
    5. Delprato, Marcos, 2019. "Parental education expectations and achievement for Indigenous students in Latin America: Evidence from TERCE learning survey," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 10-25.
    6. Hugo Nopo & Natalia Winder, 2008. "Etnicidad y acumulación de capital humano en México Urbano," Research Department Publications 4620, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    7. Duryea, Suzanne & Millán-Quijano, Jaime & Morrison, Judith & Ovideo Gil, Yanira, 2024. "Measuring Racial Bias in Employment Services in Colombia," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 13460, Inter-American Development Bank.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Discrimination; propensity score matching; Latin America;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

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